Help Keeping Cory Catfish Alive

[willisjames]

Hi there! Newbie here who needs help/advice keeping a single, solitary Cory catfish alive, lest it perish and break my 4-year-old daughter’s heart. A bit of background:

There’s been a recent death in my family. Several days earlier, in an attempt to raise spirits, someone arrived with a gift for the ill relative: a small green Cory in a 3-gallon tank. Turns out the person who purchased it basically walked into a pet store, bought a 3-gallon tank, poured water into it, and threw the fish in. Long story short, my daughter fell in love with the fish and has since inherited it, leaving me to deal with a fish struggling in a small, uncycled tank.

Since my 4-year-old has been bugging me for a fish tank (and since I was now in “fish survival” mode), we made a trip to the local pet shop and she is now the proud owner of a 10-gallon tank. So here’s the question; since I now have two uncycled tanks, any thoughts as to which one, the 3- or the 10-gallon, the Cory’s got a better chance of surviving the cycle in? I considered trying to give the fish to someone else with an established tank (if I could find such a person), but my daughter’s current emotional state, based on recent events, is such that she can’t bear to be without the fish (it actually stays in her bedroom with her)…hence my desire to keep it alive, if possible.

I’ve owned tanks in the past, so I’m familiar with the cycle, testing, etc., and am willing to hover over these tanks and do as much as I have to as often as I have to. But I’ve always gone fish-free when it came to cycling, so I’m a bit in the dark here. Based on the tests I’ve done on both tanks, the levels are indicating neither one is very far along in the cycle.

Some more info on the 3-gallon: it does not appear that anything other than filling it with tap water was done and the cat’s been living in there approximately 7 days (as of today), which is when the tank was filled. It does have a heater and a small mini-whisper filter. 10-gallon has been up and running for 3 days now and has a bio-filter (wheel is just now discoloring a bit), heater, light, etc. Basically, a full-blown setup (but no live plants yet). Other than AquaSafe when I initially filled the tank (and a bit of food along the way), I have not done anything to the water in the 10-gallon. I considered trying to get a good squeeze from the local pet store (and have started reading about SafeStart), but don’t know if adding anything to the 10-gallon since it’s already started it’s cycle would just make things worse.

And just to clarify, we’re only talking one small green Cory cat here. I can certainly go get more fish and add them to the 10-gallon if that’s going to help things, but first and foremost, my goal is to keep the Cory alive.

So I guess to sum things up, my question is that since I’m clearly going to have to deal with cycling one of these tanks with the Cory in it, does he stand a better chance surviving the cycle in a 3- or 10-gallon tank? My guess would be the 10, but only because it’s bigger…but what do I know?

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Happy to provide more specific information about the tanks, equipment, etc. But this post was getting rather long, so wanted to cut it off now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[icydeath]

The 10 is the best bet. I would get two more and add 1 more every week till you are 5 or 6.

Since you are fish in cycling you cant dose ammonia... But what I would do is get a master test kit and test for ammonia. If it is high (3-5ppm) try to get Seachem Prime and use that when you water change.

A nifty little site that might help is aqadvisor.com
You should also take a trip to the nearby petstore and look for tetra safestart and pour the whole bottle into the tank. It's practically bacteria in a bottle and will help with the cycle a lot.

Grab some fast growing live plants (anacharis or hornwort work best while cycling) to help keep the water clean and it will be really nice.

The cories tend to like driftwood and I assume you are feeding shrimp pellets and algae tabs?

During the cycle try to feed a little less until your cycle is complete.

Best of luck and PM if you need anything else or just ask on the thread.

 

[icydeath]

You should get a heater also. Jager ones tend to be the most liked but just get whatever works for a 10 gallon (I think it is 25-50 watts). Keep an eye on the temperature lest it breaks.

If you decide to grow some plants you should get a plant bulb so you are growing in the right spectrum and you will grow less algae and more plant if you do.

Cories like and in their tanks so you could get some. Much better than gravel for them.

You should also get a gravel vac to do water changes (It will come with instructions) and if you get sand gravel vac over the sand and try to pick up the poop and stuff that is laying on top of the sand. Turkey basters can help with this as well.

Also you should use API StressCoat and API StressZyme when you are doing water changes as I'm sure the little guy is stresed out.

Later you can transition to Seachem Prime but this should work for now. (you can use prime to detox ammonia to some extent should you need to.)

A good youtube channel is King of DIY (aquariums)

Check that out if you need to make a sponge filter or something as they are really useful for tanks your size and cheap.

I'll include some links.

Sponge filter: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=ywW3kujjDqqyT9VL7uCPdw&bvm=bv.71778758,d.cGE

Wall filter:

These can be used on their own but if you aren't into DIY you can get a Aquaclear 30 HOB filter or a Tetra Whisper 20i. These tend to work well but I like the customization of the Aquaclear.

Fill it with some biomax or bio balls and a Aquaclear sponge and you are good to go.

(sorry if you already have a filter and if you do have one, just use the filter media in that one and maybe put it in the aquaclear.)

 

[willisjames]

Sorry for the delay, but thank you for the great advice! Cory is now (apparently happily) swimming in the 10-gallon with 2 new friends, who just arrived. Prior to that, I did put a whole bottle of TSS in the tank. To be honest, I was a little nervous about the whole shelf life bit, but I figured I'd give it a shot. The levels have already started to twitch a bit in the 24 hours since I put the bottle in, so I take that as a good sign. In addition, the Cory is not repeatedly doing that "swim to the top and try to break the surface" bit he was doing the in the smaller tank. Instead, he's just chilling on his piece of driftwood, which I take as a good sign.
I'll keep you posted, but thank you for all the advice you've given me!

 

[Gillie]

You will still see them go to the surface to gulp air, it's just the nature of the fish and if you watch closely you will see them fart an air bubble

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Bloodroot]

*hugs*

I agree with all the above. Try to up the tank to 6 corys for two reasons. 1. sadly it will be less hard on your daughter if one happens to die (I know this sounds harsh but I just lost one of my corys and I understand how such a small creature's loss can be devastating). 2. Six corys is supposedly the "best" number. They tend to be less stressed.

I agree with the bacterial supplement but sadly that only helps the ammonia peak. I had three of four corys live throught an entire new tank cycle. So I would be testing the tank daily and be ready to change a portion of the water daily. The less you "stir" up the tank during the changes the better.

I don't personally care much about the "planted" tank for a cory. I mean in the long run, awesome! But for keeping them alive just give them places to hide and relax. Mine died of being over stressed because of being added to a new home and them me switching up the home twice in as many times.

Also get the same species of cory!! they do fine mixed together but the same species is even better.

My cory, just before he passed would swim the surface the immediately go to the bottom the turn around and go back up -repeat. So the less frantic behaviour is probably a good sign.

Good luck! Keep us informed!

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Welcome to AA! sounds like you've got a lithe bit of a problem on your hands! Cories tend to prefer sand so they can root around easier but they will be fine with gravel as long as you vacuum it often to keep it clean to prevent infection to their barbels. I assume you know about cycling based on your post but look up fish in cycling jus to make sure you know exactly what you'll need to do. The other posts seem to have covered everything else that I can think of at the moment. Good luck!

 

[icydeath]

I also agree about the plants. They don't require them (although it can be nice)

Maybe just a floater or two. Hornwort or Anacharis?

Driftwood helps them do nice and relax as well.

But just focus on the fish and not the plants. I agree with the 6 cories as well and how it will make it easier for your daughter if you have more... She might not even notice until you can get another. Sad but true. I stock my tanks lightly (even if I have smaller fish- unless they school) and I know how it feels when you lose one. It is just harder to get super attached to a group over the one. You will tend to love the group as a whole.

Best of luck and I hope your daughter will join the forum soon enough when she has her own questions about her own tanks! - Raymond

 

[willisjames]

Again, thank you all for the warm welcome and advice. Believe it or not, I did suggest additional Cory's, but my daughter didn't want any other Corys other than the one she has--"his" name is Glasses, BTW. Actually, his name is Sunglasses, but she calls him Glasses for short. No idea where the name came from, but since the other two tank buddies are Salad and Jumpy, you probably can figure out that my daughter has bizarre taste in fish names!

As far as an update, I did decide to hold off on the live plants for now so that I could just focus on the fish (I've never had live plants before). As for the tank itself, all three fish seem happy and content. Levels have barely budged, although I am testing daily. Ammonia is barely a .25 and nitrites are still at 0. Nitrates are increasing, though, but are only at a possible 5.0. Seems weird that they are rising before the ammonia and nitrite, but perhaps the FSS has something to do with it? Dunno. Either way, I'm keeping feeding to a minimum and there's yet to be any noticeable "debris" on the bottom, either from the flake or the Cory's pellets, so I've been holding off on any vacuuming just so I am disturbing the tank as little as possible. But the bucket and siphon are at the ready should I need to jump in at a moment's notice!

Thank you all, again!

 

[electromango]

Tetra safestart will help greatly...I used it to cycle my 29 Gallon and ammonia levels never went above 0.25ppm, no nitrite, and cycled in about a week.