How many Cory Cats?

[Fishyfanatic]

I just recently purchased a Swartz's Cory Cat for my 10 gal. I have read about them before and was very interested. After I brought the one home, I read that they are best kept in groups. Right now in my 10 gal I have 7 Harlequin Rasbora's (about 1 inch each), 3 Tetra's (about 1 inch each), 2 Snails (not sure what kind, maybe Apple), and the single Cory Cat. My question is, should I get another Cory Cat and go WAY over the "1 gal per inch" rule, just keep the one, or take back some of the other fish and buy maybe two more? I wasn't sure since the Cory Cat's are bottom dwellers and the Tetra's stay towards the top.

 

[Guppyman]

Corys

Hi, Sure get at least 2 more. The 1 gallon per inch rule is a joke. It was devised in the 40's - long before the advent of high-effeciency pumps, filters and increased knowledge in fish keeping requirements. It amazes me that this myth hangs on for dear life. Can we all spread the word that this is MISinformation? I have tanks 10 G tanks in my fish room with 50 adult guppies - thriving. STOP THE INSANITY! - Frank/Guppyman®

 

[Menagerie]

Are the Rasbora Heteromorpha and Tetras full grown? My only concern for the fish you currently have is there is not enough swimming room. If you are good with your PWC, get two more cories.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I think they are full grown, but I'm not sure. I bought the Tetra's in October and they have grown significantly since I got them. The Rasbora's, on the other hand, I have only had for about a month. They seem like they are the same size as when I got them. They are all schooling together and I'd hate to break them up, but if I have to in order to get 2 more Cory Cats, then I will. I don't want the Cory to suffer because of the other fish.

I do a 25% water change every month. I have a filtration unit that is for a 29 gal on the 10 for added filtration, plus an ugf. Would this be sufficient enough or do I need to do more water changes?

 

[Guppyman]

Water changes

Hi. That seems a little light on the water changes, but the only way to know for sure is to break out that water testing kit. - Frank/Guppyman®

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My fiance took a water sample to the lfs on Tuesday and they said it was perfect with the exception of the pH being 6.8. I have since corrected this and checked the levels this evening and they are still perfect.

When we first started in aquaria, we were told to do a pwc once a month of about 25%. I had never heard of weekly or bi-weekly water changes. Is this something that we should be doing? I know that not every staff member at lfs know what they are talking about (I know from previous tank disasters, more specifically being told that 6 Bala sharks, 1 Male Betta, and a few guppies would do GREAT together), but going between four different places, I have never heard of anything more frequent than monthly pwc.

I went back to Wal-Mart (slapping myself for even THINKING about purchasing from this store) and bought two more cory cats. I didn't want the solo cory to go alone for too long because I won't be able to go to a decent store for about a week. They are doing great. I am assuming that since I have added 3 more fish that I should be doing more pwc?

 

[lyquidphyre]

fish school to feel safe, if you don't have anything that would make the cory afraid for its life in ur tank, then you should be okay with the one

If you think you can do water changes more often, then you chould get him a buddy since he is the only bottom dweller (other than the snails.. but those guys go everywhere)

 

[rubysoho]

actually, cories and tetras like a lower pH. Just because your water isn't 7.0 that doesn't mean your tank is not perfect. Also, using chemicals to buffer your pH is not a very good idea. It will eventually cause swings in your pH and it is much better to have the wrong pH that is stable.

My 55 gallon tank is at 6.8 and my 10 is at 7.0. The only time I'd change my pH was if I was trying to house african cichlids because they do better in a higher pH. However, I would use the natural method of crushed corals because that is much more stable than chemical buffers. (and driftwood or peat is great for lowering your pH)

 

[Menagerie]

it was perfect with the exception of the pH being 6.8.

Smack that LFS worker!! A steady pH is better than a perfect pH!!
Many on this board go by the weekly PWC. Since your tank is STOCKED, start doing weekly PWC of 25%. It's a small tank, so, it won't be much work. Also, get your own testing kits--in an emergency, the LFS may not be open

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I think I'll start doing a weekly water change. It won't be difficult because it's a 10 gal. The 55 on the other hand is going to be a HUGE job with it having a sand bottom and so much decor (caves, greenery, etc.).

I have a couple questions regarding the weekly water changes. Should I still clean off the greenery/decor weekly, or keep doing that monthly? I normally just run water over them to remove the brown algae that seems to sit on the greenery. The pleco's won't touch the greenery so the algae just sits and turns all of the fake plants brown.

Also, we use a gravel vac that is similiar to the Python. Should I take my fish out of the tank weekly? The gravel vac won't hook up to the kitchen faucet (we can't find an adapter that will make it fit) so we have to hook it up to the outside faucet. The water that comes out of the outside faucet is really cold and isn't dechlorinated. We normally take the fish out of the tank when we do pwc because of the temp and the chemicals in the water. I don't want to risk killing our fish, so should we keep taking them out on pwc's? We try not to stress them so we purchased a large net that allows us to scoop almost all of them up at the same time and we seperate them into seperate containers (those plastic hanging things that the lfs uses). We keep the temp at 79 and the outside faucet comes out at about 62. With it being so cold outside it's at about 50 right now. What should we do? I hate to keep taking them out but I'm afraid that using the gravel vac in the tank with them inside, they may think I am chasing them. Ours parrots will actually go after my arm when it's in the tank and start biting at it.

I hear of people that keep their fish in their tank while they do the pwc, but when I add the new water back in, it won't be dechlorinated or at the proper temp and I'm afraid that this will stress them out more.

 

[rubysoho]

I leave my fish in, they either ignore me or are super curious and try to figure out what is going on. As for refilling the tank... I just do my tanks by hand. The way I keep it easy is that in my 55 gallon I clean it twice a week(small amounts both times). Takes maybe 10 minutes. Yeh, I have to lift a bucket, but it isn't so bad for me.

 

[lighter]

One cory is a sad cory. They live best in small groups.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I now have three little Cory's in my tank. They are doing great and they are entertaining to watch.

 

[PK Tester]

I now have three little Cory's in my tank. They are doing great and they are entertaining to watch.

Great

I'd say your 55gallon is much safer (depending on what you have in it) with doing a montly 25% water change.

Your 10 gallon should be changed weekly or bi-weekly at about 10 - 20%.

As far as the reflling...I'd do it by hand...the cold water clashing on your heater shortens its life.

I do believe the inch per gallon rule is a joke...as I also have 50 or more guppies in 10 gallon and I have no big health issues. I have regular culls it seems from a bad genetic line but that isn't because of my tank stock.

Good luck and I'm happy you got more Cories!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We have in the 55:
2 Yellow Blood Parrots
1 Red Parrot
2 Electric Blue
1 Ice Blue
1 Yellow Lab.
2 Plecos
2 Spiny Eels
1 Melanochromis auratus
1 Red Zebra
1 Albino Peacock
1 Albino Kribensis

We did our normal monthly water change this evening and we may start doing it every 3 weeks at 25%. There was a LOT of fishy poop at the bottom. We've never had that much before but I guess since it is a sand bottom, we can't get it up as easily because we can't "sift" through the sand like you do gravel.

 

[Menagerie]

Yeh, I have to lift a bucket, but it isn't so bad for me.

Me too!

We've never had that much before but I guess since it is a sand bottom, we can't get it up as easily because we can't "sift" through the sand like you do gravel.

Hmmm, usually it's reversed. The poo should stay on top of the sand and be easy to remove.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We bought an adapter to fit onto our kitchen sink (FINALLY Lowel's became useful) and the water pressure in the kitchen isn't as strong as the outside faucet. Usually we pull up gravel into the gravel vac and it sucks the fish poop out very well. With the sand, we could only take up a little bit of sand at a time because it would suck it up into the vac and out the drain. We tried hovering but I guess the water pressure was too little to get a good flow going.

What I meant by

We've never had that much before but I guess since it is a sand bottom, we can't get it up as easily because we can't "sift" through the sand like you do gravel.

is that with gravel, the poop falls into the gravel and sifts itself between the rocks. It can become hidden and you normally have a lot more gross stuff in the gravel than on top of it. WIth sand, it all sits on top of the sand, making it noticeable. We anticipated this so we put some black sand over top of the beige. It looks awesome, like an ocean bottom with some lava rock particles scattered. I don't really like the sand bottoms that are just one color. We have white, beige, and black. But not too much black, it's just there for effect and camouflage for the fish poop. I have questions about Crushed Coral on the main General Questions page, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pentiumburner]

I have made this type of maintenance easy for myself. I have a bare 10 gallon tank with just a heater that I use for PWCS. This allows the water to dechlorinate over a weeks time and come up to temp before I use it for my weekly changes on a 40 gallon tank.

I just syphon out 10 gallons (I know where it is from pevious changes at a certain point in the tank, do not remove any fish, and then just add the heated and treated water back. This is fairly simply and only requires a aquarium safe 5 gallon bucket and a vacuum or just syphon hose for the inbetween times where I am not vacuuming.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

How will this work with crushed coral? When I do water changes, won't the pH drop since the water doesn't have a natural 8.0 pH? I am at a total loss on this crushed coral thing. I'm not sure how to keep the pH stable at 8.0 without additives. I need help, desperately.