panda corys and gravel cleaning

[Tostada]

Seems like I've made a ton of posts on this ... this will be the last one. I just want to make sure the little guys make it!

So, my 30 gal. hex is all cycled, and all my fish are doing fine. PH is 7.6. ammo/nitrIte extremely low (almost zero), nitrate stays around 5-8. Fish are fine (6 swords, 5 shrimp, 3 danios, 1 betta, 1 mystery snail, some MTS). Anacharis plants are doing well. I have some driftwood in there. Substrate is Eco-Complete with a little gravel. I have 45W light (two Aqua-Glo and one Sun-Glo). Things seem pretty good.

I'm going to go get 5 or 6 panda corys.

Just looking at some info on panda corys, though:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/631.htm

First, it says they like PH 6.0 to 7.5. My PH seems to stay more like 7.5 - 8.0. How concerned should I be about that?

My main concern, though, is:

"Be advised that Pandas need gravel that is subject to a regular gravel vac - clogged mulm in the gravel will lead to sick and dying Pandas in pretty short order."

I have a python, and I try to keep the gravel clean when I do a PWC, but it doesn't really get that dirty. I have 20 lbs. of Eco-Complete in there with just 5 lbs. of gravel on top. There's driftwood and a rock. I'm just wondering how much gravel sucking I need to do. Are we talking really stirring the substrate up?

Also, do I need to do a lot of extra water changes? My water numbers are all really good, and I'm sure I could go well over a week before they started looking questionable. What exactly should be my deciding factor for when to do a water change? Seems like randomly sticking a python in there and sucking a bunch of the water out is fairly stressful for the fish, so I don't want to be doing it excessively if I don't need to.

And, finally, should I be getting special food for them? Do most people get those Hikari sinking wafers for them? One a day? They share them OK?

 

[coldmachineUK]

Seems like I've made a ton of posts on this ... this will be the last one. I just want to make sure the little guys make it!

I'm sure no-one minds answering, 'tis what the forums here for

First, it says they like PH 6.0 to 7.5. My PH seems to stay more like 7.5 - 8.0. How concerned should I be about that?

It's changes in pH which cause problems: if the levels rise or drop then you are likely to see fish deaths occur. Provided conditions are consistent (i.e. the pH never changes) you can keep some species in slightly less than ideal conditions. In my area the water pH is around 7.6 and it's never caused a problem with corys (emerald, bronze, albino, peppered, etc.).

I have a python, and I try to keep the gravel clean when I do a PWC, but it doesn't really get that dirty. I have 20 lbs. of Eco-Complete in there with just 5 lbs. of gravel on top. There's driftwood and a rock. I'm just wondering how much gravel sucking I need to do. Are we talking really stirring the substrate up?

I tend to clean 50% of my gravel on one day, and the other 50% on the following day. My vac really sucks the gravel up, and turns it over before depositing it back so it's quite good. Doing half at a time allows the filters to suck in any floating particles a bit more easily (I've found). Corys and other fish actually seem to like watching. Quality control or something lol.

Also, do I need to do a lot of extra water changes? My water numbers are all really good, and I'm sure I could go well over a week before they started looking questionable. What exactly should be my deciding factor for when to do a water change? Seems like randomly sticking a python in there and sucking a bunch of the water out is fairly stressful for the fish, so I don't want to be doing it excessively if I don't need to.

Just as a matter of 'good practice' it's always best to do a water change per week of 25-40%. Ideally two smaller changes in one week. I tend to do two 20% changes: one on a Wednesday and one on a Sunday. I keep loaches so water conditions must be very very clean. Water changes will not stress your fish, don't worry! (As long as you don't suck them up your gravel vac, lol, only kidding I've never heard of that happening!).

And, finally, should I be getting special food for them? Do most people get those Hikari sinking wafers for them? One a day? They share them OK?

Any kind of catfish tablet food will supplement their diet. You should also feed them frozen/live food now and then. A varied diet is as important for fish as it is with humans! And yes, they will share them but if you're keeping 5-6 (and with other fish who might decide to eat them!) then you would be best with more than one (say 2). See what they eat and vary accordingly

 

[JustOneMore20]

I keep panda cories as well as albinos, trilineatus, and sodalis cories. I gravel vac where I can reach (heavily planted) in the tank with the albinos and pandas and change out 50% of the water once a week. It has regular small gravel and I've never had any problems with my pandas. As long as you suck up the nasties (I understand you can't do the traditional gravel vac with Eco) and change out the water atleast once a week, you will be fine. I have Eco in my 55g with the trilineatus and sodalis cories and I just wave the gravel vac over the substrate and pick up plant leaves and nasties.

I've been doing the gravel vac's and water changes weekly since I've had all my cories and I haven't had any problems with them. The worry about the mulm build up is that cories are constantly digging around in the substrate so if you have nasty stuff in the gravel, they could get infections of their barbels and it could kill them. Just vacuum once a week...you'll be fine!

 

[Tostada]

Thanks for the answers!

So, as far as feeding, I mostly just feed everybody with flake food and some betta food once a day. Sometimes they get some different things. The pandas are going to eat some of the flakes that get to the bottom, aren't they?

So, with 5 pandas, should I just get the Hikari sinking wafers and add two of them everytime I feed?

I don't want to overfeed my fish ... I hear a lot of ppl get massive MTS infestations when they overfeed, and my MTS stay pretty well hidden.

 

[coldmachineUK]

I've never kept snails in my tanks (b/c all my loaches would eat them mainly lol), so I don't know what happens if you overfeed in a tank with them.

You are always better underfeeding than overfeeding.

Just test out one wafer at first (tho I don't think it will be enough to go around 5 corys!). If it gets gobbled up quickly then you could break off a half and add that etc.

There's so much advice on feeding fish that such a simple thing becomes so complicated to consider nowadays. Rule of thumb: two flakes of food per fish, and feed for 2 mins (i.e. add some, then wait, watch them finish it up, and add some more etc. until 2 mins is up). But, remember that fish will always pretend to be hungry (at least mine do lol). Don't give in to them! Hehehe.

You really ought to treat once a week or once a fortnight with some frozen or live food. Brine shrimp (artemia) always goes down well with all my fish, tho my loaches particularly like bloodworm (never overfeed on this b/c its very protein rich). You can get blister packs of frozen food pretty cheap and it just adds some variety to their diet.

Btw, you will have to post some pics of your panda corys once theyre in and settled: a friend who is cory mad finds that hers all line up down one end of the tank, looking out! She calls it "Catfish Corner" lol.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I feed my bottom feeders sinking shrimp pellets and algae wafers. To give you an idea of how much, I have 9 cories, 3 yoyos, 1 bristlenose, and 2 otos and I put in about 4 shrimp pellets and 2 algae wafers for all of them. They also get the leftover flakes that fall, so I don't put in too many pellets. In my 29g I have 6 pandas and 4 albino cories and 3 ottos so I feed 1/2-1 algae wafer and 3 shrimp pellets (because the ottos eat those as well!)...plus they get the flakes.

With only 5 pandas, I'd just put in one wafer and break it in half. That way they could all get to it. I tried using some sinking wafers once and I think I put in too many because it caused a nasty buildup of stuff in my tank. Don't let that scare you though, I probably fed too many of them...lol. They'll get any flakes that fall, so you don't have to worry about not feeding them enough.

Coldmachine, my cories do the line thing as well. They also lay on top of each other sometimes and make a cory pileup!

 

[joannde]

I love my panda cories. I only have 3 and I'm trying to find more. I had 6 at one point while my tank still had whatever it was that was killing me fish . I'd like to get the shoal up to 8.
My guys are pretty hyper and play follow the leader for hours on end in the middle of the front glass. When resting they go inside one of the ceramic caves - and YES, they do tend to look out towards the front of the tank - like they don't want to miss any "action" outside LOL
I give them one hikari sinking pellet, broken into 2 pieces, twice a day. That also feeds the snails (7 mystery snails) and the platy fry sometimes get to pick at it also. I also put a few flakes directly into the water so that they also sink - more food for the snails, pandas and fry. Three times a week I also feed fresh veggies, but I've never noticed the pandas having very much interest in any of them (peas, zucchini, yellow squash, romaine lettuce).

 

[Tostada]

I took the hyper danios back and got a gold gourami earlier today, then did a PWC and gravel vac, then I got the pandas.

I got the Hikari sinking wafers. I guess some of you guys were implying that I should just give them regular algae wafers?

I also got some of the frozen brine shrimp. Those look really convenient the way they're packaged in 32 separate squares. How do you guys feed frozen food? Just let it thaw out some on the counter then drop it in there while it's still a little crunchy? Or do you let it complete thaw and then ... umm ... pour the little cube in?

 

[rich311k]

You could throw in a couple of shrimp pellets in every other day for the cories as well. They will eat left over food. Congrats on the little guys they are great fish.

I thaw my frozen food in a little water and the pour in. You may not want to use a whole cube depending on the amount of fish you have and how fast they eat it.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I guess some of you guys were implying that I should just give them regular algae wafers?

Not as their main food. Get something for bottom feeders that isn't all algae. The sinking wafers will be good.

I put algae wafers in my tanks because I have otos and a BN in the 55g. The cories do eat the algae wafers though...but not as their main food.

 

[joannde]

My panda cories won't TOUCH the algae wafers but they really like the sinking pellets. They also like the Hikari MicroPellets (I make sure a few of them sink to the bottom for the panda cories) and regular flake food (another thing that I purposely sink a couple of).
I haven't been able to find a container of shrimp pellets small enough - all the sizes I've found look like they would last years ! (gotta add that to my BigAl's wishlist)