willisjames
Aquarium Advice Newbie
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!
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!