1St Time Tank Owner, Would Appreciate Advice On A Few Things!

I just recently got my very first fish tank, and I have a couple questions that I was hoping you guys would be able to help me answer. I have been trying to research fish stuff like crazy, as I am very excited about my new pets!! Also, sorry if this is kind of a long message, but I figured the more details the better!
 
I have two main issues that I would appreciate your guys' advice on. One is about the health of one of my guppies, who got his fins nipped, and the second is simply on how to stock my tank, 
 
So, my current situation is as follows: I purchased the Tetra 10 gallon starter kit about a week and half ago and got everything all set up with the filter, heater, bubbler, decorations (no live plants, all plastic/silk) etc. I added the AquaSafe dechlorinater and SafeStart bacteria at set up. I then waited 3 days to make sure that the temperature was stable (76 degrees F) and that everything was settled in the tank and (partially?) cycled. I then bought two guppies, both male, one blue cobra and one orange fancy. They seemed to be doing fine, except that the blue guppy kept crowding the orange one and the orange one kept nipping at the blue one to go away. Because of this, a few days later, I bought a third male guppy, a yellow cobra. This seemed to fix the problem. The blue guppy now hung out with the orange one only half the time, cause he now had a new yellow buddy. Then just a couple days ago, the orange guppy kept chasing and nipping at both the yellow and blue, seemingly bullying them. Then when I came home later that day and checked on them, the orange guppy, who had been the aggressor, had two nips taken out of his tail fin and was swimming at the top kind of funny. The blue and yellow have been fine and haven't been picking on him any more since that I have seen, but the orange one has not been swimming around normally and has barely been eating even a single bite in these few days. His fin doesn't seem to infected that I can tell, but I can tell he's not doing well. He has been pooping but it has been clear in color and not the normal brown. I'm not real sure what to do for him. I know that they sell products to help heal nipped fins and prevent infection, but is it worth it to use it? I'd prefer to not add too many chemicals to my tank. I have read online to perform water changes to make sure that there are low toxin levels bothering them, but my test strips show 0 (or at least very low) nitrates and nitrites. But that is my first and main concern right now.
 
Secondly, I am very excited about my new tank and want to fill it with tons of fun fish, but I want to make sure that the fish I get are happy and healthy. My plan was to get all male guppies and a few cory cats for my tank. The more I read, though, the more I'm wondering if the cory cats will be okay in my tank. As I said, I have a 10 gallon tank. The water is very stable at 76 degrees. I have well water at home, so my water is very hard and the pH is high. I've read not to use the chemical pH stabilizers, so I've just left the pH be. It WAS all the way up at about 8.6 when I first set up the tank...which I know is extremely high. But it has gone down without any meddling from me, and has now stayed at a stable 8.0 for a week. I know that that is still very high, but my guppies seemed fine up until the nipping incident. But I have read that cory cats don't do well with the higher pH's... I'm thinking that if I do get cory cats, I will definitely get pygmy cory's, so that I can get a few for a small school. But will the hard water and pH be too big of an issue to keep any cats at all? If it is okay, can I have 5 males guppies and 4 pygmy cory cats happily in a 10G? How long do I have to wait before my tank is stable enough to add the cats?
 
Thank you so much for any and all advice!!!
 
I attached a photo of my tank with the three guppies in it. There are plenty of hiding spots I feel like, but my guppies don't seem to use them.

i dont know anything about the fish fin but if you want corys you will need to get your ph down to 7 the best way is to put a small bag of peat in a fine mesh bag inside the filter or in a place with high water movement then you could get a group of 5 to 6 corydoras habrosus pygmy corydoras you could probably get up to 7 guppys ( weird number i know but 8 seems to much and 6 seem to little) 

Welcome to the hobby!
I don't think 3 days is enough time to get a tank cycled, just my opinion. Even with any product, nothing beats the good old classic method of cycling. Though the wait is quite long (cycling most of my tanks took about a month ) it is good to go that route. I have never tried any cycling products, and I don't think I ever will. If it works then great! Definitely  lower the ph for the cories as noobgamers said. They need softer water. Also, if you want cories you would need sand. Cories can't dig through the gravel and it damages their barbels. A bigger tank too, if you can, otherwise, just stick to the guppies.

Well, if cories won't work well in my current tank, is there something else that will?  I would prefer having more than just one species (guppies) and would love to get some fish that will stay lower in the tank and swim through my decorations. Or alternatively, (because I really really love cory cats) is there an easy way to adapt my current tank to be acceptable for the pygmy corries? Can I just add a thin layer of sand on top of my gravel and use distilled water mixed with my well water to balance out the softness/pH needed?

to TFF! Hope you enjoy it here.
 
Male guppies can be mean, so adding another would help to spread aggression (which it seems you've done).
Clean water is usually all you need to heal fins. Hopefully someone with experience in guppies can help more with them.
 
3 days is not long enough to cycle a tank, unfortunately. Have a read of THIS if you havn't already. 
I honestly recommend you take back the guppies and do a proper fish-less cycle. It will be much better for your future fish.
 
I'd also pick up a liquid test kit, as the strips are notoriously unreliable.
 
As you know, messing with pH is not the best idea. I'd do a lot of research before trying this. Like said above, cories should really be kept on sand so unless you want to change substrate I wouldn't recommend them for your tank.

First off let me say that I think your aquascaping is adorable. I love what you have done with a small space.

Second, I bet 90 percent of new fish enthusiasts start out with running their tank for a few days and then adding fish, I know I did. Do small, daily water changes and monitor your water parameters. Keep this up for about six weeks before you add anymore fish and you should be fine.

Guppies can be mean so you will either need to get more males to spread the aggression or get a female. Though i don't know how you would feel about the babies.

I could be wrong about this but my Pygmy Corys spend little time no the bottom sifting through the sand as opposed to the larger species so your substrate might just fine for them. You will want to lower the pH to at least 7 before getting them though. Peat is a good way to do it but it can take time. I suggest preparing a larger amount of water and storing it if you can for the tank. You could get one of the products designed to lower ph and prepare the water with that and store for use in the tank.

You do have other options for tank mates though. Endlers, shrimp, snails are good choices. You don't have to do Cory's and then you won't have to go through hassle of lower your ph, which can be a major pain in the long run.

Welcome to the forum!

stanleo said:

First off let me say that I think your aquascaping is adorable. I love what you have done with a small space.

Click to expand...

 
Thanks so much!! =^-^= I have become a little obsessed with my new tank....
 
After more research and much deliberation, I'm thinking I have a few options to choose between...
 
1. Keep the tank as is. Don't mess with the pH or the gravel, and stock the tank with 6-7 guppies, 2 red cherry shrimp, and 1 snail
2. Revamp the whole thing. Take out the gravel and put in sand, and also manage to get the pH down and stable. Then I can stock the tank with 4-5 of my beloved pygmy corries, maybe 5 guppies, and 1 snail
3. Spend all the money I don't have and get a new 55G tank with a sandy bottom, fill it with cory cats and other amazing fish that I can't fit in my 10G, and then use my current measly 10G as a quarantine/sick fish/fry tank.....
 
Opinions?

You have the bug. There is no cure. You are destined to a life of weekly trips to aquarium stores, subscriptions to fish magazines and having very little extra money for things like food and cable bills. Your gonna love it! LOL

Oh oh! I vote for number 3!  My second choice would be number 1, though.

It is easy to get obsessed with fish.  It is fascinating to create these little worlds and very relaxing to watch the fish.  Go on with #3!  You know you want to.

Personally, I'd not mess around with your pH. Just stick to fish that are highly adaptable or like a high pH. Unfortunately with a small 10G you're pretty limited to the male guppies and definitely don't add any females. If you are going to mix genders then you need a ratio of 3 females to 1 male and you don't have space for that OR the babies!
 
Also, you need an ammonia test kit ASAP. Having no nitrate is actually a bad sign at this point as if your tank was cycled, you'd have some. You need to be getting results of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrate should be showing up. If you do get readings for ammonia/nitrite, do large water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite down, otherwise you'll end up with some sick fish
 
As said before a liquid test kit is your best bet. API is a decent one and though it may cost you a bit it will last for ages. Please do read up on the nitrogen cycle which I think was already posted above.
 
I agree though, your tank is really cute, best of luck!

Number 3, but messing with pH is very tricky. Products that change your pH have to be constantly added because they don't reduce the buffers that hard/alkaline water contain. It's a constant battle. Then there's the water changes. You can cause a heavy swing with your pH and KH when refilling your tank, which can wipe out your fish. This happened to me. It really is a lot harder than you might think and not just a case of following the instructions and everything will be fine. There's tonnes to get excited about without jumping in the deep end, as I did...

Okay.... so perhaps I AM a crazy fish lady now (as my family and friends have been telling me lately), but I went with #3!!!! I didn't get the 55G, as I really have no room for it lol but I got a great deal on a 29G!! Wheeeee!! xP And this time I'm going to do it right, a month long cycle. And I'm going to get sand for the base for corries. pH may still be an issue though....
 
Any general advice that has not yet been covered? 
 
Or just suggestions of favorite fish that would work for my new tank?

Found this old thread. The advice is still relevant though
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/164214-corys-in-hard-water-with-high-ph/
 
Good luck with the new tank and just to add, you can't really pin an exact time frame on a cycle. Fish or fishless, it's about how fast the bacteria grow and consume the nasties. No schedule for that.

rms said:

Found this old thread. The advice is still relevant though

 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/164214-corys-in-hard-water-with-high-ph/
 
Good luck with the new tank and just to add, you can't really pin an exact time frame on a cycle. Fish or fishless, it's about how fast the bacteria grow and consume the nasties. No schedule for that.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing!! That makes me feel much better that people have been able to happily keep them in similar water conditions. I'll have to page through a lot of the older forum posts as I wait for my new tank to cycle. And yes, I suppose I will need to reread on proper cycling....

Thanks so much again for all the help and advice guys!! It's great to know that I have you guys here as a resource for my new hobby. Especially since all of the LFS around me seem to have employees that don't really know fish very well.... (as they told me I could cycle my tank in 3 days and that I can keep a lone cory in my 10G).