Sounds great!!! Thank you!
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10 Gallon tank suggestions
One thing to mention for anyone reading this thread is that Boraras species need soft water.
And these are tiny fish which I would not keep in the same tank as a betta for reasons I gave in post #6 if anyone was thinking of doing it
And these are tiny fish which I would not keep in the same tank as a betta for reasons I gave in post #6 if anyone was thinking of doing it
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(got confused about which thread I was in xD)
(got confused about which thread I was in xD)
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PygmyMitch
Fish Fanatic
Jumping in, can I ask how many pygmies you have ? and what tank mates you have with them ?
I honestly don't know how many I have! Because they colony breed and the fry raise themselves in the heavily planted tank, there's no way of getting an accurate headcount without tearing the tank down. But I started with a group of seven, and the colony grew to 30 or more before I started selling some groups of youngsters. Now I recommend starting with at least 8-12, because these nano fish really do feel safer and show more natural behaviour when they're in larger groups.
Keep with other small, peaceful fish, main concern is fish that won't pick on, intimidate or outcompete the little pygmies. I keep eight otocinclus with mine, which otos and cories seem to approve of, and with water at the higher GH end of their range, I've kept them with guppies and pseudomugli's without problems, and they are fine. But ideally softer water for pygmies, and other softwater nano fish work well, like ember tetra, chili rasbora, kubatoi rasbora etc. Other small schooling peaceful nano fish work well!
PygmyMitch
Fish Fanatic
Thats amazing. Only reason I ask is because my tank is a 10 gallon and I have 4 pygmys. I was curious to see how many you had and what you keep with them, as I am going to up my qty to at least 10 and add something else in the tank with them. Thanks
I'm going to comment here as I had a group of pygmy cories in a 10g for several years. You do need a soft sand substrate, this is crucial. And water on the soft side. I agree with @AdoraBelle Dearheart to get a group of 10-12. If you leave them on their own, they will spawn and fry will survive as this species is not a ravenous egg eater. Chunks of wood, on which moss can grow madly, will provide not only shelter but food--infusoria. Dried leaves too, same reason.
If you keep upper fish, eggs may be more likely to get eaten, depending. But good upper fish are those AdoraBelle mentioned. I had a group of Boraras brigittae in with the pygmies for over a year. I didn't observe any spawning results, but when I moved the dwarf rasbora out, and left the pygmies on their own, fry appeared over a couple of years.
First photo shows three cories from three different spawnings chilling out on an oak leaf. Second photo is the tank in 2010 when I had the cories and rasboras, though few of them are visible. Floating plants are essential for these fish.
If you keep upper fish, eggs may be more likely to get eaten, depending. But good upper fish are those AdoraBelle mentioned. I had a group of Boraras brigittae in with the pygmies for over a year. I didn't observe any spawning results, but when I moved the dwarf rasbora out, and left the pygmies on their own, fry appeared over a couple of years.
First photo shows three cories from three different spawnings chilling out on an oak leaf. Second photo is the tank in 2010 when I had the cories and rasboras, though few of them are visible. Floating plants are essential for these fish.
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Definitely get more pygmies as soon as you can! They're super social, and need a decent sized group of their own kind. I only had seven at first because it was 2020, and getting hold of pygmies was really hard at the time! So even the seven were two/three different batches bought when I could get a few. I planned to buy 12 total as soon as I could get more, not expecting them to spawn themselves, let alone the fry to raise themselves in the tank! But they did, so I didn't need to buy more in the end, they solved the numbers problem themselves, haha. Get at least four more to bump your group to eight, but if you can, 12 would be even better, but eight would be okay.
Remember not to overstock the 10g though, especially if it's a new set up. I can get away with an "overstocked" 15.5g because it's well filtered, well planted and the numbers of pygmies climbed gradually as they bred in a tank that had already been established and running for a year or more. Then only had the otos and a few elderly male guppies as tankmates, so not a heavy bioload, and the plants do most of the heavy lifting in there. So I'd bump the pygmy cory population first, then add the mid-water swimmers later perhaps. Or add more fast growing live plants before getting all at once, and be prepared to do extra water changes for a while as the tank stabilises perhaps.
Definitely agree with this! I encourage some mulm and messiness in my cory/oto tank, since all those micro-critters you get from mulm (I have some gravel at the back of the tank for deep-rooted plants, then very fine sand at the front half for the cories to feed, play and laze about), from live plants and algae, mosses and the process of almond leaves and other botanicals breaking down in the tank.
The pygmies love some hardscape they perch on or hide in/under. Mine use this slate cave thing a lot both to sit and graze on, but the fry especially would wriggle and hide underneath, so it's where I often find them.
It's just a PVC pipe with some slate pieces siliconed onto it, and later when my moss balls fell apart, I superglued some bits of that moss in some of the side pieces, but it's great for them in a variety of ways. Nice flat surface to sit on as a group, tiny critters also use it to grow and hide, especially now with moss, so it's a feeding station, and while they rarely go inside the pipe, they do use the gaps in the slate to hide in, and hide underneath the cave itself, especially the fry. So I always prop on end up a little with some stones, so they can get under there!
Lots of plants, especially live plants, helps the water parameters, the fish feel safer with lots of dense planting to hide in, and you see secure fish more often than scared fish. In my experience they also prefer to lay their eggs on leaves, rather than the glass as some cories do, so helps encourage them to breed.
Wood and botanicals provide hiding places too (often find a few cuddled under an almond leaf) biofilm and food for microcritters like seed shrimp, which I'm convinced is mainly what my pygmy fry live on in between feedings and why they survive to grow in the tank, and the adults are conditioned to spawn often because of all the live food available in the tank. They don't mind some tannins and like the softer water, so those things suit them too. Provide quality food too of course. Think "tiny insects" when you think about feeding fish like these - my staple is Bug Bites microgranules for these guys, which I crush even smaller with a mortar and pestle, and frozen foods like dapgnia, cyclops, moina - things small enough for their little mouths. This diet also suits the other recommended species too I believe, right @Byron ?
A sponge filter or covering the filter intake with sponge also important, the fry are absolutely tiny, like insects, so you don't want them getting sucked up by the filter. Also need to check buckets carefully for newly hatched cory fry. They're tiny and almost invisible except for 2-3 black markings, so they blend well in the mulm! I rescue at least one fry with most water changes.
They like stable water parameters and clean water, mine seem to enjoy water changes, get excited and swim together, and often spawn after a water change. Having the new water be 2-3 degrees cooler than the tank temp can mimic their wild spawning season and sometimes encourage spawning, once the fish are old enough to breed.
They're wonderful little fish to watch, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Happy to answer any questions you might have.
PygmyMitch
Fish Fanatic
@AdoraBelle Dearheart a lot of helpful knowledge there. I appreciate it.
I’m definitely going to get some more pygmys soon! Only problem is I had a rock in my tank which caused the pH and GH to rise considerably more to what my tap water is. (I have got a thread on this already, not going to hijack this thread with it) So once that is undercontrol and I will then be purchasing more pygmys!
My tank is well established, its been established for over 2 years. I have a really good custom filter built into the back of the tank which i recently did. Luckily i didn’t kill all the good bacteria and didn’t cause any spikes in the ammonia or nitrite! So I know my filtration is capable of handling a good bioload.
I have got a couple of plants, but I don’t think im keen on them, as they have grown the full height of the tank, so when doing 50% water changes they fall and fill all the space at the bottom, not giving the fish much room. I feel this will cause them stress and wont be great if I have even more fish in there. So I am looking at other plants. I’m going to do a separate thread in a minute, to get some suggestions. Hopefully you’ll be able to give me suggestions on that! again don't want to hijack this thread
I do also have an ornament which they do occasionally rest on and sometimes go inside of. But would be good to have something else for them.
I’m definitely going to get some more pygmys soon! Only problem is I had a rock in my tank which caused the pH and GH to rise considerably more to what my tap water is. (I have got a thread on this already, not going to hijack this thread with it) So once that is undercontrol and I will then be purchasing more pygmys!
My tank is well established, its been established for over 2 years. I have a really good custom filter built into the back of the tank which i recently did. Luckily i didn’t kill all the good bacteria and didn’t cause any spikes in the ammonia or nitrite! So I know my filtration is capable of handling a good bioload.
I have got a couple of plants, but I don’t think im keen on them, as they have grown the full height of the tank, so when doing 50% water changes they fall and fill all the space at the bottom, not giving the fish much room. I feel this will cause them stress and wont be great if I have even more fish in there. So I am looking at other plants. I’m going to do a separate thread in a minute, to get some suggestions. Hopefully you’ll be able to give me suggestions on that! again don't want to hijack this thread
I do also have an ornament which they do occasionally rest on and sometimes go inside of. But would be good to have something else for them.
Ah, at least you've found the problem and can fix the fluctuating levels now!
That's great! As long as the intake is covered somehow to avoid them being sucked into the filter.
Nooooo! Plants that grow the full height of the tank are great. Prove hiding spaces through the full height of the tank, and top and mid-water swimmers love them! When I do a 50 -75% water change my plants all flop down too, and the fish don't have a great deal of room to swim, but it's only for a few minutes, then the plants rise again as you begin refilling the tank. I doubt it stresses them out that much, mine have managed with lots of fish and lots of plants having v.large weekly changes, and I think the benefits the plants provide far outweigh any minor stress when the water level drops. The water dropping and us messing around in the tank is causing more stress than the plants flopping down, I'm sure, and that'll happen no matter what plants you have.
You can imagine how much all of these plants flopped down when I dropped the water level, but I actually think the fish are likely to feel safer in all that plant matter when something is happening in the tank, since they know they're more hidden. A mix of floating plants, tall plants, and shorter foreground plants and mosses is pretty ideal!
@Byron I love those two photos! Especially that tiny baby in the middle that's just beginning to change to adult colours, brave to be out in the open like that! Lovely shot to have caught. Also what are the main plants in the second photo? I want some, but don't recognise them!
Ooops, good point! A new thread is a good idea. Sorry for hijacking your thread a bit, @Hmarie37 , but hopefully you'll find these things useful too!
PygmyMitch
Fish Fanatic
Yeah the intake can easily be covered over with sponge or filter floss.
both your tanks look amazing! I hope to do something as amazing as that with mine.
I have created another thread. Hopefully you can put some input on that.
Thats a very good point tbh, I have never thought about that!
both your tanks look amazing! I hope to do something as amazing as that with mine.
I have created another thread. Hopefully you can put some input on that.
I am also partial to plants to fill the whole tank.
Heres two of my 10g.
All low tech plants, no Co2, no ferts, no filter.
I am also partial to plants to fill the whole tank.
Heres two of my 10g.
All low tech plants, no Co2, no ferts, no filter.
View attachment 313523
Gorgeous! I called mine "jungle tanks", lol. Lots of tall plants at the back (and my pygmies also loved hiding in the vallis roots at the back of the tank, so they loved that tall plant as much as the surface and mid-dwelling fish did) but having shorter plants at the front with open swimming space. Fish that know they have a dense amount of planting to flee into when spooked are much more comfortable coming out in the open! It sometimes surprises people that the solution to fish they never see because they hide all the time is often to provide more hiding places!
That tank was thrown together initially as an experiment. It had no light (was in front of a west-facing window, no filter, just a heater. Sand. And spare plants from other tanks. The smallest at the front are chain swords, Helanthium tenellum. Left of centre is a wide-leaf sword, not sure what that was. The wood is obviously covered in Java Moss. The larger floating plants are adventitious plants from large Echinodorus grisebachii [bleherae] swords. I just broke the inflorescence leaving the adventitious plants attached and floated them.
Ah, it was the floating adventitious swords that I was wondering about! I've not seen amazon swords floating like that while also looking so healthy! My sword plant got huge and even overtook the 57g so I ended up removing and ditching it, but I hated doing that, it was such a nice plant. But it never put out baby plants.
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