20 Gallon Long Tank... 4 Corys... What's Next?

[Dakota789]

Hello,

So I'm happy to say FINALLY my tank is PERFECT and ready to go. We introduced one Corydora (he's about 3" long with tail) that was given to us by a friend. After seeing how sad and loney he looked (being a schooling fish and all) we bought 3 smaller corys for him to hang out with.

I was instructed to wait 2 weeks before adding any other fish, which is totally fine. I'm just trying to think of what else we can add when it's time.

We were thinking of perhaps 2 Bolivian Rams OR 2 German Blue Rams.

If we did that... are their any other fish we could add with them without overstocking?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[oliesminis]

well done for buy him some frineds, as you said they are schoaling fish

could we please have some tank stats so we can know what would be suitable

Could you please tell us

-tank size
-water parameters
-how long it has been set up

 

[waterdrop]

Hi oliesminis,

I think I remember that Dakota has a 10 US gallon tank that was fully fishless cycled while having interactions with the members here on the forum. I suspect the water stats are in good shape.

Dakota, you could give us an update on your latest test readings however.

The cories sound great!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[TropicDan]

Personally, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your new to the hobby. This being said, IMHO I would not recommend for you to get German rams. Although beautiful and great fish, they tend to be very fussy when it comes to water condtions and changes in conditions. I've lost a few myself, and aren't gonna try and keep them again for a while. I think a Bolivian ram would be a much better choice. I would go with only one though.

So, if you want of course, add a Bolivian ram. Or since you just added some new cory's wait a week or so then add him.
After a couple more weeks, you have plenty of other choices to fill your stocking list. How about some neons or danio's? A small school of tetra's would be great. Post a list of some fish you like and we'd be happy to further help you.

 

[Dakota789]

I DID have a 10 gallon, the cycling process just never happened with it. I tried the fishless cycle and ended up just getting myself a huge case of hair algae...lost all my plants... not good.

In the meantime though, I got a free 20 gallon long tank from a friend. They told me that it's often times easier to take care of a larger tank. It has been cycling for a little under 2 weeks. This time around I purchased 'live' gravel for the bottom and got 10 gallons of water from a friends established tank. There is a few pieces of driftwood and about 11 live plants in the tank. I tested the water after one week and it was:

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 40
ph 7.8

I tested it again last Friday, the results were the same so our friend that gave us the water gave us the first cory from his tank. Sunday we tested the water... same results so we bought the 3 new corys.

I was instructed NOT to put any more fish in for a minimum of 2 weeks. We are in NO rush since we want everything to work out perfectly. I am going to do weekly water changes, we live in an apartment and our tap water perameters seem to fluxuate (I test that often as well) so I figure the less water I replace at a time, the better.

I was thinking of perhaps getting about 6 schooling fish next.... let that whole thing settle down for 2-4 more weeks and then the very LAST thing, if the water was good, would be to get the rams.

OH YEA! So there is a baby snail in my tank that must have hitched a ride in with one of the plants. Is it okay to leave it in there or ???

Thanks for all your help and advice! I really appreciate it!!!

 

[waterdrop]

Oh! OK, so I had it all wrong, sorry!

So it now sounds, with the 20g, that your status with cycling is unknown or hasn't started you and you will be in a fish-in cycle once it gets going. Usually water from an established aquarium is no help, although it can't hurt and you might get a few of the beneficial bacteria floating about in it by chance. I'm unclear about your filter/filtermedia status. Do you have a new filter with new sponges, ceramics, floss?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dakota789]

Oh! OK, so I had it all wrong, sorry!

So it now sounds, with the 20g, that your status with cycling is unknown or hasn't started you and you will be in a fish-in cycle once it gets going. Usually water from an established aquarium is no help, although it can't hurt and you might get a few of the beneficial bacteria floating about in it by chance. I'm unclear about your filter/filtermedia status. Do you have a new filter with new sponges, ceramics, floss?

~~waterdrop~~

Everything inside the tank is brand new. We have a Lustar Hydro III Sponge filter, air pump, submersible heater, the "live" gravel, and 11 live plants, 4 pieces of driftwood (two with plants on them). All of the driftwood came from established tanks, not off the shelf.

Does this help?

 

[waterdrop]

I'm not familiar with the Lustar Hydro III Sponge filter, is it self powered or does the air pump run bubbles through it to move the water?

If if is self-powered, do you know what the flow rate of the filter is (in liters or gallons per hour?) This number is more important to know than if the manufacturer gives a "recommended tank size" type of number. We generally look for 5x, although in some cases 4x is ok - this being the "turnover rate" or number of multiples of your tank size that the filter can "turn over" in an hour.

Perhaps some other members can comment on "live gravel" as I'm not familiar with that, at least in a freshwater context.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dakota789]

I'm not familiar with the Lustar Hydro III Sponge filter, is it self powered or does the air pump run bubbles through it to move the water?

If if is self-powered, do you know what the flow rate of the filter is (in liters or gallons per hour?) This number is more important to know than if the manufacturer gives a "recommended tank size" type of number. We generally look for 5x, although in some cases 4x is ok - this being the "turnover rate" or number of multiples of your tank size that the filter can "turn over" in an hour.

Perhaps some other members can comment on "live gravel" as I'm not familiar with that, at least in a freshwater context.

~~waterdrop~~

The sponge filter is powered by an air pump, we bought a Whisper 40. It keeps the tank SPARKLING clear and doesn't cause a HUGE current for the fish to fight against. It came highly recommended from a few people... it is considered a "old school" filter haha

The live gravel comes wet, in the bag. It is loaded with good bacteria and claims to help cycle the tank quickly. On the bag, it says you can add fish that day however I felt more comfortable waiting a while before adding the fish... just to be sure. Mixed with 10 gallons of our friends water and a few small cup fulls of his gravel (he has matching gravel in his tanks) it cycled our tank VERY FAST!

I know that the way we cycled our tank isn't really the typical way to do it, but it worked a LOT better then any other attempts I made with our 10 gallon lol That was such a headache, I almost gave up a few times!!!

So Monday is when we added the 3 other Cory's. I tested the water last night... to see if the ammonia went up at all due to the addition of fish....the reading was the same as before.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 40
ph 7.6-7.8

I am a little concerned with one of the Cory's... the one that our friend gave us (the big guy). The three small one's are SO active, they never stop moving, but he just sits there, kinda leaning over. He doesn't even get excited when we put the algae wafer in... Our friend said he's about 5 years old, maybe that's why but I'm not sure, doesn anyone have any suggestions... is there anything else they like to eat, maybe he just doesn't like that food we bought??