29 Gallon Upgrade

[sharkweek178]

The pygmy corys still hide a lot. Especially during the day. I don't see more than 1-3 at a time very often. I saw 8 the other night. They swim away when I approach the tank.

 

[Byron]

The pygmy corys still hide a lot. Especially during the day. I don't see more than 1-3 at a time very often. I saw 8 the other night. They swim away when I approach the tank.

This is normal. I maintained this cory for many years. I had some 24 fry in their 10g tank a couple years ago, from six initial adults. I hardly ever saw them, but my fish room had no people in it except when I was in there, and after sitting quietly for a couple minutes, I usually would see them, sometimes in the entire group of 30, sometimes in smaller groups here and there.

It can also take time for them to settle in a new environment. Dither fish in the tank seem to help.

 

[sharkweek178]

This is normal. I maintained this cory for many years. I had some 24 fry in their 10g tank a couple years ago, from six initial adults. I hardly ever saw them, but my fish room had no people in it except when I was in there, and after sitting quietly for a couple minutes, I usually would see them, sometimes in the entire group of 30, sometimes in smaller groups here and there.

I keep wondering if I'm just seeing the same 2 or 3. And sometimes I worry. But I think if anything happened to them, I'd find some dead ones. So I resist the urge to tear apart the tank to look for them and just give them time to adjust. They've only been in there for a week. I'm sure I'll see them more over the next few months.

 

[Byron]

There is one trick I always did. At feeding, I open the cover and very gently tap on the tank frame with the little measuring spoon I use when feeding. [Not that I measure, it is just a convenient way to have the amount you want to feed.] I did the "dinner gong" for years, and fish quickly learned that the sound meant food. It brought all of them out within seconds, and I could more easily count them. It worked for the other fish too. Also, dropping the bug bites or shrimp pellets in the same spot at the front trained them to come to that area. You need to sit absolutely motionless doing this, as any movement always sent them scattering.

 

[sharkweek178]

I keep wondering if I'm just seeing the same 2 or 3. And sometimes I worry. But I think if anything happened to them, I'd find some dead ones. So I resist the urge to tear apart the tank to look for them and just give them time to adjust. They've only been in there for a week. I'm sure I'll see them more over the next few months.

As a matter of fact, just yesterday they were out and about more later in the day. I counted 10 of them swimming around. And I'm sure the other two were around somewhere too.

 

[sharkweek178]

I've been tempted to expedite the quarantine process and shorten it to three weeks for these ones and then three weeks for the new ones after that. And then I remind myself that I just had a major die off and that I need to give things the time they need.

 

[sharkweek178]

@Byron I got that API Tap Water Conditioner. How many drops should I use per gallon? I've seen online anywhere from 1 to 3 and that's a pretty wide range.

 

[Byron]

@Byron I got that API Tap Water Conditioner. How many drops should I use per gallon? I've seen online anywhere from 1 to 3 and that's a pretty wide range.

One drop per gallon if only chlorine, but if chloramine I think it says 2 drops per gallon.

 

[sharkweek178]

Lesson learned about a quarantine tank. I almost had it with this one. But a heavily planted tank that makes it too hard to observe the fish is not a good quarantine tank. I'm making space to set up a separate tank that will have enough decor to make the fish comfortable but not so much that I have no idea where they are or even if they are alive or dead. I'll add a PVC fitting and some plastic plants. I have a sponge filter I've been using in my ten gallon (in addition to the HOB), so I can just use that established filter. And I'll add floating plants for water quality.

 

[sharkweek178]

So after all that, I have one neon left. I can tell that it's stressed by not being in a shoal. I'm getting more neons this weekend and putting them in a quarantine tank. So the question I have is would it be less stressful to leave the lone neon in the main tank for a month until the new ones pass quarantine, or should I add it to the quarantine tank with the new ones so it can be in a shoal?

 

[sharkweek178]

I have 11 new neons in a quarantine tank on Saturday. The next morning after I got them, I found one dead. And then another that afternoon. This time I was proactive. There's only so many kinds of pathogens out there. I didn't see any indication of ick or fungus. And antibiotics are a last resort for me. Destroying the beneficial bacteria could cause more problems than it solves. So I used some API General Cure on the guess that it was a parasite issue. And that seems to have worked. None have died since those first two.

 

[sharkweek178]

I'm noticing that some leaves on the java ferns are going bad. I think I know why. Before I put fish in the tank, I dosed liquid fertilizer twice a week. Once after a weekly water change and a booster dose mid week. Since I've added the fish, I cut back on the liquid fertilizer on the thinking that the fish themselves are a nutrient source. I didn't want to add liquid fertilizer excessively to the detriment of the fish and also possibly causing algae issues. So I think that the faster growing column feeders, like the salvinia minima, are outcompeting the java ferns for nutrients. The anubias and java moss still looks ok though. I'll prune the bad leaves and up my dosing of liquid fertilizer a little.

 

[sharkweek178]

Big weekend coming up. The quarantine is ending for the neon tetras. So I'm putting them in the main tank this weekend. And then I'm getting a few more pygmy corys to bump up their numbers (the new pygmys will go into quarantine, of course). I'm hoping that the neons as a dither fish and a few more of their number will lessen the shyness of the pygmys. I'm bumping up my normal weekend water change to tonight in preparation. The new neons will be stressed enough settling in so I want to have the water change out of the way so that I don't stress them out with that.
I'm looking at my single neon in the main tank and I'm happy for it because it's going to have a school soon. This might sound weird but I'm also a little sad because I won't be able to tell it from the others when that happens. I'm sort of attached to this one for being a survivor.

 

[sharkweek178]

I added the quarantined neons to the main tank. I watched the survivor neon as I added them. She hid in a corner at first because of all the disruption. But after a few minutes, she joined right up with the school and is swimming happily with them. I'm actually relieved to have her in a school again.

 

[sharkweek178]

Now the question is what to do about the platy I currently have. I don't want to get any more livebearers anyways. I don't want to deal with all the fry. But I have my one. Even if I were to give him away, anything in my area is using the same source water that I have.

Just an update here. I ended up rehoming this platy. He was the only platy I had and he was alone in a 10. After a while, I started seeing him show signs of stress. Platys are a social fish and I realized that he wasn't living his best life like this. I didn't want to get more platys so I went looking on a Facebook fish rehoming group. I found a family in the area who keep platys. Everything they told me encouraged me. Large tank, live plants, live foods. So I gave him up to them. I just spoke with her and he's doing great with his new friends.