Alternative to Pygmy cories

[anewbie]

Maybe try some kuhli loaches?

See my post above; anything smaller than a 20 long is unsuitable for a kuhli loach.

 

[anewbie]

Another fish you could try in a 9 if you want to deal with live food is dario dario; or peacock gudegon; I think the gudegon can be weaned to take dry food but i hear dario dario are very picky.

 

[Essjay]

The thing to bear in mind about the 9 gallon Flex tank is that is virtually a cube with a small footprint - 14 x 13 x 13 inches (35 x 33 x 33 cm). This seriously restricts the fish which can be kept in the tank as the swimming length is very short. The majority of fish need a minimum of 18 inches/45 cm swimming length. This includes both Dario dario and peacock gudgeons.

 

[anewbie]

The thing to bear in mind about the 9 gallon Flex tank is that is virtually a cube with a small footprint - 14 x 13 x 13 inches (35 x 33 x 33 cm). This seriously restricts the fish which can be kept in the tank as the swimming length is very short. The majority of fish need a minimum of 18 inches/45 cm swimming length. This includes both Dario dario and peacock gudgeons.

Oops sorry about that should have looked up the dimension; was basing it off of my 10 which is 20x10x12. Oh well that 9 seems like a poor aquarium for fishes; I guess maybe it was designed for betta ?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

The thing to bear in mind about the 9 gallon Flex tank is that is virtually a cube with a small footprint - 14 x 13 x 13 inches (35 x 33 x 33 cm). This seriously restricts the fish which can be kept in the tank as the swimming length is very short. The majority of fish need a minimum of 18 inches/45 cm swimming length. This includes both Dario dario and peacock gudgeons.

Man, what a horrible design that people buy because they like the look of it, not because it can provide the best environment for the fish, just like the Biorbs. Not blaming beginners to the hobby at all, when they don't know better yet, more mad at the manufacturers.
Although at least the larger fluval flex tanks are more standard and useful for fish than any biorb. People with experience who want to create an amazing scape with plants, CO2, shrimp and maybe a school of chili's could make something pretty cool, but the designers know full well that most of the market will be beginners putting wildly unsuitable fish into way too small and square a tank.

Honestly OP, you'd have a much better time if you started from scratch. Not getting rid of anything yet, but STOP adding fish, be patient and do some real research, and give the tank time to establish, and add live plants!! Before you even think of adding any more fish. Of any species.

I've just had a quick scan through your thread history since you joined back in January, and even then, you wanted to add a betta and pygmy cories to this 9g fluval flex, and were given this advice:

The tank is perfect for a betta. But not otos or pygmy cories. A 9 gallon tank can't grow enough algae for a shoal of otos, and many otos will eat nothing else. The tank has a footprint of just 12 x 13 inches and even pygmy cories need more floor space than that.
There are very few fish suitable for a tank of this volume and dimensions, and those which are will be very small - small enough to trigger a betta's predator instincts. He may not be able to catch them but trying to will stress the small fish. Shrimps might be an option, but many bettas see shrimps as a tasty snack.
All ever kept with a betta was a nerite snail.

Which is spot on. But then you made another thread February 28th about stocking and asked again about pygmy cories/bottom dwellers/tank cleaners. The important quotes from that thread quoted below, bolding added by me;

Hello all,
At long last, I am nearing the end of my cycle process. Ammonia at 0, Nitrites are at 0.5ppm and falling! My tank is a 9 gallon fluval flex with dark gravel substrate, spider wood, blue seiryu stone and a massive fake bamboo plant that makes it look like a jungle but with some clear swimming space in front as well (see picture attached!) I may eventually put in some live plants but wanted to get started as easy as possible. Hardness is 4-26 mg/l, PH is right around 6.8-7. Any stocking suggestions? Thinking of having some bottom dwellers/cleanup crew, a school of something and maybe a showcase fish? Would appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on what might work well together in this setup.

A 9 gallon tank cannot hold many fish. Really no more than a betta or a shoal of one of the nano fish species, and maybe shrimps.


Is this 4 to 26 mg/l calcium carbonate? And is that measured by a test strip or from your water provider's website? If it is mg/l calcium carbonate, it is very soft water so a shoal of something like chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) would work well. As these small fish need big shoals, you could easily accommodate 20 of them.

Thanks for this. I got the hardness information from my water provider and it is mg/l. I like the idea of a large chili rasbora shoal - do you think I could do either pygmy cories or kuhli loaches on the bottom with the chili rasboras in this tank?

What is the substrate? In the photo it looks like quite large particles. Cories, especially the dwarf species like pygmies, do better with sand. I don't think the tank is big enough for a shoal of kuhli loaches though.

The reason a Flex is tricky to stock is the dimensions. It's almost a cube rather than a typical rectangular tank. The 9 gallon version is 14 x 13 x 13 inches/35 x 33 x 33 cm L x W x H. There are very few fish suitable for a tank with a swimming length of 14 inches/35 cm.

Fish such as lambchop rasboras (Trigonostigma espei) need at least 24 inches/60 cm swimming room, and even the smaller ember tetra really needs 18 inches/45 cm.

Then again, March 5th just six weeks after setting up and after adding pea puffers, you wanted to add more bottom dwellers;

Hey everyone,

I've got 3 pea puffers in a fluval flex 9 and all is going great! Was thinking about changing my substrate from gravel to sand and maybe adding some kuhli loaches. Do you think this would work? I've heard it might be best to keep them in a species only setup but would love to have some sort of bottom dweller and the kuhli loaches seem pretty great! Any advice is appreciated!

Essay's reply:

I wouldn't keep kuhlis in a 9 gallon regardless of tankmates. They need a group in a tank at least 2 feet long.

March 26th you made another thread:

Hi everyone,

I've started a second Fluval Flex 9 Tank that's cycled and I just added 4 Fancy Guppies yesterday. Wondering how many guppies I could eventually stock it with along with the number of pygmy or panda cories I might be able to add in the future as well (sand substrate is in place)? Any thoughts or even suggestions on other tankmates would be much appreciated!

Now come dude, really? By this point you'd already been warned by several people that this size and shaped tank isn't suitable for pygmies, let alone pandas which are even bigger! But you're still asking if you can add them? And bought a second tank with exactly the same size limitations as the first. The following responses in that thread sum it up really;

I wouldn't add any cories to this tank as the footprint is so small. Cories need to be in groups with the smallest ones needing a big group of 10+ but the tank is just not big enough for this.

Ok thanks for the advice. Any other cleanup crew you would suggest?

The main clean up crew is the fish keeper.

By April 5th you'd lost two of the pea puffers (which you'd added beginning of March). And you asked, again;

Hi everyone,

I see many differing opinions online regarding whether or not tank mates are a good idea to keep with a single pea puffer. I have one in a 9gal Fluval Flex with sand substrate, densely planted and with spider wood and stone. Lots of hiding places. Curious to hear your opinions on whether to just keep the pea puffer alone, add more puffers or if other tank mates could be added (ie: bottom dwellers like cories or a small school of shoaling fish? PH is 7, water temp is 77 degrees and water is on the soft side. Tank is well established.

Look forward to your opinions on this and thanks again.

Mike

Then August 14th, you've added seven embers now, and yet again wanting stocking ideas for this same tank, where did the remaining pea puffer and the guppies go? Do you still have two 9g fluval flex tanks?

Hi everyone,

I have a 9G Fluval Flex that I just added 7 ember tetra to. Thinking I might add another couple embers and then looking for other stocking suggestions. Any ideas?

Thanks for this. I do indeed have a fine sand substrate so pygmies would work great. What other “dwarf Cory” species are there? Hasborosus? How many Pygmy Cory or dwarf cories could I have in this setup?

So 12 embers and 12 or so Pygmy cories. I like that combo - thanks man! This will all work in the 9G flex?

In your defence here, I do think @itiwhetu @Byron and I misguided you in this thread because we didn't have the full history, and were discussing the principles of what elements pygmy cories need in a tank, rather than your specific case. I apologise for my part in that.
@Byron has kept pygmies in a 10g before, but I'm sure it was a rectangle, not a cube, and he's also very experienced and knows how to establish and balance a tank with that stocking level. I'm not knocking you for being a beginner there, I'm saying that it takes time and experience to be able to maintain fish in a small tank without risking their health, and you've experienced the losses that proves it, sadly. We didn't check the dimensions of the tank, which are just as important as volume, but @Essjay had definitely already outlined to you several times why your particular tank is not suitable for pygmy cories. But you leapt on the advice you wanted to hear, and went to try to get pygmy cories anyway. Byron also stressed the importance of live plants when trying to stock a small tank this heavily, but you're again searching to buy pygmy cories before planting up the tank...

Monday, you're still saying;

Good idea. Maybe a female betta

Yeah good call. Think I will stick with the embers and Pygmy cories

That brings us to this thread. Where you're looking for stocking other than pygmy cories only because your LFS doesn't often stock them, not because the tank isn't suitable for them


This is why I'm saying to stop, take stock, and reconsider this from scratch. Don't let a tank you currently have, dictate what fish you can keep, nor try to force fish to live in the wrong set up purely because you want them, and this is the tank you have.
You want pygmy cories!! I totally get that, I have them and love them. Also why I'm passionate about keeping them in the right conditions so they thrive, and a beginner to the hobby isn't set up to fail, with a heavy stocking of pygmy cories and ember tetras in an unplanted, very small and square tank. Forget the Fluval Flex. Reseach, deeply, what pygmy cories/ember tetras/a betta really need as a set up, then work out if you can provide that and how. You seem to want to keep a betta too? That tank is PERFECT for a single betta. So keep that tank and once you've rehoused or returned the ember tetra, get your betta.

If you still want pygmy cories and ember tetra, then you research the minimum tank size each species need, the water condition, substrate, temp, planting, compatibility etc that they need, then you get that tank and have it set up and cycled long before getting the fish. The key is to plan the setup around the fish you want to keep, not try to cram as many fish as possible together into the box you currently have, even when you already know that it's not right for them and they're not compatible.

 

[Essjay]

I have a tank a bit smaller than this, it's a 12 x 12 x 12 inch cube. I had a single male betta in this tank until he died. I now have red cherry shrimp. These are the only two things I would keep in my tank.