betta + pandas?

[smpthy4thedevil]

alright, so i've got a male betta in a 5 gallon tank. it's fully cycled, and i had 3 platies in there with him, but i discovered them to be vicious fin-nippers... which is odd, since every place i've seen them mentioned says that they're peaceful and get on well with bettas... so i donated the platies to a LFS.

but that's beside the point.

i want to put in 2 or 3 panda cories with him. i did a 100% water change to remove all the salt i'd had in the tank for the platies, and there are plenty of plants in there, as well as a terracotta flowerpot cave-type thing.

i really want the panda cories, but i'm not sure if 3 of them would fit in the tank with the betta. is 3 too many for such a small tank? the betta in that tank is not aggressive at all compared to my other bettas, so i dont see that being a problem, but i dont want my fish feeling cramped.

also, i've got rather large (comparitively) gravel. the peices are from 0.5-1.0 centimeters in diameter, but they havent got any sharp or ragged edges, all the peices are completely smooth all around. is it possible that the pandas could injure their whiskers (feelers? whiskers? antennae? sorry i dont know the term) on the pebbles, just because they're big, even though they're smooth?

i dont want to go through the hassle of changing the gravel if there's any way around it, but i really want the pandas, and i really want them to be happy.

 

[NEON98101]

I think 3 panda would be fine in 5 G with betta. Since they only grow about 1 1/2"(TL) and they can utilize the air from the surface also. That is what the cory do. I did kept 7 growing cory in the 5 G before with the hang on power filter, then later I moved them to 10 G. So what kind of filter do you have and how far do you go to maintain the good environment for them? In another word, water change and vaccuming etc.
Right now I have 7 fully grown panda with 6~7 female neon and glow light in 10 G. And the panda lay eggs every week. I don't think they would do that unless they are fairly happy about the condition. I do feed them well and often. i also change the water often(2~3 times a week of 25~50%)
And you probably know this but they are the peaceful aquarium resident so you do not worry about harassing the Betta, they may stalk him for out of curiousty. but other than that, they are no trouble maker. And they can stand the little beating from the other fish also, since they do wear this armer and sharpe fins.
So I say, go for it if you can maintain the good water. Although they would be happier if they have more company, in another word bigger tank with more gangs. But I love my pandas, i think they are pretty and have funny character. I'm sure someone agree with me.
Especially when they wink or roll their eyes. They are a character all right.

 

[smpthy4thedevil]

i've got what i think is a power filter (it came with a tank set-up, it's got replaceable sponge/carbon filter pad type things) with a bio-wheel. i vacuum the gravel and change about 50% of the water once a week. i've never had any problems with water quality.

do you happen to know about the gravel, though? i've heard from some that big gravel will harm the cories' feelers/whiskers/whatever, but although it's big, the gravel i have is completely smooth.. more like pebbles than gravel. is this going to be a problem?

 

[NEON98101]

Oh, that what I forget to mention. They would not lose their wiskers from the big gravel but sharp edged gravels. It doesn't matter the size of the gravel. But since the pandas are small, they would be happier if you have small gravel or sands. Sounds like your current gravels are way too big. Although you do not want to change the gravel. So partial solution would be making some sandy area for the cory. Good spot would be front part of the tank so you can see them forage there. If you do not want to mix the sand and gravel, you can go get one of those plant pot saucer or glass ashtray and put some sand in it. While you are at it, you can put some clean blood worm or tubflix in the saucer. And I'm sure all your panda would gather and hunt for the worms. I personally use tubflix since they can carry some disease since they come from the dirty water. But it is up to you. You can use grindel or white worm or chopped up earthworm instead.
And do not get mad if your corry spill some sand out of the dish. They most likely to do that when some tasty food is wiggling in there. They get serious catching them.
Like I said, this is partial solution.

 

[smpthy4thedevil]

hmm... i dunno. i might just go ahead and change the gravel, despite the pain it creates in my general arse region. what is the biggest acceptable size of gravel for a panda to live happily in? what's the ideal size? i dont much like the idea of sand, as i cant imagine how hard it would be to vacuum.

 

[cutechic]

I had 2 panda corys in with my betta in the 4 gallon. The tank had small-to-medium sized gravel, but I completely regret not changing to sand before I added the cories. They were not happy at all Plus, they liked to feed throughout the night, but the sinking tablets would get wedged down into the gravel, where the cories could not get at it. JME

 

[smpthy4thedevil]

hmm... i dunno. i might just go ahead and change the gravel, despite the pain it creates in my general arse region. what is the biggest acceptable size of gravel for a panda to live happily in? what's the ideal size? i dont much like the idea of sand, as i cant imagine how hard it would be to vacuum.

anyone? biggest acceptable size/ideal size of gravel?

 

[NEON98101]

Since I am not an expert of the catfish or/and corydoras. Nor I never been to their habitat and collect them from their home. I can't give you the certain answer but...
I think you would do right if you research and find out where the spiecy you have or gonna keep come from originally. Which country, river and what kind of water they are from. I know some come from muddy substrate, and the other come from leaf litter piling up and yet other come from rocky bottom with rapid water.
So I don't know what is right substrate for the paticular spiecy of the cory. And in nature, I'm sure the most of the substrate is the combination of many sizes. OK, enough theorys. I give some tips from the observation. I notice that some big cory(I was told she is Melanitus which looks much bigger than Panda cory) drop some small gravel from the gill opening. So I suspect she eats by sucking small substrate and food particles at the same time and sift them through then food goes to stoamech and unedible goes out of the gill opening. And also I see the cory sticking their nose deep in the substrate up to their eyes, searching and/or chasing food. So I believe they would be happyif you keep them in the substrate small enough that they can move with their snout or as small as they can fit in their mouth. Then again, I'm sure most of the bottom of the river have some bigger gravel also or even some big stones. So mixed substrate probably be most natural for them. Although most of the people keep them in the tank would keep in the single sized gravels.
I would keep them with substrate small enough that they can dig and as small as they can suck them in their mouth if I were you. And maybe place few flat big stones as well as drift wood and some plants.

i dont much like the idea of sand, as i cant imagine how hard it would be to vacuum. nugget.gif

Actually I don't think it would be so hard to vacuum the sand substrate if you only keep clean not thick layer of it. Corys would do that most of the vaccuming for you by foraging throw it and they would find most of the food particles if not all. As long as the food would fit in their mouth. And when you do vaccum, just keep eyes on them and do not let the sand goes up all the way to the top of the vacuum tube. If you do, the sand goes to the waste bucket. Which can't be so bad if you recollect them and put them back to the tank.
And if you go smaller than sand like mud or clay, it would get messy unless you have really strong filter. I know the cory would make dust cloud everywhere while foraging and mixing the ground.