Can I add Corydoras?

[sunflower]

At the moment I have an 11 UK Gallon tank with 7 Plattys in there.

I was thinking of getting a silver Platty (to get there numbers back up to eight) and also some Corys.

My question is... is my tank big enough for Corys?

Thanks in advance

 

[VulcanNinja]

Yeah check out my tank, I have 3 corys in a 10 gallon and they do fine. I wouldn't get more than that though.

 

[sunflower]

Cool, thanks

 

[Pointy_kitty]

ummmm.....
its a little more complicated then that i'm afraid
see, VulcanNinja your tank is perfectly balanced and stocked
sunflower, i apologize as i am unsure of how much experience you have with fish
you have 7 soon to be 8 platy in an 11 gallon
i always encourage newer fish owners (under a year) to stock using a 1" of mature fish per gallon rule of thumb
so far with the platies alone you have 16" in an 11 gallon and you plan to add corydoras
are you aware that the average cory ranges in sizes from 2"-4"?
and that they are schooling fish so should be in at least in groups of 3 preferably more
i would say your best bet it to take a water sample of your tank into your local fish store and have them do a full test (nitrate, ph, ammonia, etc)
then if all of the chemicals are perfect (minimal nitrate, NO ammonia and perfect ph) then i would say you are ok to buy a pair ( not more then 2-3 as you have very restricted space) of pygmy corydoras (click for link) (only get 1")

good luck and please keep me posted

please don't just go out and buy the first cories you see

 

[Cheese Specialist]

PK, as everyone knows inch per gallon rules are not everything. As in you can be overstocked even if following that and understocked if you have more than you are 'allowed' depending on other factors. You casn have problems with things like territory and aggression even if a tank is supposidly understocked.

For example...

Filtration. How good is it? Is your water always clear? Are your fish healthy?

Maintenence. Do you have to do lots of maintenece to keep your levels steady? Is your tank prone to showing amonia if you miss a waterchange.

Territory/space. Someone can overload one level of the tank and in this case the bottom level is totally free. For this reason I would say that vulcan's tank may be overstocked as opposed to "perfectly balanced and stocked".

Waste created by fish. A 5" plec creates much more waste than a 3" rainbowfish and so this has to be taken into account when stocking. For example, tetra add very little bioload to a tank and the decision to add them can be made on the other factors. In this case the additions would be non messy fish.

There are also things with livebearers like the possibility of fry. What is the sex of the fish? If there are both sexes look forward to fry every 4 weeks.

Also feeding, plants and tap water levels can be used to judge and of course how full the tank actually looks. 11 UK gallons is 13 US and this must be remembered too. Movement of fish and when the fish are active can also be used.

I am simply explaining that it comes down to more than (useless IMO) inch per gallon rules and over simplified calculators that miss out the other important factors.

Incidently, I wasn't aware that stocking had any bearing on ph and what is the "perfect ph" in this situation?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

omg cheese
i knew she had live bearers and the fish she was considering in gereral are community
i have taken into account that there is no aggression, the fish are smaller, and everything else
i simply said "ph" since i have no idea how long she has had her set up for and adding more fish into a tank with bad anything is bad
i took all of this into account and i already know everything you've said but her specific situation (providing she was new) and considering her specific tank inhabitants i thought it best that she use a one inch of fish per gallon rule of thumb
this forum has debated this before,

but in her situation this was my opinion
you do not have to explain anything to me
i already know all of this
but i did not feal that a lecture was of any use in this situation
i'm not even sure that she will read this

 

[ddm18]

Another small point, which I know has been argued and debated many times before, but I just thought I'd add it to this thread for completeness. Cories are scavengers, and do a very good job of getting left over food that would otherwise rot and cause ammonia problems, thus, in some cases, making them almost a negative bioload. No?

 

[kitties1]

Cories are scavengers, and do a very good job of getting left over food that would otherwise rot and cause ammonia problems, thus, in some cases, making them almost a negative bioload. No?

Not necessarily...Cories do produce their own waste so they wouldn't really be a negative bioload. And it also depends on if you feed them algae wafers or just let them pick up the leftovers. Ifeed my cories rather than just let them scavenge and this has caused them o grow quite nicely.
Another point too, theoretically my tanks are overstocked. But my water parameters are perfect and my fish are all happy and healthy. As far as the species that will outgrow their current environments, well, i have already planned to relocate them to a 150g when the time comes. So although I started out following the 1 inch per gallon rule, I haven't really adhered to it and I have never had problems. But then again I am also a maintenance freak, doing weekly water changes and gravel siphoning etc.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

but in her situation this was my opinion
you do not have to explain anything to me
i already know all of this
but i did not feal that a lecture was of any use in this situation

Er... it wasn't aimed at you. I wrote it in response to yours because I had a couple of things to point out but most was aimed at the person asking if they can have corydoras in their tank. Also, if you already knew all that, why didn't you say that? Other people read posts too and take advice from them for themselves.

 

[sunflower]

OK OK guys, My water is fine and I do the full range of tests myself. My Plattys are all female so no chance of fry. I change about 1/3 of my water weekly with a gravel cleaner/syphon (not because I have a problem but because I worry!!)

I'm not too concerned about the 1" of fish per gallon rule too much. Plattys are middle/upper dwellers and Corys are bottom dwellers so I didn't think that having 2 Corys would really harm that much.

Please don't fight!!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

lol, we're not fighting. PK and I have an understanding, don't we PK? We often disagree but we never hold it against each other.

I think you could add as many as 4 pygmy cories or 3 others, you must have at least 3.

 

[sunflower]

OK, I'm going to my lfs today so I'll see what happens.

 

[Pointy_kitty]

lol, we're not fighting. PK and I have an understanding, don't we PK? We often disagree but we never hold it against each other.

I think you could add as many as 4 pygmy cories or 3 others, you must have at least 3.

hehehe
remember good cop bad cop?

yeah sunflower and any others that catch our mini spats
were both head strong, although cheese is more open about it then me
neither one of us take offense to each other
you'll see us do this from time to time
tis a love hate relationship

 

[VulcanNinja]

Yeah, guys didn't mean to start an argument here. Actually I still quite new and shouldn't be giving advice yet. I was taking the question to read: "Is a 10 gallon tank big enough to have corys?"

But we're not fighting! It's more of a debate and a healthy one. We all want what's best for the fish.

In my case, I don't have a lot of rocks or wood taking up space so they're all pretty free to roam about. I have a few hiding spaces though for the frogs/shrimp.

 

[clutterydrawer]

pygmy corys often swim mid-level, rather than spending all their time on the substrate like other cories. not saying this is a bad thing but if you want to have something that acts like a cory, and have fish on all levels of your tank, you could try another small species like corydoras habrosus. they only get to about 1.2".