Coldwater Tank

[Irish_Lass]

If this is in the wrong section, I apologise. Feel free to move it if it is.

I have a 9 gallon heated tank that I run. It holds my VT betta and a corydoras catfish. Since this caused me to get bitten by the bug I now want to get a coldwater tank. I'm going out to shop (and hopefully buy) the coldwater tank this weekend. What breeds are suitable for a coldwater tank, other than the standard goldfish.

This is where all your knowledge comes in handy!

 

[kizno1]

depending how big it is shrimp, snails, white clouded mountin minnows, danios, guppies and some corys if it will stay about 20C. in the 9g betta tank you need to keep corys in groups of 4+ i would get a group of 8 in your tank or 12 pygmy corys :]

 

[Irish_Lass]

You would add more fish to the 9G tropical tank?? I've tried adding other fish in the past but they never seem to survive. I follow the rules of adding new fish to the absolute letter. They live for days/weeks then die. I stopped trying because it disheartened me and I thought "if its not broke, why try to fix it?"

As for the coldwater tank. Say I was to go with goldfish, regular as opposed to fancy what size tank(s) would you suggest for 1, possibly 2?

 

[kizno1]

corys really need to be in groups so i would try to add fish again. they look amazing in big groups when they all swim round together.
for a common golfish the min for on is 55g and 30g for every extra one and for fancies is 30g and 15g for every one after that i think. if your looking at a tank about 10-20g i would got for the danios or wcmm and some shrimp and snails :]

 

[Irish_Lass]

So you would advise getting 3 more cory' catfish for the 9G? Sorry for all the repetitive questions. I just want to get it right. I know a lot of people think "they're only fish" but I'm such an animal lover than I fret about doing the right thing.

 

[kizno1]

i think you could easily get a group of atlest 6 corys and the betta in there :]
what type of cory do you have?

 

[Irish_Lass]

I was told Sterbai Corydoras catfish in my LPS but I'm not so sure. This is the same LPS that told me bettas would live on tropical flakes alone! I was just lucky that I had read and researched a tonne beforehand.

 

[kizno1]

i would try and get 5 more of them then. they like the same temps as bettas about 28C.
what do you keep your betta at?

 

[Irish_Lass]

My tank runs at 80F, which is almost 27C if I remember correctly.

Another thing. My 9G is a shaped one. Would this make a difference to adding more catfish? I know in hindsight that fish people aren't fans of the shaped tanks but it was a naive purchase back at the beginning.

http/www.clearseal.com/aquariums_shaped_first.htm

Its the tank at the top of this link.

 

[kizno1]

that will be fine for corys i wuodlnt be to good for other cats but corys will be fine in that. for things like catfish its not so much the shape that matters but more the bottom space. i used to have a betta and 5 corys in a 5g hex wich they where fine in untill i reallised corys would get to big for a 5g. that was back when i first started.
:]

and yes thats 27c just checked and that will be fine or 28 but both are ok :]

 

[Irish_Lass]

Well I'll maybe look into some more cory' catfish tomorrow night on the way home from work too.

 

[kizno1]

sounds good let us know if you get any :]

 

[Irish_Lass]

If it all goes wrong again I'm hunting you down.

 

[kizno1]

lol im sure it wont just aclimatize them properly and im sure they will be fine :]

 

[Assaye]

Add some more cory but not too many! 9 gallons isn't a big tank at all (I would 't keep normal corys in their full stop as they can reach 2.5-3 inches) but Kizno is right, your cory should have some buddies. I'd add three of the same species as you currently have. 27 will be too high for some corys but I believe sterbai would be fine with it.

In terms of coldwater fish - many get really big. Fancy goldfish need 20 gallons for the first fish and 10 gallons there after, and may still need tank upgrades in the future. Koi and sturgeon are not suitable for fish tanks. White cloud mountain minnows should be in tanks of 40 litres as an absolute minimum IMO (same with "normal" sized tetras and rasboras) and danios need 60 litres absolute minimum for a small school.

If you fancied something different you could try fire bellied newts. They'd need a tank of about 60 litres for two or three and need cold water. They also need some land to climb onto so you'd need to lower the water level and make a bank of rocks (or something) for them to climb onto.