Hello Everyone

[ashlerbam]

Hello Everyone.

intro:
I just got into fish keeping. It was something to get my daughter for her 2nd birthday as she really enjoys fish. As lots of people find out, including myself. I started out totally wrong. At the moment, we have a 10g community tank setup. And its been up and running for 7 weeks. The cycling is done (with the fish in there of course) something I regret but it went kinda smooth.

Stock as of now:

2x Cherry Barbs. Started with three
2X Molly (Dalmation, Silver) Started with three
1x Albino Corydora
1x German Blue Ram (female) Added at a later date.

Im aware now that I over stocked my tank. And quiet honestly was provided really bad info by the petstore as to my selection of fish.(German Blue Ram was added at a later date) But that is not their fault. I should have done the research. We did have 2 snails, one more molly, and another cherry barb. But a heat wave came through my area and my tank almost hit 92F and I was not home and we lost those fish. Later cooled it down with ice packs and a fan/hood open was able to save the rest.

I am now looking to get a 29/30g tank for the community to give them a little more space but also to be able to round out the shoal/schools of fish. As I know corydora's and cherry barbs like to have more then I have now. Poor guys.

I need info as to how many I can get and what I should get.

I was thinking of adding to what I have:

3x Cory 4 total
2x Cherry Barb 4 total
1x German Blue Ram (male) 2 total
Might add a couple snails as well

Any opinions or thoughts. We have the tank cycled. With a Marineland Emperor 280 filter. I do 1 to 2 water changes per week. 20-30%. If you need any more info let me know. Thanks!

 

[orangefish]

You do sound overstocked, although I would up the number of barbs and corys to 5 or 6 if you can

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Ashlerbam.
In a 10 gallon tank, I must agree with you about being heavily stocked. Once you get that larger tank, the corydoras population would do well to be increased as Orangefish suggested. In your present tank, I would not try it. The cory number we use most often is about 6 total of a particular species for good interactions. Cories are not the docile fish you see when you have one alone in a tank. They are boisterous shoaling fish that will all be very active in your tank when they have a few friends. I recently bought 12 Corydorus paleatus, peppered cories, at a fish club auction to place all in the same tank, it is a big tank. The end result is a very active and playful group of cories in my 120 gallon tank. You can just never appreciate the personalities of cories unless you have seen them in a large group.
Be careful with the snails. the common pond snails that hitchhike into our tanks on plants are seldom welcome additions. The "mystery snails", the diffusa, are another matter. They do not breed out of control, are not hermaphrodites like the others and are very nice in your tank. I find it difficult to keep them healthy in my tanks but really wish I could keep them. They are delightful members of the aquatic community but something about my tanks seems to kill them off. Do please remember that snail breeders reckon that it takes 2 gallons of water for each mature mystery snail. They really are a heavy biological burden compared to similar sized fish.
If you manage to get the right conditions for the rams to breed, they are much like any other cichlid, they will drive all other fish away from their chosen spawning site.