New to pygmy corydoras and forum

[FishyBean]

I've been out of the hobby for over 20 yrs. My wife saw several nano tanks and wanted one and the journey started again.
There is a 10 gal bowl with 2 series, about 20 cherry shrimp, and now 6 pygmy. The pygmy was isolated in an unlit (only ambient room light), planted holding tank for two weeks. I could see them searching the bottom for food when not swimming. Now that they in in there permanent home, 10 gal planted tank they only stay mid-zone and I have not noticed them looking for food or on the bottom. What am I doing wrong.

 

[emeraldking]

Firstly, welcome to our forum...
But that's so funny that you're just out of the hobby for 20hrs ago and now restart again...
Have fun overhere...

 

[gwand]

Welcome. What is your substrate?

 

[FishyBean]

Welcome. What is your substrate?

Oops!! Forgot the important stuff:
Substrate is sand
Deco is small driftwood on a rock
ph is 7.6 high pH 7.4
Tds is 247
Ammonia is zero
Nitrite is zero
Nitrate is 5
Gh is 9
Kh is 11
Phosphate is by 3

 

[sharkweek178]

I've been out of the hobby for over 20 hrs. My wife saw several nano tanks and wanted one and the journey started again.
There is a 10 gal bowl with 2 series, about 20 cherry shrimp, and now 6 pygmy. The pygmy was isolated in an unlit (only ambient room light), planted holding tank for two weeks. I could see them searching the bottom for food when not swiming. Now that they in in there permenate home, 10 gal planted tank they only stay mid-zone and I have not noticed them looking for food or on the bottom. What am I doing wrong.

They can be pretty nocturnal. Good chance that they're eating at night.

 

[FishyBean]

They can be pretty nocturnal. Good chance that they're eating at night.

Thanks, I hope that is the case. None of the articles I read mentioned that possibility.

 

[Innesfan]

How long have they been in the new tank? I find that newly introduced 'cories' of many species don't immediately settle in and settle down to the bottom. It may take several days, And as it is, the three dwarf species do spend a lot more time mid-water than the others.

 

[FishyBean]

How long have they been in the new tank? I find that newly introduced 'cories' of many species don't immediately settle in and settle down to the bottom. It may take several days, And as it is, the three dwarf species do spend a lot more time mid-water than the others.

It has been a week. Maybe we should relax and let them do their thing and not be a helicopter over the tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You did not mention either a filter and/or an air stone? You also did not mention the tank temp. Is it possible you have neither? If so, then my guess is the oxygen level in the water decreases as fish get closer to the bottom.

Also, corys are bottom feeders. Are you feeding food that sinks for them?

 

[fishorama]

Pygmy corys often swim midwater, it's part of their charm But a "bowl" might not have enough surface area for good oxygenation. As asked, what filtration are you using?

A week is not long enough for them to be fully adjusted yet.

 

[FishyBean]

Thanks to all for the good infomation. To my surprise this morning, one is skimming the bottom, and the others are mid level still. My molina culture started hatching and I added a few (did not add a lot) to give them live food.

 

[FishyBean]

You did not mention either a filter and/or an air stone? You also did not mention the tank temp. Is it possible you have neither? If so, then my guess is the oxygen level in the water decreases as fish get closer to the bottom.

Also, corys are bottom feeders. Are you feeding food that sinks for them?

Okay, I will use my air pump and set it for 10 second burst. The tank temp is at 75.6 and this is and all natural tank, planted with hornwart in the sand ( about 2" & dirt about 1") and floating, also have dwarf Sagittarius, anacharis, and duck weed. Lighting is medium led, 9" above and programmed for 12 hours with 25% white, 60% red, 15 % blue and 25 % green. The tank has some algea on plants, not a lot on glass.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Plants will use ammonia in the form of ammonium. Given enough plants and lighter stocking one can get away with minimal bacteria. However gas exchanged happens at the surface and this requires that the surface be agitated.

Also, there needs to be circulation in a tank and this means moving water. Why not run an airstone 24/7? This helps circulate water as well as creating surface agitation.

I have never had any desire to have filterless tanks with no surface agitation and have no desire to do so. I believe it leaves a tank open to problems if stocking gets too high and/or plants get removed or die off. In fact I often stock heavily and even will overstock to some degrss.

But, if you can keep things monitored and others are correct about the corys settling down some with time, you should be OK. Corys do have the ability to gulp air at the surface when DO level in the water are on the low side. These fish often get stranded in low water areas as the rainy season ends and the water levels recede. The air gulping ability allows then to survive such conditions.

Even when DO levels are fine it is not uncommon to see corys shoot up to the surface now and then and gulp some air. However, when this is ongoing and never seems to pause for very long it can be a sigh of low DO levels. However, other fish in the tank may be showing signs of oxygen deprivation since they do not have the ability to gild air like corys.

One last observation. Your pH is fine for the corys but they tend to like softer water as Planetcatfish.com puts it, "Prefers slightly soft water." https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=283


General Hardness

0 - 4 dH, 0 - 70 ppm : very soft
4 - 8 dH, 70 - 140 ppm : soft
8 - 12 dH, 140 - 210 ppm : medium hard
12 - 18 dH, 210 - 320 ppm : fairly hard
18 - 30 dH, 320 - 530 ppm : hard
higher : liquid rock (Lake Malawi and Los Angeles, CA)
from https://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html

 

[FishyBean]

Oops!! Forgot the important stuff:
Substrate is sand
Deco is small driftwood on a rock
ph is 7.6 high pH 7.4
Tds is 247
Ammonia is zero
Nitrite is zero
Nitrate is 5
Gh is 9
Kh is 11
Phosphate is by 3

Plants will use ammonia in the form of ammonium. Given enough plants and lighter stocking one can get away with minimal bacteria. However gas exchanged happens at the surface and this requires that the surface be agitated.

Also, there needs to be circulation in a tank and this means moving water. Why not run an airstone 24/7? This helps circulate water as well as creating surface agitation.

I have never had any desire to have filterless tanks with no surface agitation and have no desire to do so. I believe it leaves a tank open to problems if stocking gets too high and/or plants get removed or die off. In fact I often stock heavily and even will overstock to some degrss.

But, if you can keep things monitored and others are correct about the corys settling down some with time, you should be OK. Corys do have the ability to gulp air at the surface when DO level in the water are on the low side. These fish often get stranded in low water areas as the rainy season ends and the water levels recede. The air gulping ability allows then to survive such conditions.

Even when DO levels are fine it is not uncommon to see corys shoot up to the surface now and then and gulp some air. However, when this is ongoing and never seems to pause for very long it can be a sigh of low DO levels. However, other fish in the tank may be showing signs of oxygen deprivation since they do not have the ability to gild air like corys.

One last observation. Your pH is fine for the corys but they tend to like softer water as Planetcatfish.com puts it, "Prefers slightly soft water." https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=283


General Hardness

0 - 4 dH, 0 - 70 ppm : very soft
4 - 8 dH, 70 - 140 ppm : soft
8 - 12 dH, 140 - 210 ppm : medium hard
12 - 18 dH, 210 - 320 ppm : fairly hard
18 - 30 dH, 320 - 530 ppm : hard
higher : liquid rock (Lake Malawi and Los Angeles, CA)
from https://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-chem.html

Thanks, Two TankAmin; the long and short of it is:
Decided to go filterless because the videos made it look easy and the cost of constantly running air pump, filters, heater (only for winter) and lights. Electrical cost is crazy, when you add in daily household needs. So, the 1 year eight-month journey started. After all my research, I decided filterless nano was the way to go but not without many problems of major algae blooms of just about every form out there. Being familiar to the filter and chemical system, I had to relearn fish keeping.
So, I purchased medium light fast-growing, and some slow growing plants based on their benefits to the no filter, or chemicals environment for water parameters, oxygen, fighting algae, nutrient absorption, etc. and type fish, shrimp and snails.
Now, have no had algae for over six months, plants are doing their jobs, and water changes not needed for at least 2 weeks. I and my wife are the problem now being unfamiliar the nano fish like the corys. My wife wants to over feed, gets confused with water parameters, and I have become a helicopter constantly monitoring for dangerous conditions.
The corys seem to be settling in and more are savaging the bottom.

 

[sharkweek178]

If you want to try something. Set up a webcam with night vision so you can observe your tank at night. I used to see a lot of activity from my pygmy corys that way.