Newcomer About To Stock Is Tank

[Ninjouzata]

Hello all!
 
Sorry I disappeared for so long.  My computer died a horrible, painful death and I decided I would try and build a new one for the first time ever, which resulted in a month before I had anything working again.  But I'm back up and running, so I thought I'd post an update on here again (I really oughta move this to the journal section).  : P
 
My fish are all doing quite well!  The two mollies are still patrolling the tank happily, and their aggression issues are a thing of the past.  I have 6 cherries now (4 females and 2 males) and they're all quite happy and healthy.  One of them may have minor swim bladder issues (she appears to have a hard time swimming down for about 5 minutes after feeding), but overall they all do quite well and spend their days chasing each other all over the tank.  I've recently decided to go ahead and try to raise some Cory Cats (since I think they're adorable and after a LOT of research I think they'll do just fine in my tank), so I have 3 false juliis that are acclimating to the tank.  I've only had 'em a day, so hard to say how they're doing thus far, but so far so good! 

  I still don't have anything to take pictures with (though I'm hoping that'll get fixed soon-ish), so no photos for ya'll yet.
 
My current plan is to wait until new years ish (when I'm done with all my travelling) and see how the 3 cories are doing.  If everything's still OK I'll round out their school,and try to find one last "centerpiece" fish to put in the tank.  I'd like to get a pearl gourami, but I can't find any in the city I'm in. 

 
Actually, I might as well ask since I'm writing on here again, if I will be gone for 6 days around Christmastime, should I use an automatic feeder or just let the fish be for 6 days?  I have an automatic I used to use on my old 10-gallon (a Hagen feeder that works pretty well), but I imagine it'll result in some overfeeding.  I know fish can go 4 days without food no problem, but wasn't sure if 6 was pushing it.

Hii! I was wondering where you poofed off to. How's your new computer doing for you?
 
Glad to hear all the fishies are well. Can you remind me what you feed? If it's flakes, maybe you should soak them a bit before feeding.. Other than that I'm not sure how to help with the cherry.
That's a really cute cory! Good idea on waiting til new years to get some more.
 
Have you asked your LFS if they'll order in fish for you? Or you could order the pearl online?
 
You can just leave the fish without food, they can go for 2 weeks without it. Do feed just before you leave and when you get back do your water change and feed them again
 
Welcome back btw!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Glad to hear everything is still going well!
 
Can't wait for the pics!
 
Your fish will be just fine I've left mine for 9 days and all were perfectly fine, albeit a little skinnier.

 

[Klonoa50]

Hey all!  
 
The comp's working well!  I somehow managed to NOT screw up building it.  

 Thanks for askin'!
 
Everybody's still doing well, and the cories have settled in quite nicely.  The cherries apparently find them fascinating... a bunch of the females sit there and watch them swim around the tank.  It's a little strange.  I haven't asked my LFS about getting pearl gouramis in yet, hadn't even thought of that.  *laughs*  I'll check in with 'em and see if they do that.  I know they have had 'em in stock before, so if nothing else I can just have 'em call me when they get 'em in again.  

 
Yeah, I find 'em to be very pretty.  I was also thinking about getting some "Steelbali cories" (I have NO idea what species they actually are, the internet doesn't seem to know the name and I know PetSmart is notorious for getting names wrong), to complement 'em (they were a very dark brown with white spots, almost a reverse false juli).  I did some more research though and found out that different breeds of cories, while they get along fine, generally don't fulfill the "schooling" requirement since they communicate/behave differently, so I'll just stick with a Juli school.
 
Yeah, based on what I've read online and from what you guys are saying, I think I'll leave 'em without food until I get back.  The only fish I'm worried about at all are the cories (since they're still new-ish to the tank) but they should be fine from what I've read.  I do feed the cherries mainly flakes (they like to nibble on the cory's pellets and I feed 'em brine shrimp every now and then), and I completely forgot about all the soaking stuff I read online.  

 Thanks for the remiinder!  *laughs*  I'll start doing that and see if it helps her out any.  I imagine as she gets bigger it'll go away too, she's pretty tiny right now (definitely the smallest cherry I've got in the tank).  It's amazing how fast they grow... the first ones I got have doubled in size almost.  

 
Yeah, I'm hoping to get pics up soon-ish, as I mentioned.  Hopefully when I get back from all the holiday visiting.  

 
Thanks for the welcome back...it's nice to be around again!  And sorry it took me so long to post back, crazy busy workweek.  Yay holidays!  

 

[Ninjouzata]

Could you be referring to sterbai cories?
 
They do grow fast! Time just flies That's cute the cherries are watching your cories.

 

[Klonoa50]

Hey all!
 
Got back from vacation and found out my monitor had decided it wanted to stop working on the comp.  Apparently the whole system decided it wanted to go out in one fell swoop.    Got a new monitor in and can now finally reply to ya'll again.    Everybody did great while I was gone on vacation and the tank looked no worse for wear (a little algae was growing on the sides, but that was it).
 
Yeah, those are the ones!  Looked 'em up on the internet and the picture matches what's in PetSmart.  Next time I go there I'll make sure I'm not crazy and that they do actually have the wrong name.
 
Yep!  Though the watching behavior has mostly stopped by now: Everybody's used to everybody again.  I'm up to 4 cories now (one of the first ones was gone the 2nd morning (appeared to have been internal bleeding, I'm guessing from them removing him from the tank at PetSmart.  Was a new guy and he was pretty rough).    The other 2 are doing great though, and I've since added two more.  I'm debating if today I'll go out and get the last one or two cories or wait until later in the week.  
 
Other then that, there's not much to report.  I still haven't found a good way to take pictures of the tank (don't have any device that'll do it and host up to the web.  My phone can take really crappy images and put 'em on a SD card, but the new comp doesn't have an SD card slot).  I think I may have figured out a circuitous way of doing it... will give it a shot sometime next week.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your computer but at least you've got it fixed now Hope it stays that way!
 
Glad everyone has settled down. So sorry for your loss Definitely check them out when getting them at those stores..most of mine came with barbels or fins missing. They should grow back though.
 
You should be able to use your phone to send the pictures to your e-mail, at least that is what I do with mine.