Pigmy Corydoras

[Country joe]

Can you introduce these fish to a new aquarium if readings are good, or do you have to wait awhile till tank is established, have been told by fish store employee you can introduce them to a new tank if readings are OK.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. I would say yes. A tank can be ready for fish after being set up and allowed to run for a couple of days. This means the water temperature is stable, the water has been treated to render all public water chemicals non toxic and the bacteria starter dosed according to instructions. I've introduced fish within two days of setting up a tank this way. Once the fish have been properly acclimated, you just remove and replace the half the tank water every three to four days and always dose the water treatment and bacteria starter as given in the instructions every time you perform a water change.

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[10 Tanks]

Hello. Apparently, you already understand the process for acclimating your fish and understand the importance of keeping the food you feed to a minimum. I feed a little every other day, so my fish are constantly on the move to locate that one, tiny bit of food the other fish have missed. This way, the fish do their part in keeping the tank water clean.

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[Fishfunn]

I always treat new tanks with bottled nitrification bacteria to speed up the nitrogen cycle. There are a lot of happy customers (including me) using this product:

FritzZyme® 7 Freshwater

Fritz Aquatics' FritzZyme® 7 Freshwater is a live, nitrifying bacteria used to rapidly eliminate toxic ammonia and nitrites in freshwater tanks.

fritzaquatics.com

 

[Country joe]

Thanks for that, but I use Goop.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Can I ask what the numbers for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are, please?

What method(s) did you use to cycle the tank?


How long has the tank been set up, What size is the tank, is it well planted, what substrate etc?

Cycling is a bit more complicated than the numbers looking good, and while pygmy cories are a wonderful species that are a joy to keep, they're very small and sensitive fish that don't cope well should numbers start to climb once you introduce living fish into the tank. Much better for any fish you plan to add to make sure it's fully cycled and stable first (lots of fast growing live plants can help a lot, too).

Some stores will tell you what you want to hear, either because they don't really know (especially in large chain stores, the staff working the fish section may or may not know much about aquarium keeping) while some will outright lie in order to sell stock to you immediately - often immediately followed by snake oil products to try to save the fish once things start to go wrong...

We have no vested interest other than as fellow fishkeepers, who want newcomers to the hobby to have the best success they can, and have fish that survive and thrive! Sometimes that means being patient and not introducing fish yet, or planning out the stocking more carefully before adding any (for an example, pygmy cories are great, but if you introduce a much larger and more aggressive mid-level fish that might eat them or at least terrify them, you won't be getting the most enjoyment or success with your tank!)

So the more info, pictures, hopes and plans you can share with us, the better able we'll be to provide advice specific to your tank, fish choices and situation! Wishing you all the best, and welcome to the forum and the hobby

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Hello. I would say yes. A tank can be ready for fish after being set up and allowed to run for a couple of days. This means the water temperature is stable, the water has been treated to render all public water chemicals non toxic and the bacteria starter dosed according to instructions. I've introduced fish within two days of setting up a tank this way. Once the fish have been properly acclimated, you just remove and replace the half the tank water every three to four days and always dose the water treatment and bacteria starter as given in the instructions every time you perform a water change.

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Sorry, but this is terrible advice to give to general people who may or may not have water testing kits, may never have kept fish before, might not even know what the nitrogen cycle is, and is how plenty of people join the hobby by buying an aquarium starter kit for their kids, fully, badly and overstocking it within a week because the store said it was okay, then coming here as their fish start to go belly up one by one.

An experienced hobbyist who is likely seeding the cycle using existing tanks, making use of live plants, is able to test the water and do large water changes when needed can get away with it - but in terms of just saying it's that easy is precisely why so many people buy those starter kits, stock them, lose all the fish, then give up the hobby immediately, since all it did was upset their kids and convince them that fishkeeping is too hard. When patience and learning about the cycle/appropriate stocking and when and how to water change could have made all the difference.

There's no need to put fish through a fish-in cycle, experienced hobbyist or not, except in the case of an emergency. Wanting to stock a new tank right away is not an emergency of any of kind.


I don't want to sound too harsh, but you have to consider how many people lurk these forums compared to how many actually post and ask for advice, and that these threads will often appear years after the fact in general google searches. A beginner reading this advice from you would be easily set up for awful losses.

 

[Country joe]

I have a 125 community aquarium stocked with live plants
Black phantom tetras, Harlequin Rasboras green neon tetras glowlight tetras and 4 ottos, it been run in for 4 months and everything is good, I cycled it using dr tims.
I have now purchased a 70 litre tank, again it will have live plants, I plan to use Goop and introduce 6 black tetras.
I'm just setting it up, with live plants from k2aqua arriving tomorrow.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have a 125 community aquarium stocked with live plants
Black phantom tetras, Harlequin Rasboras green neon tetras glowlight tetras and 4 ottos, it been run in for 4 months and everything is good, I cycled it using dr tims.
I have now purchased a 70 litre tank, again it will have live plants, I plan to use Goop and introduce 6 black tetras.
I'm just setting it up, with live plants from k2aqua arriving tomorrow.

Main community tank sounds good! The main one or the 70L will be fine for pygmies, and they do have a low bioload... especially if you seed the cycle using media etc from your more established tank, then a 70L would be fine for a group of pygmy cories (assuming it's a rectangular tank, more footprint than height?)

But once it's fully cycled. I wouldn't add live stock until you're sure it's safely cycled, live plants are also growing, etc. Even once cycled, bear in mind that it still takes 3-6 months for a tank to really be considered well established.
Better to stock a day late than a day early...

I don't know what Goop is I'm afraid, so can't speak to whether it's any good.

I would seriously reconsider the black (Phantom?) tetra for a 70L. They really need a larger group size than just six, which a 70L can't really support, they might well get nippy if kept in a smaller group number, and for a shy and easily spooked fish like pygmy cories, that's got a great mixture. I'd consider almost any of the popular "nano" species of tetra as much more suitable for the tank size, and to live with the cories without spooking or potentially harming them. The 125 is great for the black phantoms you have.

Green neon tetra remain much smaller and could live happily in with pgymies, in a larger group number once the 70L is well stocked. So could Ember tetra, chili rasbora - so many beautiful nano species of tetra and rasbora would work brilliantly in that tank size, with pygmy cories, and with the lovely soft water you guys usually have in Scotland (so jealous, here in my hard water area! )

So personally I'd recommend thinking about different mid-upper level, nano fish in groups of 12 or so, and about the same amount of pygmies, and you'd be well stocked, especially if well filtered and heavily planted.

 

[Country joe]

Main community tank sounds good! The main one or the 70L will be fine for pygmies, and they do have a low bioload... especially if you seed the cycle using media etc from your more established tank, then a 70L would be fine for a group of pygmy cories (assuming it's a rectangular tank, more footprint than height?)

But once it's fully cycled. I wouldn't add live stock until you're sure it's safely cycled, live plants are also growing, etc. Even once cycled, bear in mind that it still takes 3-6 months for a tank to really be considered well established.
Better to stock a day late than a day early...

I don't know what Goop is I'm afraid, so can't speak to whether it's any good.

I would seriously reconsider the black (Phantom?) tetra for a 70L. They really need a larger group size than just six, which a 70L can't really support, they might well get nippy if kept in a smaller group number, and for a shy and easily spooked fish like pygmy cories, that's got a great mixture. I'd consider almost any of the popular "nano" species of tetra as much more suitable for the tank size, and to live with the cories without spooking or potentially harming them. The 125 is great for the black phantoms you have.

Green neon tetra remain much smaller and could live happily in with pgymies, in a larger group number once the 70L is well stocked. So could Ember tetra, chili rasbora - so many beautiful nano species of tetra and rasbora would work brilliantly in that tank size, with pygmy cories, and with the lovely soft water you guys usually have in Scotland (so jealous, here in my hard water area! )

So personally I'd recommend thinking about different mid-upper level, nano fish in groups of 12 or so, and about the same amount of pygmies, and you'd be well stocked, especially if well filtered and heavily planted.

Sorry its not a phantom tetras, but it should be a neon black tetra. GOOP is live bacteria in a pouch, you rub it into your filter sponges, they then say you add the fish up to 48 hours, it's made by Nitrico, check it out.

 

[Essjay]

This is Goop

Nitrico Bacterial Goop - The Trop Company

Tropical fish delivered to your door with a 7 day guarantee!

www.tropco.co.uk

That page has a link to a pdf with more info.


However, this page says that Goop contains Nitrosomonas (ammonia eaters) and Nitrobacter (nitrite eaters not found in fish tanks but in high nitrite water). Nitrospira are the nitrite eaters which grow in fish tanks. It may say this because they read old literature and named the wrong nitrite eaters, or it really might contain the wrong ones.

Nitrico

Nitrico live filtration bacteria products eliminate the need for cycling of your aquarium allowing the introduction of new fish into a new aquarium without lengthy delays

nitrico.co.uk

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Sorry its not a phantom tetras, but it should be a neon black tetra. GOOP is live bacteria in a pouch, you rub it into your filter sponges, they then say you add the fish up to 48 hours, it's made by Nitrico, check it out.

Given what @Essjay has said above, and she is a qualified chemist while I struggled with GCSE chemistry - I'd definitely trust her word over which products are worth it!

I do remember there's a specific brand that holds the patent to sell the proper aquarium-needed nitrifying bacteria...

But since you already have a cycled tank, you could easily squeeze out filter media sponges into the new filter for the new tank, move some hardscape or substrate over as well, and transfer some of the beneficial bacteria you've already got in your established tank, to "seed" the cycle of the new one. You already have the bacteria you need growing in the filter and on all the hard surfaces in your current tank, and provided it's healthy, there's no reason you shouldn't use it to kick start the cycle in the new one. You still need to feed and grow those bacteria colonies to handle the bioload of the new tank, and they take a little time to do that, but it's certainly much faster than cycling from scratch, and more reliable than bottled bacteria that may not have the right bacteria, or may have been stored incorrectly and not work at all.

 

[Country joe]

This is Goop

Nitrico Bacterial Goop - The Trop Company

Tropical fish delivered to your door with a 7 day guarantee!

www.tropco.co.uk

That page has a link to a pdf with more info.


However, this page says that Goop contains Nitrosomonas (ammonia eaters) and Nitrobacter (nitrite eaters not found in fish tanks but in high nitrite water). Nitrospira are the nitrite eaters which grow in fish tanks. It may say this because they read old literature and named the wrong nitrite eaters, or it really might contain the wrong ones.

Nitrico

Nitrico live filtration bacteria products eliminate the need for cycling of your aquarium allowing the introduction of new fish into a new aquarium without lengthy delays

nitrico.co.uk

I did phone them, and was told, they have now found you can keep Goop in your fridge, not freezer, fo up to a week, and will still work.

 

[Essjay]

It doesn't matter how it's kept, it's what's in it that matters.

Years ago, research was done to identify the ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria in water with high nitrite levels. It was assumed the same bacteria grow in fish tanks. Later research showed that the ammonia eaters were the same as in fish tanks, but the nitrite eaters in fish tanks were different from that earlier research. The people who discovered the correct nitrite eaters in fish tank copyrighted the use of them.

On the website, Goop says it contains the wrong nitrite eaters, it says it contains the ones which only grow at high nitrite levels. What we can't know is whether that's because when they wrote their website they copied the bacteria name from the old research even though Goop contains the right species; or whether it really does contain the ones they say on their website, which are the wrong ones.

 

[10 Tanks]

Sorry, but this is terrible advice to give to general people who may or may not have water testing kits, may never have kept fish before, might not even know what the nitrogen cycle is, and is how plenty of people join the hobby by buying an aquarium starter kit for their kids, fully, badly and overstocking it within a week because the store said it was okay, then coming here as their fish start to go belly up one by one.

An experienced hobbyist who is likely seeding the cycle using existing tanks, making use of live plants, is able to test the water and do large water changes when needed can get away with it - but in terms of just saying it's that easy is precisely why so many people buy those starter kits, stock them, lose all the fish, then give up the hobby immediately, since all it did was upset their kids and convince them that fishkeeping is too hard. When patience and learning about the cycle/appropriate stocking and when and how to water change could have made all the difference.

There's no need to put fish through a fish-in cycle, experienced hobbyist or not, except in the case of an emergency. Wanting to stock a new tank right away is not an emergency of any of kind.


I don't want to sound too harsh, but you have to consider how many people lurk these forums compared to how many actually post and ask for advice, and that these threads will often appear years after the fact in general google searches. A beginner reading this advice from you would be easily set up for awful losses.

Hello AdoraBelle. I completely disagree with you saying this is terrible advice. How did you come to this conclusion? Have you tried this method? I believe this is a very safe means of establishing a tank. I've used it several times and wouldn't recommend it if I hadn't used it myself. It's obvious you've never tried it and if you prefer waiting several weeks to cycle your tank, then you're welcome to do it your way. Some tank keepers, like me, would rather enjoy fish from the start and the method I described will allow this with no harm to the fish.

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