Quarantine advice needed.

[sharkweek178]

For me, I'd weigh moving him back and forth would be much more stressful for him than being alone for a few weeks. Imagine being netted and yanked out of the water in a net from the fish's perspective. They must feel like they've been grabbed by a predator. Being the only neon for a few weeks isn't the worst, and there are still other fish there since the cories are hanging out with him. Personally I'd leave him be, then really watch and enjoy his response when you add a load more new neons! He'll forget about that time alone quickly.

Plus the main tank is heavily planted. So netting a healthy fish isn't going to be easy with all the places it can hide. Which means even more stress for the fish being chased around by a net for an extended period. I set up the quarantine tank so that everything in it is easily removable so that I won't have any trouble netting them when the time comes.

 

[sharkweek178]

I'm not suggestion there is trouble here, but it pays to be cautious. Just keep an eye on the gourami--remember to sit without moving for 30+ minutes to see how fish are actually interacting. Pygmy cories browse the entire tank surfaces, and mine were frequently at the surface browsing floating plant leaves. The pygmies are not the possible issue, it is the naturally-territorial gourami who might decide these space invaders are not welcome.

This isn't a great quality pic. But I didn't want to scare them off by moving closer. Anyways, the honey gourami and pygmy corys are coexisting pretty well. Here the honey gourami decided that he wanted to join the corys and eat some of their food.

 

[sharkweek178]

I kind of lucked into mine colony breeding, but they've been breeding for almost three years now I think it is, feel free to hit me up anytime for tips to encourage spawning and fry raising themselves in the tank!

I don't know what the odds are for the eggs and/or fry with the assassin snails, neon tetras, and honey gourami in the tank with them.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I don't know what the odds are for the eggs and/or fry with the assassin snails, neon tetras, and honey gourami in the tank with them.

Lots of dense ground and mid cover plants gives them a better shot of some making it, since they scatter them about a bit too and gourami tend to stay near the top, but yes, other fish will make a meal of eggs! You could always set up a breeding tank or tote and deliberately spawn them in there if you want babies! And raise the fry yourself. It's work, but rewarding!

 

[sharkweek178]

Lots of dense ground and mid cover plants gives them a better shot of some making it, since they scatter them about a bit too and gourami tend to stay near the top, but yes, other fish will make a meal of eggs! You could always set up a breeding tank or tote and deliberately spawn them in there if you want babies! And raise the fry yourself. It's work, but rewarding!

I'll give that some thought. Right now I have the main 29 gallon, my 10 gallon and another 10 gallon for the quarantine tank. After these neons are out of quarantine, I was going to buy a few more pygmy corys. After that, I have some aquascaping ideas for it that I don't want to do while it's still a quarantine tank. I could probably find a LFS that would offer credit for pygmy corys.

I've been pondering another issue with the pygmy corys and maybe you or @Byron could offer some of your experience. I like to feed a variety of foods. High quality flakes and pellets and I also like to feed my fish frozen foods. Right now, I have frozen brine shrimp, daphnia and bloodworms. They get each of those frozen foods about once every 10 days. I was including frozen peas in the mix but I'm holding off on that because I don't think those are good for the pygmy corys. Now since the neon tetras and pygmy cories are smaller fish, I've been chopping up the brine shrimp and blood worms into smaller pieces when I feed those. I'm going to get some frozen baby brine shrimp and I'm pondering other frozen foods. Specifically smaller foods.
So between moina, cyclops, rotifers and anything else you can think of; what would be good frozen foods for the pygmy corys?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I'll give that some thought. Right now I have the main 29 gallon, my 10 gallon and another 10 gallon for the quarantine tank. After these neons are out of quarantine, I was going to buy a few more pygmy corys. After that, I have some aquascaping ideas for it that I don't want to do while it's still a quarantine tank. I could probably find a LFS that would offer credit for pygmy corys.

Sounds like plenty to keep you busy already! Hey, do whatever projects excite you, they're your tanks! But now you know it's an option at least, or like @Byron said, if you find you want them to breed, could try moving the other fish out and having it pygmy only for a while to give eggs and fry a chance to make it. But no pressure either, not everyone wants to breed all of the fish.

I've been pondering another issue with the pygmy corys and maybe you or @Byron could offer some of your experience. I like to feed a variety of foods. High quality flakes and pellets and I also like to feed my fish frozen foods. Right now, I have frozen brine shrimp, daphnia and bloodworms. They get each of those frozen foods about once every 10 days. I was including frozen peas in the mix but I'm holding off on that because I don't think those are good for the pygmy corys. Now since the neon tetras and pygmy cories are smaller fish, I've been chopping up the brine shrimp and blood worms into smaller pieces when I feed those. I'm going to get some frozen baby brine shrimp and I'm pondering other frozen foods. Specifically smaller foods.
So between moina, cyclops, rotifers and anything else you can think of; what would be good frozen foods for the pygmy corys?

Sounds as though you have it well covered! I love the Bug Bites products for cories, since it's insects only, but I don't fret if the cories also nom on the plecos algae wafer a bit before the plecos grab them, it happens (thinking of my big cories here rather than the dwarf) but if the pygmies eat some of the chopped thawed peas, I shouldn't think it would harm them as long as it wasn't a big part of their diet.
You've named all the small frozen/live foods I can think of! Oh, except mosquito larvae. I harvested a lot of those over the summer here and fed live, and they loved them. Some too big for them to fit in their mouths, but they certainly tried! And grabbed down the smaller ones. I've fed those live and frozen. I rely on what I can get hold of really, from a proper LFS. I don't trust the big box stores or ordering online in case they've been handled badly and defrosted then refrozen or something.

I tend to use cyclops, moina, rotifers, chopped mini bloodworm and BBS; between that variety and bug bites/a quality dried food, I don't think you can go far wrong! You could encourage seed shrimp and other micro critters for them to nom on too, using botanicals etc.

 

[sharkweek178]

Sounds like plenty to keep you busy already! Hey, do whatever projects excite you, they're your tanks! But now you know it's an option at least, or like @Byron said, if you find you want them to breed, could try moving the other fish out and having it pygmy only for a while to give eggs and fry a chance to make it. But no pressure either, not everyone wants to breed all of the fish.


Sounds as though you have it well covered! I love the Bug Bites products for cories, since it's insects only, but I don't fret if the cories also nom on the plecos algae wafer a bit before the plecos grab them, it happens (thinking of my big cories here rather than the dwarf) but if the pygmies eat some of the chopped thawed peas, I shouldn't think it would harm them as long as it wasn't a big part of their diet.
You've named all the small frozen/live foods I can think of! Oh, except mosquito larvae. I harvested a lot of those over the summer here and fed live, and they loved them. Some too big for them to fit in their mouths, but they certainly tried! And grabbed down the smaller ones. I've fed those live and frozen. I rely on what I can get hold of really, from a proper LFS. I don't trust the big box stores or ordering online in case they've been handled badly and defrosted then refrozen or something.

I tend to use cyclops, moina, rotifers, chopped mini bloodworm and BBS; between that variety and bug bites/a quality dried food, I don't think you can go far wrong! You could encourage seed shrimp and other micro critters for them to nom on too, using botanicals etc.

I mentioned the idea of harvesting mosquito larvae to the people I live with and they were a hard no on that.

 

[Byron]

I've been pondering another issue with the pygmy corys and maybe you or @Byron could offer some of your experience. I like to feed a variety of foods. High quality flakes and pellets and I also like to feed my fish frozen foods. Right now, I have frozen brine shrimp, daphnia and bloodworms. They get each of those frozen foods about once every 10 days. I was including frozen peas in the mix but I'm holding off on that because I don't think those are good for the pygmy corys. Now since the neon tetras and pygmy cories are smaller fish, I've been chopping up the brine shrimp and blood worms into smaller pieces when I feed those. I'm going to get some frozen baby brine shrimp and I'm pondering other frozen foods. Specifically smaller foods.
So between moina, cyclops, rotifers and anything else you can think of; what would be good frozen foods for the pygmy corys?

First, never feed cories foods high in protein. Second, do not feed much in the way of herbivore foods because cories cannot digest plant matter well. Third, cories lack teeth, so they cannot graze or chop food.

Cories in their habitats all eat insects, insect larvae, and crustaceans. Rarely worms. Bug Bites is ideal cory food. Omega One Shrimp Pellets also, these are higher quality and lower protein than competitor brands of shrimp. In frozen, daphnia is #1. Frozen shrimp is second. Bloodworms are OK once a week or less, though I stopped these a couple years back. There is far more good nutrition and roughage in the bug bites and daphnia.

If you have herbivore loricariids in the tank, Omega One Veggie Disks are good nutrition and it has enough non-vegetable stuff for the cories.

 

[sharkweek178]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart I added the quarantine neons to the main tank yesterday. I watched the lone survivor neon as I added the new neons. At first she hid in a corner because of all the disruption. The new additions huddled together on the other side of the tank. Soon, about 5 or 6 swam over to explore their new surroundings. When they got close to her, she came out. They looked at each other for a moment and then she joined the group and they swam off together. She has a school again.
After her being the only survivor of her first school and being alone since then, that whole scene probably made me a little more emotional than I should admit lol.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

@AdoraBelle Dearheart I added the quarantine neons to the main tank yesterday. I watched the lone survivor neon as I added the new neons. At first she hid in a corner because of all the disruption. The new additions huddled together on the other side of the tank. Soon, about 5 or 6 swam over to explore their new surroundings. When they got close to her, she came out. They looked at each other for a moment and then she joined the group and they swam off together. She has a school again.
After her being the only survivor of her first school and being alone since then, that whole scene probably made me a little more emotional than I should admit lol.

Aaww, that's lovely! Glad to hear it


I've had a similar thing, in that I have a few elderly tetra that I inherited from my late father's tank, the remains of schools he had. I have three glowlight tetra, one cardinal and one black neon. I don't plan on keeping those species myself, so just letting them spend their remaining time in my tanks until they pass.

I got some purple emperor tetra recently, and when I added them to the tank, the single black neon began schooling with them! They do look similar, I can see why he would. Nice that he seems comfortable going around with them anyway! Happy accident.

 

[sharkweek178]

I'm not suggestion there is trouble here, but it pays to be cautious. Just keep an eye on the gourami--remember to sit without moving for 30+ minutes to see how fish are actually interacting. Pygmy cories browse the entire tank surfaces, and mine were frequently at the surface browsing floating plant leaves. The pygmies are not the possible issue, it is the naturally-territorial gourami who might decide these space invaders are not welcome.

Just an observation here. The honey gourami seems to have sort of claimed the upper back left corner as his own. He swims all over the tank without causing any issues. But he often hangs out in that corner. None of the other fish go there so there haven't been any territorial disputes that I have seen.

 

[sharkweek178]

Aaww, that's lovely! Glad to hear it


I've had a similar thing, in that I have a few elderly tetra that I inherited from my late father's tank, the remains of schools he had. I have three glowlight tetra, one cardinal and one black neon. I don't plan on keeping those species myself, so just letting them spend their remaining time in my tanks until they pass.

I got some purple emperor tetra recently, and when I added them to the tank, the single black neon began schooling with them! They do look similar, I can see why he would. Nice that he seems comfortable going around with them anyway! Happy accident.

Alls well that ends well. The pygmys are still hiding a lot. I saw all of them out at once weeks ago. A couple days ago, I saw 8 out at once. Last night I only saw 4. I have a webcam with night vision. It's not the best clarity but sometimes at night when the lights are out, I can observe the tank a little. The pygmys don't come out any more then that I can see. But I know they're in there.

 

[sharkweek178]

Aaww, that's lovely! Glad to hear it


I've had a similar thing, in that I have a few elderly tetra that I inherited from my late father's tank, the remains of schools he had. I have three glowlight tetra, one cardinal and one black neon. I don't plan on keeping those species myself, so just letting them spend their remaining time in my tanks until they pass.

I got some purple emperor tetra recently, and when I added them to the tank, the single black neon began schooling with them! They do look similar, I can see why he would. Nice that he seems comfortable going around with them anyway! Happy accident.

Two developments. After talking to one of the people I live with, I think I'm going to harvest some mosquito larvae this summer.
And the pygmys seem especially active today. I never see them this time of day. But they are all over the place as I type this. I'm not seeing all of them. But I am seeing most. Which is a relief because I honestly wonder sometimes if they've died.