Series of Questions!

[Woodlol]

Questions regarding my two tanks, my 10 gallon and 30 gallon. I pictured my 30 gallon... I'm working on both. Sorry it's a lot!

1) Can cory cats and oto cats live together? I have two young panda corys and an old bronze cory cat in my 10 gallon, the old cory is kind of a fat bully who muscles the other two panda corys out of food. He's getting progressively fatter. I was considering moving the two panda corys to the 30gal and leaving the bronze cory in the 10.

2) Do bettas eat freshwater limpets? I have a bad limpet issue in my 10gallon. I've been thinking of moving 6 porkchop rasboras into my 30gal also (as well as getting more of them) and putting only a betta in the 10gal with the fat bronze cory. Thoughts?

3) Madagascar lace plant, thoughts? It looks AMAZING. Is it a tricky plant to keep? I was thinking of adding on to the back right corner of the 30 gallon I'm working on...

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Hi, there.
1. Absolutely. They'll completely ignore each other. But both species do best in groups of at least 5 or 6, so I recommend moving them into your 30, if possible. 10g is very small for a group of cories.

2. It probably depends on the betta. Are we talking spendens? Some are extremely predatory; others sit around and wait for flakes to arrive. I'd be happy to have some freshwater limpets, but I tend to enjoy "pest" snails. They usually don't get out of control if you don't overfeed. There are better ways to remove them than to depend on a betta to eat them.

Either way, I wouldn't leave that cory alone with him. It needs some friends. And I wouldn't put the betta in with the espies. A single betta alone in a 10g is fine, though.

3. I've never kept that one, but I hear it's quite tricky. The only person I personally know that has kept it successfully is @Boundava , so hopefully she'll chime in here.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Your 30g is quite nice looking, by the way. Tell us more about your setups!

 

[Ashleytaylor]

Your tank is gorgeous.!

 

[Colin_T]

Corydoras and Otocinclus can live in the same tank but won't hang out together. Otocinclus need an established tank that is 6 months old and has lots of biofilm. They don't do well in new tanks.

Bettas don't eat freshwater limpets.

Madagascan lace plants are hard to keep. They need lots of nutrients, good light and no algae. They do best when planted in pots with a fertiliser and clay substrate and given a liquid iron based aquarium plant fertiliser. Other Aponogetons are not much easier to keep.

 

[Woodlol]

Your 30g is quite nice looking, by the way. Tell us more about your setups!

Thanks for the excellent info! The only reason I've thought about keeping the bronze bully cory solo is that that's how it was for years lol I think it made friends with my previous betta in the 10 gallon because they would always hang out together. The two of them lived in the 10 for 5 years. How long do cory cats live??

Also thank you! It's been a work in progress for several months. ATM inhabited by 6 oto cats and 3 pearl gouramis. I plan on adding a school of something eventually... maybe cherry barbs, maybe tetras, maybe more rasboras, not sure yet...

For gear I'm using a hyger light which seems to be working well for the plants (jungle val, anubias, reineckii pink, herferi, tiger lotus, and some java fern pups from my other tank.) I use a liquid CO2 supplement at the moment but am planning on upgrading to cannisters eventually. I would have to check the filter... It's a cannister filter but I put the box in the garage.

Here's what it looked like about 2 months ago when I first started planting

 

[Wills]

Great advice here already but wanted to chip in and say how good the tank is looking, I remember you first setting it up and you've done brilliantly! Only thing I'd mention is those polished pebbles be careful as they are sometimes polished with chemicals and pastes designed more for displays in bowls and baskets rather than in aquariums.

Wills

 

[Beastije]

I absolutely love the piece of wood and i want to have something similar in mine, just haven't found the correct one yet! Might copy yours sorry-not sorry, is gorgeous.

Ad your questions, corries in large groups behave great, corries with otocinclus exist together very peacefully and like each other, bettas are usual lazy to hunt anything. Enders and guppies are good hunters for small pests.

 

[Woodlol]

Great advice here already but wanted to chip in and say how good the tank is looking, I remember you first setting it up and you've done brilliantly! Only thing I'd mention is those polished pebbles be careful as they are sometimes polished with chemicals and pastes designed more for displays in bowls and baskets rather than in aquariums.

Wills

Thank you! I picked these up at my local FS so hopefully they aren't treated.

 

[Woodlol]

I absolutely love the piece of wood and i want to have something similar in mine, just haven't found the correct one yet! Might copy yours sorry-not sorry, is gorgeous.

Ad your questions, corries in large groups behave great, corries with otocinclus exist together very peacefully and like each other, bettas are usual lazy to hunt anything. Enders and guppies are good hunters for small pests.

Thanks you!! Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery as they say. I can't wait to see what you do! I was digging through bins of wood at my local FS for probably 40 minutes before I found the right piece haha

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Pearl gouramis are great, aren't they? One of my all-time favorite fish. If you happen to have a male and two females, they'll probably spawn, sooner or later!

For a schooling fish, I suggest looking at pentazona barbs. They are beautifully colored, peaceful, and fairly calm so you could keep a nice, big school of them in a 30g without stressing out your gouramis.

 

[Woodlol]

Pearl gouramis are great, aren't they? One of my all-time favorite fish. If you happen to have a male and two females, they'll probably spawn, sooner or later!

For a schooling fish, I suggest looking at pentazona barbs. They are beautifully colored, peaceful, and fairly calm so you could keep a nice, big school of them in a 30g without stressing out your gouramis.

I've never heard of pentazona barbs! They look a lot like tiger barbs don't they?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I've never heard of pentazona barbs! They look a lot like tiger barbs don't they?

They look a lot like them, but a little more slender and more red than orange. Best of all they're more calm and they aren't bent on world domination like most tiger barbs seem to be. Penties kind of like to hide out in the bushes, but they're colorful enough you can still see them. They're definitely a shoaling fish, though, and I wouldn't advise keeping less than about six of them.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

(ten or twelve would be better. )