Stocking question

[Stefan3289]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing very well. I have a 29 gallon (30” by 18” I believe) where I currently have 7 mollies and 4 panda cories all juevinelle (Cory’s less than inch, Mollys around 1”). I also have several plants thanks to @Byron I finally have my ammonia/Chloramines reading 0 for the first time ever in that aquarium. I was wondering if I would be able to add 2 more panda cories to increase the group size. They have been so helpful in keeping extra food off the gravel and I love watching them swim around in their group.

Here’s my setup in more specifics if needed with last reading I just tested 10 minutes ago
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 7.4-7.6
Temp: 78 (I turned down my heater that was set at 75 to 72)

I run a 50 gallon rated aqua clear filter with 2 layers of foam and 1 layer of water the bio substrate that I had transferred from my 75 gallon to allow more beneficial bacterial. I have 4 water sprites and 4 cryptocoryne as plants, and run a 6-8 hours of light a day.

My cleaning schedule is once a week removing 50% of the water and cleaning the smooth small gravel substrate.

Let me know your thoughts if you think it would be fine to increase my Cory shole by 2.

 

[Sgooosh]

Hello all,

Hope everyone is doing very well. I have a 29 gallon (30” by 18” I believe) where I currently have 7 mollies and 4 panda cories all juevinelle (Cory’s less than inch, Mollys around 1”). I also have several plants thanks to @Byron I finally have my ammonia/Chloramines reading 0 for the first time ever in that aquarium. I was wondering if I would be able to add 2 more panda cories to increase the group size. They have been so helpful in keeping extra food off the gravel and I love watching them swim around in their group.

Here’s my setup in more specifics if needed with last reading I just tested 10 minutes ago
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 7.4-7.6
Temp: 78 (I turned down my heater that was set at 75 to 72)

I run a 50 gallon rated aqua clear filter with 2 layers of foam and 1 layer of water the bio substrate that I had transferred from my 75 gallon to allow more beneficial bacterial. I have 4 water sprites and 4 cryptocoryne as plants, and run a 6-8 hours of light a day.

My cleaning schedule is once a week removing 50% of the water and cleaning the smooth small gravel substrate.

Let me know your thoughts if you think it would be fine to increase my Cory shole by 2.

sometimes mollies get quite big, so you may need to be careful
but adding 2 cories should be fine, the cories will be happy too

 

[Stefan3289]

sometimes mollies get quite big, so you may need to be careful
but adding 2 cories should be fine, the cories will be happy too

Yeah I’ve read that they can get quite big. I have 2 swordtails they likely will get big. If they do start to grow very big I will likely donate them or see if someone would like to have them around. The one is very pretty he is a dark orange with a purple tint almost.

 

[Sgooosh]

Yeah I’ve read that they can get quite big. I have 2 swordtails they likely will get big. If they do start to grow very big I will likely donate them or see if someone would like to have them around. The one is very pretty he is a dark orange with a purple tint almost.

cool, do the mollies have sword tails or are you talking about the xiphophorus swordtail?
do you have a photo? i'd love to see them! I've had most of the common livebearers but never owned a molly before!

 

[Stefan3289]

cool, do the mollies have sword tails or are you talking about the xiphophorus swordtail?
do you have a photo? i'd love to see them! I've had most of the common livebearers but never owned a molly before!

Apologies not swordtails I meant sailfins, which also get big just like the sword tails. I will definitely snap a picture later today of him if he will cooperate and not swim away from the camera. This is also my first time having mollies I had 2 platies in the past back when I only had a 10 gallon tank

 

[Sgooosh]

Apologies not swordtails I meant sailfins, which also get big just like the sword tails. I will definitely snap a picture later today of him if he will cooperate and not swim away from the camera. This is also my first time having mollies I had 2 platies in the past back when I only had a 10 gallon tank

i love sail fins! yep, mollies are definitely larger than platies

 

[Byron]

Mollies if healthy will easily attain 3-4 inches depending upon type and gender. What is the GH of the source water, this is important.

As for the panda cories, definitely they should have a larger group, in the 9-10 or more range. If you are going to keep cories, they absolutely must have sufficient numbers or they will bee stressed. The temperature is a tad warm for this cory, it would be better around 74-75F, this refers to the actual water temperature, it is common for heaters to register warmer than the setting.

 

[Stefan3289]

Mollies if healthy will easily attain 3-4 inches depending upon type and gender. What is the GH of the source water, this is important.

As for the panda cories, definitely they should have a larger group, in the 9-10 or more range. If you are going to keep cories, they absolutely must have sufficient numbers or they will bee stressed. The temperature is a tad warm for this cory, it would be better around 74-75F, this refers to the actual water temperature, it is common for heaters to register warmer than the setting.

I lowered my heater as it was only set at 75 and the room temperature is at 70 so not sure how it got up to 78 for the tank but I turned it down a lot. Would getting that large amount overcrowd the tank? My GH if I remember correctly is around 160 (I forget the unit)

 

[Stefan3289]

i love sail fins! yep, mollies are definitely larger than platies

Here is a picture I tried to get of that sailfin I was talking about earlier he does not stand still

 

[Byron]

I lowered my heater as it was only set at 75 and the room temperature is at 70 so not sure how it got up to 78 for the tank but I turned it down a lot. Would getting that large amount overcrowd the tank? My GH if I remember correctly is around 160 (I forget the unit)

On the heater, my point was that setting the heater to say 75F does not mean it will heat the water to that exact temperature necessarily. It may heat it higher, or lower. Calibration of heaters is not always accurate, but that doesn't mean thee heater is not functioning. But you do need to work out just what this particular heater does, then go with that. For example, I had an Eheim Jager that when set at 25C maintained the temperature of the water at 27 or 28C, consistently, so I turned it down to 22C and it maintained the water at 25C where I wanted it.

No, increasing the cories will not cause overcrowding. Many consider numbers the only issue, meaning "x" number of fish for the tank volume, but this is not the criteria. Each species of fish has inherent needs and these must be met or the fish will be continually under stress, and that weakens it and makes it far more susceptible to disease. More than 90%of all disease of aquarium fish is directly the result of stress. With cories you need a group of the species. If the tank really could not hold the number needed, then it is not suited to the fish period. We havee tokeep fish in an environment that suits them, including how many, or we should not keep that species.

Food was mentioned earlier and I missed it, sorry. I want to point out that the food suitable to mollies is not at all suitable to cories. Mollies are largely herbivorous and thus need "green" matter in their diet. Omega One Veggie Flakes serve this purpose for one example. But veggie foods are not easily digested by cories and should not be fed. Cories eat insects, insect larvae and crustaceans; necessary foods include Bug Bites (ideal), Omega One Shrimp Pellets, and frozen foods like daphnia and shrimp are OK.

Cories also need a sand substrate. This too is important for their stress and health.

 

[Stefan3289]

On the heater, my point was that setting the heater to say 75F does not mean it will heat the water to that exact temperature necessarily. It may heat it higher, or lower. Calibration of heaters is not always accurate, but that doesn't mean thee heater is not functioning. But you do need to work out just what this particular heater does, then go with that. For example, I had an Eheim Jager that when set at 25C maintained the temperature of the water at 27 or 28C, consistently, so I turned it down to 22C and it maintained the water at 25C where I wanted it.

No, increasing the cories will not cause overcrowding. Many consider numbers the only issue, meaning "x" number of fish for the tank volume, but this is not the criteria. Each species of fish has inherent needs and these must be met or the fish will be continually under stress, and that weakens it and makes it far more susceptible to disease. More than 90%of all disease of aquarium fish is directly the result of stress. With cories you need a group of the species. If the tank really could not hold the number needed, then it is not suited to the fish period. We havee tokeep fish in an environment that suits them, including how many, or we should not keep that species.

Food was mentioned earlier and I missed it, sorry. I want to point out that the food suitable to mollies is not at all suitable to cories. Mollies are largely herbivorous and thus need "green" matter in their diet. Omega One Veggie Flakes serve this purpose for one example. But veggie foods are not easily digested by cories and should not be fed. Cories eat insects, insect larvae and crustaceans; necessary foods include Bug Bites (ideal), Omega One Shrimp Pellets, and frozen foods like daphnia and shrimp are OK.

Cories also need a sand substrate. This too is important for their stress and health.

I do have the omega one shrimp pellets that I also feed my syno but the pellets seems really large would they still be able to eat it? I occasionally feed the mollies brine shrimp so they get a little protein which the cories seem to enjoy too. I definitely get your point with the heater I turned it down and the water temp is now at 75. I will definitely increase the Cory count so they are happier I was afraid of adding a lot at once so my ammonia doesn’t spike as I just got it under control. As for the substrate, I was at least told if they rocks are round and smooth that it shouldn’t damage their bristles, is that not true?

 

[Sgooosh]

Here is a picture I tried to get of that sailfin I was talking about earlier he does not stand still

cool, i've never seen one that color

 

[Byron]

As for the substrate, I was at least told if they rocks are round and smooth that it shouldn’t damage their bristles, is that not true?

No, unfortunately this is false. Cories feed my taking in a mouthful of substrate, filtering out any food like insects, larvae, crustaceans, and expelling the substrate out via the gills. This is part of their genetic makeup as species, so they expect it. Obviously they will eat regardless, but that is not the point. They aree being denied something they 4xpect as normal, and this has issues for the fish health-wise. The roughness can cause barbel erosion, and gill damage, but gravel is more of a bacterial problem for cories. Bits of food gets down where they cannot get it, unlike sand which they filter, and it decomposes and barbel loss or worse can occur from this.