Want To Add Some Cory To My 30 Gallon Tank

[thezodiac]

hey guys so i have an established 30 gallon tank thats fully cycled. (api master test kit and has been running for over a year now)

have an aquaclear 70 filter on it (baffled)
150 watt heater
and live plants, with sand for substrate

stocked with 9 black skirt tetra (aka. phantom tetra)
1 albino bristlenose pleco (small maybe 3" at the most)
and 1 bollivian ram

tank measures 30" length, 12" deep, 19" height.

(always been a big fan and thought they seem pretty awesome but didnt want to spend $4-6 each for them like they are usually priced)
i want to add in some cory (local petsmart has them on sale this month for $1 each!)

link: http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3955210

i have a few questions:


how many can i add into my tank?

how many should i add at once? (example. put 6 in tomorrow, or 2 groups of 3, etc..)

they are all the same species so i was thinking about getting a mix of albino, peppered and green, will they still school together ? (is there any reason i shouldn't?)


thanks in advance

 

[chokko]

ive only got 7months experience in fishkeeping, but have strong opinions on this:

if 6 is all you're gonna get, get 6 of the same (either all at once or two lots of 3)..they're going to be happier and school together more often.

be prepared for the bristlenose to try and prevent the peaceful corys from eating, especially in a small tank (my 'big' tank is only 44gallon).
cory vs bn
but considering you're only willing to spend $1 on a fish, this might not bother you.

 

[thezodiac]

ive only got 7months experience in fishkeeping, but have strong opinions on this:

if 6 is all you're gonna get, get 6 of the same (either all at once or two lots of 3)..they're going to be happier and school together more often.

be prepared for the bristlenose to try and prevent the peaceful corys from eating, especially in a small tank (my 'big' tank is only 44gallon).
cory vs bn
but considering you're only willing to spend $1 on a fish, this might not bother you.

i dont have a specfic limitation on how many i can get.

and ill have to see my bristlenose has been very mild tempered.

also not the case ive spent up to $20 on certain fish before. just depends on the fish

 

[cynic]

Depends on the species, biggest is prob 2-2 1/2" max as a fully grown adult and there are pigmy's that are barely an inch. I have 11 panda's in my tank and could prob add a few more. That is with a female BN.

Please don't add mixed species, they live in huge groups in the wild even having 8 or 10 is probably stressfull but having one or two is worse. I lost several panda's to a fungal infection and the behaviour changed as the group shrank. Now i have 11 and the group behaviour is superb.

I found shoaling fish need to be in the biggest group you can manage, my 260L tank has 4 species, thats it and one of those is the lonesome plec. I have introduced the fish 5 or 6 at a time and the bigger the shoals get the better the colour, behaviour and health of the fish. I'm going to add another 5 collumbians to my tank and that will be full then i think.

Do check the fish though, see if you can avoid any that have any damaged/missing barbels, and i think panda corys are the most entertaining.

 

[thezodiac]

Depends on the species, biggest is prob 2-2 1/2" max as a fully grown adult and there are pigmy's that are barely an inch. I have 11 panda's in my tank and could prob add a few more. That is with a female BN.

Please don't add mixed species, they live in huge groups in the wild even having 8 or 10 is probably stressfull but having one or two is worse. I lost several panda's to a fungal infection and the behaviour changed as the group shrank. Now i have 11 and the group behaviour is superb.

I found shoaling fish need to be in the biggest group you can manage, my 260L tank has 4 species, thats it and one of those is the lonesome plec. I have introduced the fish 5 or 6 at a time and the bigger the shoals get the better the colour, behaviour and health of the fish. I'm going to add another 5 collumbians to my tank and that will be full then i think.

Do check the fish though, see if you can avoid any that have any damaged/missing barbels, and i think panda corys are the most entertaining.

i have no problem adding in like 8 of them (or 10), the only thing is im worried ill throw my tank into a mini cycle

so maybe add in 6, then wait a week or 2 and then add a few more

 

[iantaylor]

I have in my aquarium about 22 corys, about 6 species, a female bristlenose all living very happyly together
My aquarium is 4'x2'x2', also fully planted
Corys do like to shoul together.
I would try cory sterbia nice and colourful

 

[karawr]

Fyi from the looks of it you have black phantom tetras, not black skirt tetras. They are two different fish.

As everyone is saying, I wouldn't mix cories species. Just get one big group. Also considering you're getting this at petsmart I don't think he has the option of sterbais or pandas.

So just pick the one you like the most, and get a couple. If you're worried about the cycle do a batch of like 4 + 4 or 6 + 4 if you want 10.

 

[thezodiac]

Fyi from the looks of it you have black phantom tetras, not black skirt tetras. They are two different fish.

As everyone is saying, I wouldn't mix cories species. Just get one big group. Also considering you're getting this at petsmart I don't think he has the option of sterbais or pandas.

So just pick the one you like the most, and get a couple. If you're worried about the cycle do a batch of like 4 + 4 or 6 + 4 if you want 10.

yes they are black phantom tetras. ( a lot of people use them interchangebly even though i know they are different lol)

and yeah im sticking with peppered cory, got 3 and im prob gonna add 3 more when i go back and prob get 3 more in a little while.

im planning on feeding with algae wafers, how much do you guys feed them/how often?

 

[chokko]

im planning on feeding with algae wafers, how much do you guys feed them/how often?

mine are fed every day with ONE of:

live black worms
frozen blood worms
hikari mini wafers

if they get any algae wafer, it's only because the Bristlenose catfish hasn't found it yet

 

[Mowbz]

My Corys are fed on a mix of

Frozen baby brine shrimp
Frozen bloodworm (their prefered frozen food)
Pleco Multiwafers (Algae and something i forget the name of, i throw one or two in for the shrimp here and there, they eat them anyway)
Bog standard tropical flake
Tetra Prima Mini

12 Seems to be a nice number for most to get good group interaction and behaviour. I havent got quite this many in mine (see sig), but this is down to tank floor space.

 

[thezodiac]

My Corys are fed on a mix of

Frozen baby brine shrimp
Frozen bloodworm (their prefered frozen food)
Pleco Multiwafers (Algae and something i forget the name of, i throw one or two in for the shrimp here and there, they eat them anyway)
Bog standard tropical flake
Tetra Prima Mini

12 Seems to be a nice number for most to get good group interaction and behaviour. I havent got quite this many in mine (see sig), but this is down to tank floor space.

have you had any issues with your cory and shrimp?

 

[Mowbz]

Shrimp aren't fussy really. I read a thread on here from a guy who had a little disaster (while on holiday i think). Through tank went over 32'C and the filter packed up. They continued breeding the whole time, so mustn't have been a problem. I'm not advocating you do it obviously, merely highlighting that shrimp are pretty resilient. Thy just wont tolerate copper, and some species wont tolerate high nitrate. I had a die out randomly, lost around 5 a few weeks back, found them all dead in the same corner, directly below the power head. Couldnt tell if the few bits of them that were a little mashed had been nibbled post dying, or they had indeed gone through the powerhead. I covered the back with tights anyway. No problems since



Cory wise, i've had a few troubles. Panda's are probably the most delicate but also demanding of the Corys. I had some of those die out too, took a a few weeks to get a maintenance routine that suited them. 2-3 vacs of the substrate a week, and a 50% water change every week seems to be the safest bet. Had problems with mouth fungus and shortened barbels from infection, but all have healthy long ones again now. I get a few eggs here and there, have had several fry but as there has only been one every so often Ive not provided anything to help them along, ive just left them to fend for themselves. Thats not worked, and they seem to vanish some time between 4-6 weeks. As i said, i've not helped them along, no covered filters (have checked here tho!) or powerhead, and adults left to do as they please. Once i get a decent batch of eggs however, ill be setting up a grow out tank. Since i've seen about 10 eggs in 8 months, we'll see lol Not had any problems with my Pygmaeus, cool little things, very under rated i think. They stick quite close together, probably because even the small Pandas are three times the size and patrol the same space, but they get on fine. Very interesting species, and more being found all the time.

Theres a link in a thread on here with a list of over 300 types somewhere. Ill dig it out if you want it.