Which Cory?

[rmanpf]

My tank had gotten ich from my new powder blue gouramis, and he survived it, but my favorite rubbernose pleco died after the medication process and I am pretty sure the ichs gone because its been a while and there are no symptoms on any fish.

Because the staff at the store failed to warn me about the hazard against using medicine with fry in the tank,(all of my 7 baby guppies died) they promised to refund my money for the medicine and give me a new fish free of charge. (ok deal) and I have decided to try corydoras again. (i had 3 albinos but they became mysteriously lethargic and died) Its been a long time since then (5 months) and I am having a tough choice deciding which kind to get! my lfs only has a limited veriety of species so these are my choices:
Bronze corydoras
Albino bronze corydoras
peppered corydoras

I am going to get a few of them in a few hours so I would like to know which are active, playfull, or hardy. So just pros and cons will do.

Thanks,

RyanT

 

[OldMan47]

All three of those varieties a quite hardy so it comes down to which ones you like better. My own preference is the paleatus, they seem to stay smaller and look nicer to my eye. Back to the first statement, it's up to you because only personal preference comes into it. There are many people who would go for the bronze as quickly as I would the peppered.

 

[rmanpf]

thanks oldman, i have decided and got myself two healthy looking peppered corys, they are pretty small. I have a few questions, i put them in my teporary 1gallon quaronteen tank (sorry for the spelling) and they have stopped moving alot and just sit at the bottom, i placed a pellet and one is curently eating it, the other is at the other side, is it normal for them to be this lazy?

 

[Cory_Dad]

thanks oldman, i have decided and got myself two healthy looking peppered corys, they are pretty small. I have a few questions, i put them in my teporary 1gallon quaronteen tank (sorry for the spelling) and they have stopped moving alot and just sit at the bottom, i placed a pellet and one is curently eating it, the other is at the other side, is it normal for them to be this lazy?

No, not really.

This could be due to a number of things:

- stress from the move
- water conditions
- tank environment (bare tank with no cover)
- tank mates (aggressive tank mates)
- 2 corydoras is really not enough to make them comfortable, the recommended number is 6 then you see em in action; they do love to shoal

 

[OldMan47]

You may be able to get away with a 1 gallon quarantine tank but there is no way you will see normal behavior from a peppered cory in a tank that small. My guess is that they are waiting to be let out of jail so they can move around. As Cory_Dad said, you would see more action with more of them. I always get at least 4 of any cory and like them a lot better when I have room to get 8 or 10 of them.

 

[rmanpf]

ok, one looked like he was slightly floating but its fine now. I think I will wait a few weeks then buy 2 more. Thanks for the replys oldman and Cory_dad.


RyanT

 

[Cory_Dad]

ok, one looked like he was slightly floating but its fine now. I think I will wait a few weeks then buy 2 more. Thanks for the replys oldman and Cory_dad.


RyanT

RyanT, you are going to do 50% pre-treated daily water changes, right? If you have some broad leaf plants to throw in, that would help too to help them feel safe. And don't forget the aeration; keep that water circulating (not as big a deal for the Corys as for other fish, but still).

Good luck.

 

[rmanpf]

yup i am doing 50% water changes from my other cycled 10 gallon to the 1 gallon but i forgot about the airation, thanks Cory_dad, is there any reason for them starting to slightly float aging. they are both breathing fine and swimming around exitedly.

 

[Cory_Dad]

yup i am doing 50% water changes from my other cycled 10 gallon to the 1 gallon but i forgot about the airation, thanks Cory_dad, is there any reason for them starting to slightly float aging. they are both breathing fine and swimming around exitedly.

Hmm. I don't think you should do water changes from your 10 gal. to your 1 gal. One of the reasons to do water changes is to remove the nitrate which doesn't get used up by the plants. Remember, fish -> ammonia -> bacteria -> nitrite -> bacteria -> nitrate -> plants (partially) -> water change. Go with treated cold tap water left to stand so as to warm up to room temp. Much better idea.

As for their behavior well, my guess is stress and the size of the tank. A 1 gallon is really too small imho. Have you got leafy plants in there for cover? Aeration from an air stone is good but hanging an Aqua Clear 20 on the side with all the circulation is better. Although off a 1 gallon, I don't know. It just seems wrong. One gallons are for betta's. Ya, I hate but then love betta's.

 

[mikev]

Water changes from a larger tank into a small one work fine... A better way would be to do 50% from the larger tank, 50% fresh water.
(I did 100g->10g a number of times). With frequent water changes the nitrate level will be only slightly higher than that in the large tank and accelerated additions of fresh water to the large tank will make up for that.

BTW, it is possible to establish a cycle in a tank this small and running only airstone. I have a couple of 2.5g (filled about 1/3 -- less than a gallon) for fry. Putting some media from an established tank into the small one gave me the ammonia part of the cycle instantly, and nitrites were gone within 2 weeks. Putting a sponge around the airstone should speed this up....probably wrapping a sponge taken from an established tank should work yet better.

(I'm not sure I'd dare quarantining a fish in 1g....but it is still infinitely better than not quarantining...)

hth