Diana

Well, the nitrites finally turned blue, so Saturday I added one betta and one julii cory. I wanted to add a couple more julii so he could have friends, but I don't want to screw up the cycle by adding too soon. Any suggestions on how soon I can add a couple friends for the cory? I'm thinking I should wait one or two weeks and keep checking the nitrites, but I feel sorry for him all alone.

nitrite is currently sky blue, but I don't know that there has been time for things to get screwed up, yet.

Shawnie

congrats on no nitrites!!! such a great feeling..how are the ammonia and nitrate readings tho? whenever we have a fresh cycle, its recommended to wait 2 weeks with good readings, then add slowly after that...epspecially cories who seem to be sensitive to newly established tanks...goodluck !

capekate

Hi Diana
your aquarium info says that you started your cycle 3 weeks ago, I was wondering what you used to cycle your tank. Have you tested the ammonia and nitrates as well as the nitrite? You may very well have cycled the tank now, but since it is so newly cycled I would wait a week or so before adding more fish in order not to mess with your cycle, as it can pretty fragile at this point.
edit: Lol.. Shawnie beat me to the punch..

Diana

Thanks - you're both reinforcing what I suspected, that things are fragile and it's better to wait for a bit. I used store ammonia to cycle it. I've been testing using the API freshwater kit. The aquarium has been processing the ammonia for quite a while, now, but the nitrites took longer. I've done two large water changes trying to get the nitrates down, but they are still too high.

The poor julii just looks so stressed, chasing his reflection in the side of the tank. He does settle down and eat, though. Also, his fins aren't clamped down and he isn't gulping air. The betta seems in heaven, cruising around, investigating everything and flaring at his reflection.

serissime

some corys are naturally very active. ours do the "wall dance" for several hours in the day. if he doesn't actually look sick, he's probably just playing around

Diana

Well, it's been two weeks, and the little julii got two new little julii friends today. They seem very happy.

serissime

yay!

Blub

Cool! Just for your info: if corys don't swim to the surface and gulp air it's not a bad thing - I've acctualy heard (although I can't confirm) that they do this when there isn't enough oxygene in the water.

Oh, and not that it really matters, but they're probably Leopard corys. They are almost identical to the untrained eye - but Juliis are very rare and leopards are common. If you really want to know if they're Julii or Leopard, you can just post pics for us.

Diana

Could be - I just call them "julii" because that's what the fish store called the little muffins. Here's some pictures of my little fishies. It took awhile because they were camera shy.



and, the first one

Blub

Yup, they're definitely Leopards. They're so cute... I must get some corys soon.