sublime

Hi all,

I've had a 5 gallon hex tank for several years and work in fish lab, however I realized I need so help form people who have fish as pets and maintain their tanks.

First for both the tanks they are up grades (I would have loved to get one huge tank but size in my room would not allow, and the large tank is mine but at my bf house and he cares for them under my guide). For new tankmates personality would be great to!

One tank is a 28 gallon bow (marineland) kit, and one of the new tankmates has to be a pitcus catfish (he is in a 10 gal hex and ate all the fish that were with him). I know now that they should be in a group so I was thinking 1-2 more pitcus. 1. What would be good tankmates for him?? 2. He is so big for him tank now, I know I need to cycle the tank but is there any jumpstarting it? 3. Should I put live plants in his tank (I have a feeling he will dig them up...but maybe a few to help cycle the tank)? 4. I'd like to put dwarf gouramis and maybe corys (whatever goes in I am a little scared he might try to eat)?

I also got a 10 gallon kit for my desk. 5. Its still in the box and I was wondering if anyone knows if a 20 gallon (or another 28 bow) would be to much weight for most desk, is there a way to test it? Tankmates must include my betta (not agressive to my corys; or algeeater, who died, what so ever) and two corys. 6. I was thinking about a small school fish that stays near the top of the tank, any suggests (as the betta thinks his a cory and hangs out with them 80% of the time)?? 7. What live plants might be good, or are they not needed?

8. To jumpstart the new tanks can I put the old filters in? 9. Whats a good kit for testing if the water is ready?

Thanks so much!

0morrokh

Pictus can get to 6" so I'm not sure, but a tank larger than the 28 might be necessary.

1. Good tankmates=Big fish, too large to eat (you've already found out they're fish eaters).
2. The best way to jumpstart the cycle is to use filter media from the old tank in the new filter. You could also get a product called Bio Spira which is a bit pricey but cycles the tank instantly.
3. Since pictus are carnivores I don't think they'd bother plants, but not sure.
4. Be careful with multiple dwarf gouramis...the males can be aggressive. If you want 2 you could get a pair, but most places only carry males. Most cories stay under 2-3", I'd be afraid of them getting eaten.
5. I wouldn't put anything over 10gal on anything other than a specially made aquarium stand. Remember that water weighs 8 lbs per gal and plus the gravel, a 20 could weigh 200+ lbs.
6. There are no shoaling fish that are compatible with Bettas, since most will nip the Betta's fins. Best to stick with just the cories.
7. If you are looking for hardy low-light plants, java fern, java moss, Anubias. Bettas love plants.
8. Yes
9. The API Master test kit, or individual API kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (I consider a pH kit optional).

Coryd55

He covered pretty much everything.

To be more specific water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. So the close to exact weight of just a 10 gallon on a desk would be around 85-90 pounds. A 20 would be somewhere around 171 pounds and a 28 gallon would be about 237 pounds.

So I would strongly advise nothing over 10 gallons. I have a empty ten on my desk right now. I haven't set it up yet but its going to be my QT/Fry tank.

I'm not sure if there is a way to safely test it unless you still have the box for the desk and it says on the box how much weight can go on it. You could stand on it I guess? But I would be cautious because we dont want you falling through your desk =).

Hoep that helps

0morrokh

Yes but don't forget most tanks have 1-2 lbs of gravel per gal...so that could be another 30 lbs to the 28.

sublime

Thanks for the advice!

What fish would be good with the pitcus in a 28 bow?

And for the ten gal theres no small schooling fish that would be able to live together? I dont know if there are any others but theres a fish the only swims on the top on top, like freshwater butterflyfish?? Would they work?

0morrokh

There's a Betta in the 10 gal, right? The only fish compatable with Bettas are small catfish.

COBettaCouple

Welcome to FishLore.

Sounds like your questions have been answered already but I'll add that we have used the "stand on it" test on furniture ourselves to put a 10g on a dresser and 2 10g's & a
5g on another dresser. It's not exactly scientific but both pieces were pretty solidly built so I'd look at the construction of your desk. I have a 6.6g bookshelf tank on the desk here. (One of our Betta tanks.) Unless your desk is rather long or built very solid, I probably would only go up to 10g on it.

Right now your betta is in a 5g hex, right? Cories and Otos are the only fish I'd recommend for a betta tank and it sounds like your Betta already has 2 cory tankmates?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=276 - this is the Pictus that you have, right? With a 28g tank, I think you could get your pictus a couple buddies (they are ok by themselves though) and still have room for a couple of larger fish like the profile I linked to recommended. How big is your Pictus now? Whatever you put in the 28g with him probably should be around his size or bigger and put in the tank before him.

sublime

Omorrokh, yes the betta would be in the 10 tank. What about black dimaond corys (they swim in the mid of the tank? Or filter-feeding fish? (he really thinks his a cory, the betta that is and has never niped them, they even share the food on the top, for betta, and bottom, for corys, of the tank). The oto I had picked on the betta, who now lives with 2 corys.

Thanks CBC.. Yep thats my boy, his about 5 inchs...I cannot find the min tank size for pictus, every site has something different?? I think he might be better my himself, and I want the 28 gal for a commity tank.

Barbrella

Do you mean Black Diamond tetras? If so, you can't keep them with a betta as they would no doubt nip his fins.

No idea what you mean by that? Could you elaborate a bit?

susitna-flower

Welcome Sublime, to fishlore, Only one thing I would add and that is you can speed up the cycle by adding Bio-Spira (live bacteria), which is available at GOOD fish stores, or www.drsfostersmith.com
It is expensive, but worth it.

sublime

Black Diamond Cory Cat, Corydorus hastatus, super cute and tiny, from azgardens, this is what they say, "A very small “mid-water shoaling” cory in that it doesn't spend as much time on the substrate as other Cory's do, and seems to prefer to sit on the leaves of aquarium plants rather than sitting on the bottom. You should house these dwarf Cory's with each other in a shoal with about about 1 dozen being a nice number in a species tank, as these small Corydoras will not do well in a community tank with robust tank mates unless they are housed with small non aggressive Characins. This is the smallest Cory to date and the females usually are a bit bigger than the males. They are similar to Corydoras pygmaes, but the black diamond shape in the caudal peduncle and into the tail of hastatus, with the top and bottom of this diamond ringed with white, tells them apart as pygmaes sports a black band that runs the full length of the body, ending just short of the tail end, and ending in a slightly broader band"

Filter-feeders...as in fish that eat zooplankton or algea in the water..or is that only calms, shrimp and such??

Really any fish that will not nip his fins?..... cause hes a mush


Cool... thanks susitna-flower.

0morrokh

The dwarf cories are great little fish. Get at least 6, twice that if possible. Since your Betta already gets along well with cories it should be fine to get more cories. Just make sure to put all the other cories into the tank before you put the Betta in. This helps prevent aggression, although sounds like that's not an issue with your guy. Oh btw I believe Corydoras pygmaeus is actually a bit smaller than habrosus.

There are probably some out there but I am not aware of any FW fish that are filter feeders. There are a lot of inverts that are.

sublime

Cool....ohh they are very cute! I was hopeing they would be ok....

Since they are so tiny would 12 in a 10 gal be ok for them, the betta, and two emerld corys??

COBettaCouple

You'll want to keep about 10" (adult size) of fish in there. Allowing 2.5" for your Betta and 7" for your emerald corys pair, you're up to 9.5" already. It would be overstocking some, but you could probably put a trio of them in the tank with the betta & emerald corys - just watch the water chemistry more closely and probably do a little more frequent partial water changes.

You also don't want too many of them, or your Betta might start to get stressed by so many tankmates. I would watch him to make sure he's happy with 5 other fish in his tank.

sublime

Thanks CBC!

0morrokh

If the tank is well planted, and considering dwarf cories are super tiny and Bettas don't produce much waste (their bioload is hardly near that of a 2.5" platy )...you might be able to cheat and overstock a little. But dwarf cories don't appreciate less than ideal water quality, so a lot of water changes would be necessary.

Are your emerald cories Brochis splendens? (I ask because a lot of stores are pretty inconsistent about what they call their cories.)

sublime

hmmm, I checked out Brochis splendens and that is what they look like....

Only what about drift wood, I got a mid-small and small piece. Would they be considered cluttering up the bottom of the tank? Do corys like it better then gravel (I used the gravel they helps the plants take root better).

I also put some moss on the bottom, "grass", two tallish plants and a banana plant that floats on top. Do all banana plants drop to the bottom once they are big enough?

jsalemi

My corys like the driftwood in the tank -- it gives them hiding places, and they're all over it cleaning whatever food or other stuff that falls on it. But they prefer the gravel (or sand) to dig around in.

COBettaCouple

If you put driftwood in a tank with a Betta, as with any decoration or fake plant, check it for any spots (inside and outside) that could snag pantyhose.. if there are, then it's not recommended with how delicate Betta fins are. They easily tear and that leads to fin rot, which is the bane of Betta owners.