kschimmenti

I'm new to the forums and fairly new to the aquarium hobby. I've had successful small tanks in the past and decided to go a bit bigger. I found a really good deal on a 40 gallon hexagon tank and being that I live in a small apartment, it's ideal for my life style. I KNOW this isn't the ideal tank so please spare me the blasting. The tank is wider than most hexagons I've seen, it's 24" high and 23" inches wide, quite stocky. I want to do the best I can for the fish and be smart about this set up since I know it's not ideal. I have some live bamboo and a bubbler in there to help with the oxygen. I cycled it for 3 days before adding 3 swordtails, a few days later I added 3 cory catfish. That was about 4 days ago and all are doing very well and the water has stabalized. However, I've noticed one or two of the cory's swimming up to the top and back down which I though was strange for them. Is this normal or is something wrong? I plan on adding more over the next few weeks, probably some Danios and Barbs. Any tips on what else I can do to be successful with this tank? Thanks!
Keri

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore
Why blast you for a 45g hex? It sounds awesome. Actually you shouldn't get blasted for anything here. It's a great forum.

I have pygmy cories who like to dart around, in contrast my daughter has cories that just hang at the bottom.

Do you have a test kit? Since you'll be cycling with fish and I see you know about the nitrogen cycle you know you'll have to keep a close on on the water readings.
The ammonia and nitrite levels will reach toxic levels during the cycling process.
Once you have an ammonia reading, it's important for the health of your fish to do daily
water changes until your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite with some nitrates. If you use Prime as your water conditioner, it'll detox the ammonia for 24hrs between water changes.
Exposing fish to ammonia and nitrites weakens them and leaves them more suseptable to disease and death.

I would be a good idea to hold off getting anymore fish and risking their health until the tank is cycled. Be patient, it can take up to a month.

Good luck with your tank and we hope you post some pics.

ynaggo

Welcome to Fish Lore

If they dart up to the top, and then back down that means they need oxygen from normal air.

Whats Your Ammonia, Nitrite, nitrate readings? If you don't know these key readings I suggest you go and purchase a "API Freshwater Master Test Kit" which tests: pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate.

jdhef

The only thing we will blast you for, is thinking that we will blast you!

We're a pretty friendly group around here, so you never have to worry about asking any question for fear of being blasted.

Oh yeah...and Welcome to FishLore

ladylouroll

my corys used to swim up and down the sides in my hex tank before i moved them. i think its just the lack of floor space. sounds like a awesome tank though!

Craig-D

Three days isn't enough to fully cycle your tank. It's just getting started. If you didn't use a bottled bacteria product or seeded with media from another tank, you are looking at a few weeks to fully cycle your tank. Cories are not the best fish to cycle with, as they are more sensitive than average to less than ideal water conditions. As others have said, daily water changes and the use of an ammonia/nitrate detoxifier like Amquel+ or Prime is in order until your testing shows 0 ammonia/nitrites, but at least 5.0 PPM nitrates.

As for your cories swimming to the top and back that is normal. Much like Bettas they are capable of breathing atmospheric oxygen and will occasionally go to the surface for a breath of fresh air. What is not normal is if they are doing it constantly. If you see that, it means either there is inadequate oxygen in the tank or they are stressing from ammonia.

SWilkins

Welcome to Fish Lore!! You definitely won't get blasted for a hex tank on here. I have two and my angels love them and do great in them I might add. My cories are just plain old nuts anyway you go. I have some albinos that are never still and are constantly darting to the top, bottom, sides, and all around the tank like they are on some sort of drug and my emerald cories just are kind of lazy all day. I think they are like us and all have their own personalities. Best of luck with your cycle and any questions you have will definitely get an answer on here and quick like too. This is like no other forum I have ever been to I think your gonna love it!

FishStix

Just wanted to say congrats on your hex tank. There is nothing wrong with a hex tank, you just have to do your research and make sure your choice of fish suits a hex. I started one in March and it is doing beautifully.

Best of luck to you!

kschimmenti

Thank you all for the input and the reassurance that it's okay to have a hexagon tank. I'm glad I found this site because I did get blasted on Yahoo answers. It's been three and a half weeks and all the fish are doing great. My test kit does not have an amonia test but I will make sure to pick one up. The Nitrite is reading 0, Nitrate is just above 0, probably between 3-7 Hardness at 75, alkalinity 120 and PH 7.2. All are in the ideal range so I think I'm doing pretty good. The Cories have started schooling which is cool but the one does keep going to the top pretty frequently so I am a little concerned about that but the others stay near the bottom.

Lucy

Yahoo answers can be a bit dubious.
I'm glad to hear your tank is doing well.
You might want to consider picking up an API maser test kit. It as everything you need and gives hundreds of tests. If you're using the strips, they can be very inaccurate.
It's really important that you have an ammonia test.

So where are the pics?

jdhef

The cories I currently have all hang at the bottom, but I seem to remember when I kept fish a long time ago, I had some cories that would head to the surface alot. So I don't think it is anything to worry about, but if it is, someone will probably chime in.

eiginh

I don't think you have to worry about that cory that keeps darting up and down. I have a Juli Leopard that does that all day. I'm surprised he hasn't jumped out the tank yet lol *knock on wood*.

kimb

Mine are the same...some days they are all over the sides, other days, I am checkin
for breathing because they are so still on the bottom. P.S I love the look of hexagon tanks, and they take up far less space!

bolivianbaby

My julii cories are all over the tank, except for my big old grump (2 years old, came with a tank). He stays in hiding most of the time and only comes out to eat. All my younger ones seem to never stop moving and like to go up and down, up and down, like hyper little children!