kingbabar

Hey guys,

I've had a 14G community tank running for about 3 months now. I have three cherry barbs and two corycats. I was wondering if it would be better (for the fish) to complete reach the ideal school sizes (3 cory cats, 6-7 barbs, 10 total) or leave the count at 5 total (keeps the tank less crowded and much cleaner). The corycats seem very content, and the barbs never mess with them. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

pepetj

If your filtration system is capable of handling the bioload I suggest you do it. I try to keep a 2 males to 5 females ratio for Cherry Barbs (no idea where I read that). If it were my tank I would consider adding two more Corydoras. Which Corydoras species are you keeping?

Keep in mind that Corydoras are bottom-dwellers (although all will go to the surface to breath air) and the Cherry Barbs spend more time in the mid to top areas of the tank.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

kingbabar

The two corycats are different species. One is a peppered cory (Corydoras paleatus), and the other is a bronze cory (Corydoras aeneus). They shoal together pretty well. If I got any more corycats, I think they would have to be of different species, right?

Why do you suggest 4 cory cats? Also, how many cherry barbs do you think are appropriate? I think my biofilter can handle it, I just might have to gravel vac more often. Will there be a significant difference between 5 fish and 10-11 fish?

aquarist48

Hello Kingbabar. You can mix and match your Cory Cats if you choose. If they school or not remains to be seen Sometimes even members of the same species do not school all of the time.

I do think you'll be fine with the small 10 fish in your tank as long as you keep up with your regular water changes as more fish will increase your bio load.

Best of luck and I hope you can share some photos with us sometime!
Ken.

Craig-D

He should be fine if he sticks to fish that stay an inch or two in size. I have 9 fish in a 12 gallon with no problems and the filter easilly handles the load. I have 5 cories, 3 platies, and a betta.