Thank you so much! I’ll make sure to do lots of research on care requirements for those types of cories. I’m not really worried about them being flashy or anything, I mostly want a really nice planted tank with a couple of small fish. Is there any way to ensure I get all males or all females? I don’t really want them to breed as I don’t have enough space for the babies. Also are there any other types of dwarf catfish I could possibly get? I would like to have lots of options so I can decide what would be best for my tank.
Thank you so much, I’ll make sure to do lots of research, I just wanted to know if it could be done
Could I possibly do a small species of oto's? I was thinking of maybe getting
Get ready for others to chime in and say I'm wrong, but yes you can do otos. I have mine in a 10. The issue isn't bioload, but feeding. Some otos will never take artificial food and they'll starve after they wipe out the available grazing in a small tank. But if you end up getting otos that will eat prepared foods like mine do, they do just fine in a 10.
Ok, I think 6 sounds good to me. I would prefer to not just replace them, but if it happens it happens. I'll do research on growing algae, any specific type they like the best? Is there any risk of overpopulation? And where can I buy some nice driftwood and rocks for them? What parameters do they seem to like best?
That's all up to personal taste really. I will warn you though that if the tank is new, you might be better off going with the cories unless you're willing to wait a while. Otos do best when added to a tank that isn't just cycled, but also well established and seasoned. New tanks are often just too "clean" for them.
I am willing to wait a few months for my tank to mature, would it be ok to put some guppies I already have in there for a while to speed up the process? After a few months of the guppies, I would put them back into their own tank, does that sound ok? Plus I will probably be dosing with API fertilizer, would that help algae growth?
The guppies living in there will certainly be better beforehand, yea. Something living and pooping in there really is necessary to boost up the biological ecosystem for a truly mature tank (note: I'm differentiating between "mature" and "cycled". Still make sure you cycle the tank before adding guppies.)
Alright thank you, I’ll make sure to cycle and mature my tank before getting one. I also have algae wafers and could get shrimp pellets if needed too
Thank you for the advice! My current plan is to get it cycled and scaped by mid-October and get the guppies in by December, allow them to live in it for 2-4 months then place them back in their old tank.about feeding, i would recommend adding otos after at least a couple months of the tank running with some light stocking, plants, fertiliser, inverts etc. in it. This allows time for the aufwuchs colonies to develop so food will be plentiful. I’d run the tank for 2-3 months with the guppies and some plants before adding otos.
Ok thank you, I was just thinking about getting a piece of driftwood that left my tank a little, but I would rather have less evaporation and eliminate the possibility of jumping
Would Hikari sinking algae wafers be a good staple diet? Or is that too vegetarian for them? I just have some lying around that I want to get some use out of, though they do close the option of having shrimp or snails in the future, unless the copper content is low enough it won’t kill them? I also have freeze dried blood worms that I could use as a treat for them. Would my homemade food be ok? The ingredients are unsweetened, unflavored gelatin, peas, I think carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper, paprika and unsalted, canned salmon, as well as a little bit of pumpkin purée, would all that be ok or is it going to ruin my water quality?pygmy corys would be easier yes, but you can go with either. Keep in mind they have different diets, corys mostly eat meat. feed a staple of high quality sinking wafers or pellets that are meat-based, plus live and frozen foods like bloodworms, brine shrimp or ostracods.
I already have a ton made and need to use it up, I will just supplement with bloodworms every few days, would that be ok? And it's the one in the green packet, so I guess it's pretty much useless to me
Sounds good to me if you mean the home made food.
With a sand cap, you can use pretty much any soil so long as it's organic with no extra fertilisers or pesticides. For my walstad-inspired tanks I've always used organic soil from Scotts. An equal amount of soil and cap works for me, maybe more cap to be safe. 2 inches of each is usually what I aim for.
Ok thank you! I'll probably end up using something aquarium safe just for my own peace of mind, I also recently put Miracle Gro Potting Soil in my guppy tank, is that going to throw off my parameters? I think it has some fertilizers in it, though I used Cuprisorb to get any copper it may have been leaching, I also sifted and baked it so there's no huge pieces of mulch or fertilizer. Should I be concerned about that?Sounds good to me if you mean the home made food.
With a sand cap, you can use pretty much any soil so long as it's organic with no extra fertilisers or pesticides. For my walstad-inspired tanks I've always used organic soil from Scotts. An equal amount of soil and cap works for me, maybe more cap to be safe. 2 inches of each is usually what I aim for.
I think it should be fine so long as it’s capped. I’ve used both miracle gro and osmocote soil with success, without baking it mind you.
I just figured better safe than sorry lol. I didn't want my guppies to get sick from any fertilizers that may be in there, although it does seem as though my nitrates are being sucked out of the water. It was at roughly 10-15 ppm just a few days ago and today it was at almost zero, ammonia is almost zero too while nitrites are at zero. Should I be concerned about this?yeah so your setup will be safer than mine.
Since I re-scaped the whole thing it restarted the cycle, but since I used my old filter media it kickstarted the process considerably. Though I didn't rinse the sand well enough so I had to do a ton of water changes to clear the cloudiness so that probably lowered the nitrates. And I would much rather wait until I get a positive zero on the ammonia before I put them in, just in case it is actually reading the correct amounts of ammonia
IMO it is a common misconception fish are suitable for a small tank cause of their size. A lot of smaller fish need more swimmingspace, more compagnions AND often are more sensitive to changing waterparameters.
Admittedly I've never personally kept habrosus, but I had quite a large group of pygmaeus that did very well in a 10 gallon before I eventually sold them off. Im currently successfully doing otos in a 10 as well. That being said I'll agree bigger is always better if you can swing it.
