29 Gallon Tank Pale corydoras & A stressed out fish-Momma

I have a few things going on in 2 different tanks. I feel so guilty that I cannot figure out what's wrong. I made a lengthy post yesterday & MacZ urged me to make a new post, describing & combining all the symptoms + talked me out of nuking tank prematurely (Thanks).
I'm trying to figure out how to write & explain what's going on so the reader can understand it & it not be overwritten.

Tank Parameters: Similar for both 20+29
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate: under 20ppm
Chlorine: 0ppm
GH: 200-300ppm
KH: 40-60PPM
PH: 7.6-7.6 fluctuates w/Plants

Ugh I just wrote a whole post Here for the past hour & it all was deleted! So please bear with me while I try to fix this.

My 29g stocking:
1 BN Pleco
4 Ottocinculus (1 new\ 3 older)
6 False Julii (3 new/ 3 older)
4 Molly Fry & bladder snails.

I ordered 4 Cories, 3 ottos & BN pleco online in early January. 1 Otto died. QUARANTINED all new fish for 1 month. Moved to 29g. 1 Cory died. 1 Otto had a lump on his snout- moved him to QT & he died 4 days later. So up above is what's left.
SYMPTOMS: 3 new cories are very PALE. I thought it was initially from stress, but now we are in march & still pale. 2/3 are starting to look thin & worn. They are very skittish. Hiding in corner of tank under sponge filter. Fin clamping 90% of time. Flashing on sand or items. & the 1 Otto is also fin clamping & his color looks odd- like yellowy-green but it's been that way since arrival. And now my older ottos are starting to tightly stay together- normally they are all over the tank.. Now they are packed together hiding beneath filter intake sponge- not normal behavior at all for them. The older cories & pleco seem uneffected.
BUT...
In my 20g I have 1 sailfin molly who was stuck in a vertical position for days, I QT him, gave him a salt soak, I honestly thought he was done for, but he improved temporarily,.... Today his sailfin is a little split, his eyes seem enlarged- but not to the extent of bulging- and he stopped swimming vertically- now he is swimming in circles- no fin clamping. There is an older balloon molly who seems to be drained of most of her orange color- seems very pale & is constantly fin clamping.
I used everything from my 20g to set up 29g so Idk if I transferred something back months ago- or maybe accidentally transferred a tool recently. But I'm experiencing similar symptoms between both tanks.
(Very last photo is of older cories, they are larger & much darker. Photos #6 & #8 are the newer Otto fin clamping)

 

I have a few things going on in 2 different tanks. I feel so guilty that I cannot figure out what's wrong. I made a lengthy post yesterday & MacZ urged me to make a new post, describing & combining all the symptoms + talked me out of nuking tank prematurely (Thanks).
I'm trying to figure out how to write & explain what's going on so the reader can understand it & it not be overwritten.

Tank Parameters: Similar for both 20+29
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate: under 20ppm
Chlorine: 0ppm
GH: 200-300ppm
KH: 40-60
PH: 7.6-7.6 fluctuates w/Plants

Ugh I just wrote a whole post Here for the past hour & it all was deleted! So please bear with me while I try to fix this.

My 29g stocking:
1 BN Pleco
4 Ottocinculus (1 new\ 3 older)
6 False Julii (3 new/ 3 older)
4 Molly Fry & bladder snails.

I ordered 4 Cories, 3 ottos & BN pleco online in early January. 1 Otto died. QUARANTINED all new fish for 1 month. Moved to 29g. 1 Cory died. 1 Otto had a lump on his snout- moved him to QT & he died 4 days later. So up above is what's left.
SYMPTOMS: 3 new cories are very PALE. I thought it was initially from stress, but now we are in march & still pale. 2/3 are starting to look thin & worn. They are very skittish. Hiding in corner of tank under sponge filter. Fin clamping 90% of time. Flashing on sand or items. & the 1 Otto is also fin clamping & his color looks odd- like yellowy-green but it's been that way since arrival. And now my older ottos are starting to tightly stay together- normally they are all over the tank.. Now they are packed together hiding beneath filter intake sponge- not normal behavior at all for them. The older cories & pleco seem uneffected.
BUT...
In my 20g I have 1 sailfin molly who was stuck in a vertical position for days, I QT him, gave him a salt soak, I honestly thought he was done for, but he improved temporarily,.... Today his sailfin is a little split, his eyes seem enlarged- but not to the extent of bulging- and he stopped swimming vertically- now he is swimming in circles- no fin clamping. There is an older balloon molly who seems to be drained of most of her orange color- seems very pale & is constantly fin clamping.
I used everything from my 20g to set up 29g so Idk if I transferred something back months ago- or maybe accidentally transferred a tool recently. But I'm experiencing similar symptoms between both tanks.
(Very last photo is of older cories, they are larger & much darker. Photos #6 & #8 are the newer Otto fin clamping)

WHOA... this part has my eyes bugging out.

GH: 200-300ppm
KH: 40-60

Are you SURE those are you readings? Can you tell me how you test for them? Because they're so off the charts I almost don't know what to say. The rest of your readings look good but these? Ooh man.

What's your water source, how do you test..? It sounds to me like you have a very hard water problem - the higher these numbers, the harder the water, the lower the numbers, the softer.

You can put some peat in a cheesecloth baggie and put in your filters, it'll try and lower the gH but it won't come near enough to helping. I think you might need a water softener.

 

WHOA... this part has my eyes bugging out.

GH: 200-300ppm
KH: 40-60

Are you SURE those are you readings? Can you tell me how you test for them? Because they're so off the charts I almost don't know what to say. The rest of your readings look good but these? Ooh man.

What's your water source, how do you test..? It sounds to me like you have a very hard water problem - the higher these numbers, the harder the water, the lower the numbers, the softer.

You can put some peat in a cheesecloth baggie and put in your filters, it'll try and lower the gH but it won't come near enough to helping. I think you might need a water softener.

Its in parts per million ? Not the regular dgh
Tetra test strips & I use the API master kit when cycling
According to the bottle; my results say Low-Moderate for alkalinity hard-very hard for GH
EDIT: I live in Maine. Very hard calcium & mineral rich water. I knew this though, I wanted to buy fish for harder water rather than change my water. I've posted thst many times & nobody's ever said anything about it before, huh? Source water Is from Tap.

 

Its in parts per million ? Not the regular dgh
Tetra test strips & I use the API master kit when cycling
According to the bottle; my results say Low-Moderate for alkalinity hard-very hard for GH
EDIT: I live in Maine. Very hard calcium & mineral rich water. I knew this though, I wanted to buy fish for harder water rather than change my water. I've posted thst many times & nobody's ever said anything about it before, huh? Source water Is from Tap.

Yeah the readings are probably why your fish are having issues. Otherwise everything checks out. Most freshwater fish (even brackish mollies) don't get on well with hard water. I'm actually surprised no ones ever brought this up to you before when you've posted! I'm so sorry no one's helped you before.

For example for gH, the ideal level (give or take) is 4 - 8 dGH which is 70 - 140ppm. Yours between 200-300ppm is too high. kH is actually okay once I double checked, it's actually on the low side.

Have you ever tried to use water softeners, filtration, etc. from your tap?

EDIT: Just to say, test strips can be wildly inaccurate so actual water test tubes/kits are best.

 

Yeah the readings are probably why your fish are having issues. Otherwise everything checks out. Most freshwater fish (even brackish mollies) don't get on well with hard water. I'm actually surprised no ones ever brought this up to you before when you've posted! I'm so sorry no one's helped you before.

For example for gH, the ideal level (give or take) is 4 - 8 dGH which is 70 - 140ppm. Yours between 200-300ppm is too high. kH is actually okay once I double checked, it's actually on the low side.

Have you ever tried to use water softeners, filtration, etc. from your tap?

So you think it may just be stress from the water being too hard? The fish i've had since last May/June are fine- I bought them locally. It's the newer fish mostly fin clamping & flashing & being very pale.
No I've never done any softener treatments- I remember bringing the water to be tested & they said it was fine. 2 years ago I was worried about it when I first upgraded from a 5g to a 10g then 20g now a 29g. I think I may have posted on here about it somewhere Last summer- they suggested I try bottled water because I had 0 KH at the time. So I tried it out on the mollies & it caused a PH shock & total meltdown. I went back to using Tap water.
EDIT: when I purchased these newer fish I gave my parameters to the seller via E-Mail & he said they were fine & similar to his own ?!?!

 

So you think it may just be stress from the water being too hard? The fish i've had since last May/June are fine- I bought them locally. It's the newer fish mostly fin clamping & flashing & being very pale.
No I've never done any softener treatments- I remember bringing the water to be tested & they said it was fine. 2 years ago I was worried about it when I first upgraded from a 5g to a 10g then 20g now a 29g. I think I may have posted on here about it somewhere Last summer- they suggested I try bottled water because I had 0 KH at the time. So I tried it out on the mollies & it caused a PH shock & total meltdown. I went back to using Tap water.
EDIT: when I purchased these newer fish I gave my parameters to the seller via E-Mail & he said they were fine & similar to his own ?!?!

Yeah I'd say stress. Keep in mind sellers, usually, whether fish stores or private are usually only in it for the sale. If your fish unfortunately die, you'll buy more so it's a win-win for them. I always treat sources with suspicion and never trust outside testing because of this.

Couple things I'm curious about - you have naturally hard water from the city, yet somehow last summer it tested 0 for kH? That doesn't quite jive with me - city water to get 0 kH would've usually, also meant, a drop in the gH level at the same time. Maybe not by a lot, but some - do you remember, or?

Yeah bottled water down from your current would make a meltdown as it would be too extreme a drop.

Fin clamping, pale and flashing definitely means distress - can you tell me how you acclimated these new babies into your tank? Were they ever in QT? Also are the fish showing these signs only your ottos?

 

Yeah I'd say stress. Keep in mind sellers, usually, whether fish stores or private are usually only in it for the sale. If your fish unfortunately die, you'll buy more so it's a win-win for them. I always treat sources with suspicion and never trust outside testing because of this.

Couple things I'm curious about - you have naturally hard water from the city, yet somehow last summer it tested 0 for kH? That doesn't quite jive with me - city water to get 0 kH would've usually, also meant, a drop in the gH level at the same time. Maybe not by a lot, but some - do you remember, or?

Yeah bottled water down from your current would make a meltdown as it would be too extreme a drop.

Fin clamping, pale and flashing definitely means distress - can you tell me how you acclimated these new babies into your tank? Were they ever in QT? Also are the fish showing these signs only your ottos?

-When I first set the tanks up it said a very low KH level. I do not remember the difference in levels sorry. I have a notebook I write all my test results in. Ill go give it a look through & see if I can find it.
-I thought I wrote way up above about my QT process. All new fish & plants I quarantine everything. They were QT for about 1 month.
1 Otto died right after receiving. After the QT period I moved them all into 29g. 1 Cory died. Then 1 Otto got a fungal infection. I had another post about treating but he also died.
The remaining 3 cories & 1 Otto from order are showing the most stress signs- pale, flashing, hiding, clamping ... But now my older 3 ottos are tucked close together hiding too- usually they are loosely congregated.
- molly fry is like 5th generation born in my water- no stress symptoms. None from baby BN pleco. None from older 3 cories.
- I will post a photo of my GH below. Am I reading it right?



EDIT:
So back in May when I was cycling the 20g & first set it up the levels were very much different. It says:
5-16-20
Gh: hard. Alkalinity: low between 0-40
PH: Low 6.2-6.8
I have notes all over about adding baking soda to raise PH or crushed coral. Another note I wrote says " low-non existent carbonate hardness level? API test tube kit ph: 6.4
This was when I was using plastic plants & fake decor as well. Its all been removed. I use real plants now & ferts + root tabs. Idk if its something I did to change these levels, or fluctuating town water levels. Deff weird looking at the differences flipping through my notebook though

 

Erm... Kathylee I urged you also to use the template so information (feeding, maintenance, water additives etc) isn't left out and post overview pictures (not 10 of the same fish, 1 each would have been enough) of both tanks.
Here's the template: Aquatic Emergency Template | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 376562

But alas: Yet again confusion all around. I'm a bit disappointed, honestly. At least getting you to not nuke the tank was good, because there is obviously no reason for that.

The tank I can see in the pictures lacks cover and dark hiding spots. On pure white substrate and that brightly lit every fish will try to be as pale as possible to camouflage itself as good as it can. The whole tank structure is all but good for the catfish. They usually won't use caves like the coconut, they prefer dark spots under roots and wood that are open to more than one side so they can escape if needed.
Also, a bubbler, a sponge filter AND a hang on back? A HOB is enough for that tank.
Does the Oto even eat? The tank looks so clean it must be starving.

Overall: The tank has a lot of stress factors and basically a complete makeover is necessary to make the fish comfortable again.

Plants and hardscape have to be structured so the fish can hide further to the back, more driftwood, some leaf litter, floating plants to give cover and dim the lights. And get the bubblers out! The substrate can even stay if the lights are dimmed.

Most freshwater fish (even brackish mollies) don't get on well with hard water.

You have gotten that somewhat wrong. There are two "groups" (not taxonomically related) if you will of freshwater fish that need different hardness levels. Hardwater fish (livebearers, rift lake cichlids, most pond fish, australian rainbows, central american cichlids) can work with high hardness and often NEED a high pH. Softwater fish (most Amazonian fish, most fish from West Africa and Southeast Asia.) really don't do too good in high hardness and pH long term, but if the readings are STABLE can live a long life in it. It's not ideal but it works.

That said, the hardness readings in this case are not even in dangerously high ranges. As per post above of the last reading it's 9°GH and 3°KH (if the first post is correct about 40-60mg/l), which is fine for most fish.

OP: The picture was taken exactly at the 60sec-wait-point (+/+5sec)? After that the test fields darken further and the readings are off.

 

Erm... Kathylee I urged you also to use the template so information (feeding, maintenance, water additives etc) isn't left out and post overview pictures (not 10 of the same fish, 1 each would have been enough) of both tanks.
Here's the template: Aquatic Emergency Template | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 376562

But alas: Yet again confusion all around. I'm a bit disappointed, honestly. At least getting you to not nuke the tank was good, because there is obviously no reason for that.

The tank I can see in the pictures lacks cover and dark hiding spots. On pure white substrate and that brightly lit every fish will try to be as pale as possible to camouflage itself as good as it can. The whole tank structure is all but good for the catfish. They usually won't use caves like the coconut, they prefer dark spots under roots and wood that are open to more than one side so they can escape if needed.
Also, a bubbler, a sponge filter AND a hang on back? A HOB is enough for that tank.
Does the Oto even eat? The tank looks so clean it must be starving.

Overall: The tank has a lot of stress factors and basically a complete makeover is necessary to make the fish comfortable again.

Plants and hardscape have to be structured so the fish can hide further to the back, more driftwood, some leaf litter, floating plants to give cover and dim the lights. And get the bubblers out! The substrate can even stay if the lights are dimmed.



You have gotten that somewhat wrong. There are two "groups" (not taxonomically related) if you will of freshwater fish that need different hardness levels. Hardwater fish (livebearers, rift lake cichlids, most pond fish, australian rainbows, central american cichlids) can work with high hardness and often NEED a high pH. Softwater fish (most Amazonian fish, most fish from West Africa and Southeast Asia.) really don't do too good in high hardness and pH long term, but if the readings are STABLE can live a long life in it. It's not ideal but it works.

That said, the hardness readings in this case are not even in dangerously high ranges. As per post above of the last reading it's 9°GH and 3°KH (if the first post is correct about 40-60mg/l), which is fine for most fish.

OP: The picture was taken exactly at the 60sec-wait-point (+/+5sec)? After that the test fields darken further and the readings are off.

Awesome, so yet again, my fish are not sick, my tank is just insufficient... Great.
I had river stones & pebbles in my 20g. A member said not to use them with cories & to use sand. Had cheaper lights, was advised it would not reach the bottom & to get better ones. Had different decor... Was advised to use real plants. The coconut hut was just to add plants to. I have floating plants growing out right now, roots aren't long enough to add yet. The sponge filter is there to collect BB to use in QT if needed- which I was also advised to do. Had cholla wood, it kept growing black fungus- it was not white bio film.
I'm not supposed to have an air stone?
Sorry about not using the Emergency Template, I tried best i could to state symptoms clear. The photos- was just trying to post clear views of fish. I change 6gallons every week & Gravel vacc. I add nothing but Prime. Feed a variety of food. Hikari omnivore & algae wafers. Xtreme krill flakes. Zuchinni. Hikari Fancy Guppy. Aqueonn shrimp/bottom feeder pellets. Hikari Vibra bites. Peas.... Yes the ottos eat. They 3 older ones I've had for several months & was told as long as they eat it was safe to move them in here from their old tank.
It's disheartening to hear this, one person says its parasites, it's a bacterial infection, use meds, don't use meds, GH, now my entire tank needs a makeover... That's a bit sad.

& yes the GH photo was taken at the correct time. One photo was taken with auto-flash on & one with no flash.

I have a huge package of plants being delivered today, after they are rinsed & QT maybe more foliage will help then?
Sorry this post was not informative enough for you, I tried my best at 2:00am. & Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions a few days ago.

I guess I will start will foliage cover, removing the bubbler, but I need to research more information about driftwood, I do not want mopani or cholla, Manzanita looks good- like a branch would provide nice cover? And I've never used a dimmer, so I will look into that.

 

Awesome, so yet again, my fish are not sick, my tank is just insufficient... Great.
I had river stones & pebbles in my 20g. A member said not to use them with cories & to use sand. Had cheaper lights, was advised it would not reach the bottom & to get better ones. Had different decor... Was advised to use real plants. The coconut hut was just to add plants to. I have floating plants growing out right now, roots aren't long enough to add yet. The sponge filter is there to collect BB to use in QT if needed- which I was also advised to do. Had cholla wood, it kept growing black fungus- it was not white bio film.
I'm not supposed to have an air stone?

A lot of this is because people with little experience tend to give a lot of advise here on Fishlore. If a user advising you doesn't have their experience posted under their avatar next to their posts or only "just started" or "1-2 years", take the advise with a grain of salt and wait for confirmation by a user with more experience. About 50% of my posts and of many others with a lot of experience are just to correct wrong or half-wrong statements of others.

- Sand is good, but clear white sand is too bright. That's all. Right granule size, wrong colour.
- Many people use high tech lights for high demand plants. I don't see any in your tank. So the lights are overkill.
- Real plants - good advise!
- The floaters tend to throw off or melt their roots anyway when added to a new tank, so put them in!
- It's good to have the sponge but you don't have to run it all the time. As soon as you have your stocking done you can remove it. Or use it to set up a grow-out for the molly fry, you will get to the point anyway, when you wish you had them in a separate tank so you can easily remove them for rehoming.
- An air stone is only necessary in case of meds that de-oxigenate the water or in filterless holding tanks. With a HOB that thing is uselessly taking up space and using electricity. They also drive out CO2 that is dissolved in the water, stalling plant growth.

Sorry about not using the Emergency Template, I tried best i could to state symptoms clear. The photos- was just trying to post clear views of fish. I change 6gallons every week & Gravel vacc. I add nothing but Prime. Feed a variety of food. Hikari omnivore & algae wafers. Xtreme krill flakes. Zuchinni. Hikari Fancy Guppy. Aqueonn shrimp/bottom feeder pellets. Hikari Vibra bites. Peas.... Yes the ottos eat. They 3 older ones I've had for several months & was told as long as they eat it was safe to move them in here from their old tank.
It's disheartening to hear this, one person says its parasites, it's a bacterial infection, use meds, don't use meds, now my entire tank needs a makeover... That's a bit sad.

Allright then.

- Waterchanges and maintenance: Always do 50%. Every week. Best thing to keep parameters steady and fish healthy. With a sand substrate vacuuming is not necessary. You rather remove the BB in the sand with it. Detritus will accumulate on top and with the current in the tank set correctly it will all be in the same corner each week.
- Food variety looks "ok". Add frozen foods for the cories, and cucumber for the otos. Leave the peas, they are nutritionally nonesense for fish. The health benefits of peas for goldfish and bettas are an urban legend.

Thing is, that it seems you listened to everyone at once. Research and read. Get books on the topic. Read up on sites like Seriously Fish and - unbelievable but true - Wikipedia.

Why people say it's dfferent diseases: Because all - and I mean it - ALL symptoms you name are non-specific. Only exception is the spinning molly, that was likely shimmying before due to low GH and pH.
But fin clamping, scratching and staying in dark corners can be a whole host of different things.
The colouration, though, is thanks to the tank conditions not a reliable sign of anything.

And another thing you will have to think about at one point: Mollies don't really fit with your other fish. Usually they need high hardness and pH, even a bit of salinty, while Otos and Cories usually live in acidic, lowest-hardness water. BN-Plecos don't care, they are a product of decades of crossbreeding of different species, the form available in the hobby is not to be found anywhere in nature.

That's the problem with community tanks, they are often just a compromise and won't be really good or really bad for all fish in it.

 

A lot of this is because people with little experience tend to give a lot of advise here on Fishlore. If a user advising you doesn't have their experience posted under their avatar next to their posts or only "just started" or "1-2 years", take the advise with a grain of salt and wait for confirmation by a user with more experience. About 50% of my posts and of many others with a lot of experience are just to correct wrong or half-wrong statements of others.

- Sand is good, but clear white sand is too bright. That's all. Right granule size, wrong colour.
- Many people use high tech lights for high demand plants. I don't see any in your tank. So the lights are overkill.
- Real plants - good advise!
- The floaters tend to throw off or melt their roots anyway when added to a new tank, so put them in!
- It's good to have the sponge but you don't have to run it all the time. As soon as you have your stocking done you can remove it. Or use it to set up a grow-out for the molly fry, you will get to the point anyway, when you wish you had them in a separate tank so you can easily remove them for rehoming.
- An air stone is only necessary in case of meds that de-oxigenate the water or in filterless holding tanks. With a HOB that thing is uselessly taking up space and using electricity. They also drive out CO2 that is dissolved in the water, stalling plant growth.



Allright then.

- Waterchanges and maintenance: Always do 50%. Every week. Best thing to keep parameters steady and fish healthy. With a sand substrate vacuuming is not necessary. You rather remove the BB in the sand with it. Detritus will accumulate on top and with the current in the tank set correctly it will all be in the same corner each week.
- Food variety looks "ok". Add frozen foods for the cories, and cucumber for the otos. Leave the peas, they are nutritionally nonesense for fish. The health benefits of peas for goldfish and bettas are an urban legend.

Thing is, that it seems you listened to everyone at once. Research and read. Get books on the topic. Read up on sites like Seriously Fish and - unbelievable but true - Wikipedia.

Why people say it's dfferent diseases: Because all - and I mean it - ALL symptoms you name are non-specific. Only exception is the spinning molly, that was likely shimmying before due to low GH and pH.
But fin clamping, scratching and staying in dark corners can be a whole host of different things.
The colouration, though, is thanks to the tank conditions not a reliable sign of anything.

And another thing you will have to think about at one point: Mollies don't really fit with your other fish. Usually they need high hardness and pH, even a bit of salinty, while Otos and Cories usually live in acidic, lowest-hardness water. BN-Plecos don't care, they are a product of decades of crossbreeding of different species, the form available in the hobby is not to be found anywhere in nature.

That's the problem with community tanks, they are often just a compromise and won't be really good or really bad for all fish in it.

The 29g is supposed to be dedicated to the corydoras. I just put in a few molly fry to grow out & help clean up the bladder snails & hoard of detritus worms. I had a 10g nursery for mollies, it was running from may-December. I sold it, saving every single molly fry is exhausting & takes up a lot of space. So the 20g is mainly for mollies now.


New plants coming: Anacharis Elodea Egeria Densa +Golden Lloydiella + more ludwigia + guppy grass + Marsilea Hirsuta (Dwarf Four Leaf Clover) +Cryptocoryne Usteriana + Anubias Nana Petite White Broad Leaf + Large Aponogeton Ulvaceus Plant + Tiger Lotus Lily Bulb (Nypmhaea Zenkeri) + a couple various anubis. For different tanks. But the Anacharis I wanted to put in the 29g. I have RRF in QT. They are not ready yet, they just arrived a few days ago.

The spinning molly was not in the tank when it was first set up, so he was not exposed to the low levels of KH & GH

When I set up the 20g I had a completely different set stock of mollies- I was sold 10 at petsmart, too many males, overstocked, I gave a couple to a friend & Rehomed the males. I've had so many now- by keeping fry. I picked the color variations I liked best. So the 4 mollies I have now are different then the ones I started with. The sailfin male molly I purchesed on 10-21-20. Its not the shimmies- I have witnessed the rocking side to side & shivering before & he was not doing that.

 

The 29g is supposed to be dedicated to the corydoras. I just put in a few molly fry to grow out & help clean up the bladder snails & hoard of detritus worms. I had a 10g nursery for mollies, I sold it, saving every single molly fry is exhausting & takes up a lot of space. So the 20g is mainly for mollies now.

Detritus worms are good. And great food for Cories and Otos too.

Otherwise you describe perfectly why I would never keep livebearers. Did that once 30 years ago. Never again.

 

Detritus worms are good. And great food for Cories and Otos too.

Otherwise you describe perfectly why I would never keep livebearers. Did that once 30 years ago. Never again.

Sorry I edited the post above adding info- you replied too quick to see it lol