Help Planning Tank

[tomm10]

I have a new 10g tank that is currently cycling with four Zebra Danios. I'm using a hanging power filter and a submersible heater. The ph is around 7.2 although that seems to be fluctuating a little.

I would like to get some bottom feeders and a couple more mid level or surface fish. I'm trying to keep a peaceful little community tank. Obviously I won't be adding any fish until the tank has cycled.

I was thinking of one or two cories for bottom feeders. Is one or two too few for these fish? I think three or four would be too many for the small tank (although I'll likely go to a larger tank inn a few months)

What about platies? I love how colorful they are and their size and temperment should fit in my tank but as live bearers will they reproduce too much for me to handle? If so, is there another fish you can recommend? I would rather stock the tank completely with zebras than get tetras. I think they're kind of boring (no offense to tetra lovers :)

Lastly, what about African Dwarf Frogs? Are these easy to care for? Do they need access to get out of the water?

Thanks in advance!

tom

[OrionGirl]

I would go with 3 cories as a minimum. They are happier in small groups, and will display better behavior. Keep in mind that not all cories get to the same size. A trio of skunks, pandas, or schwartzii will stay smaller than the bronzes or greens.

Livebearers will pretty much do their thing no matter what. If you don't make any effort to protect the fry, there probably won't be too many that survive, but that's not a gaurantee. You may be better off avoiding them until you have a larger tank, or get very young females. All males won't produce, but they can fight a lot. I would probably just add a few more danios--there are a variety of colors that will mix nicely.

ADF can be mixed, but you need to make sure they are able to feed. With danios in there, I would not add a frog--the danios will tear through the food before the frogs get a chance to eat anything, and that's not good. They don't need to get our of the water, but they must be able to surface to breathe.

Because you are cycling with fish, keep in mind that each additional fish will challenge the bacteria bed. So, add slowly, allow time between additions, and perform a few extra water changes in between.

[val]

thanks for stopping by.

In a small tank, I've always thought that more of a single species is better than two or three of a couple of species. How long do you plan on staying with your 10g? If it is a couple of months, get 3- 4 cories (add them in pairs, over time). And just stick with that. Then, when you can get a bigger tank, you can add another species, one for the mid-level strata and bump up your total of danios. While zebras are common in the fish trade, they are very active, and not everyone wants them in their tanks. I've done many of the common fish, and yet I've never done danios.

Platies should be fine in your tank. I set up a tank at work for a friend with guppies, platies and mollys, and left to their own devices, the platies were the only ones that did not breed at all, so based on that limited experience, you may be fine.

If you like platies and danios, but not tetras, you may want to consider barbs for your mid waters, so let me give you my standard recommendation: checker barbs. These fish are hardy, will eat what you are already feeding your fish, are colorful (and even subtle), and you can sex them. The males have darker dorsal fins with a black leading edge. I really like these fish.

There have been a couple of posts in general chat about frogs in the past week (which I haven't read). You may find an expert in one of those threads.

HTH

Val

[tomm10]

Thanks for the advice, folks!

My main reason for a cory is to help maintain the cleanliness of this small tank. Given that they like company and my tank space is limited, is there another type of bottom feeder that either doesn't need to school or is smaller (initially I was thinking about crabs but understand they won't work well in my setup)?

Thanks,

Tom

[TKOS]

Another option to help keep the bottom clean of debris is getting soemthing like ghost or amano shrimp. They stay small and don't add much to the bioload of the tank, plus are kind of cool to watch. They are freshwater and are generally cheap if you can find them. In my betta tank (which is 5 gallons) I had thought of adding bottom feeders but ended up going with rams horn snails which seem to do a very nice job of cleaning up after my messy little betta.

I agree that for a 10 gallon tank sticking with many of one species would be the best way to go. Perhaps keep the danios and add 3 cories (peppered are great as well).

[MrGoodbytes]

If you are getting a larger tank in the near future, I would reccommend loaches. They are very entertaining and eccentric fish, and they do best in groups (4-5 min).
I would reccommend yoyo loaches or striated loaches, but it's up to you.

[tomm10]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm pretty much settled on keeping the four zebra Danios and getting a few corys.

One of my local shops has some pygmy corys. They're pretty cool looking so I was thinking of adding some of them. My question is with numbers. If I were to get Panda Corys I would be looking at 3 but since the pygmys are smaller should I get 4 or 5? I know they're a schooling fish and will appreciate the larger numbers.

T

[OrionGirl]

Pygmy cories do not behave the same as the larger cories--they tend to act more like tetras that sometimes rest on the substrate or plantsthan cories. They spend very little time sniffling along the substrate, and eat from the water column.

Not saying to avoid them--they are charming, and you could have 4-5 instead of 3, but they will not fill the same niche as 3 panda cories.

[tomm10]

This is good to know, thanks. Like I said before I really want them to serve a purpose in cleaning the left overs so it sounds like I should go for the pandas.

T

[TKOS]

Don't forget to buy some purpose made sinking catfish food for the little guys. They don't live on scraps alone!! A couple tablets amoung 3 of them will suffice every other day.

[SnakeIce]

pymy cories do go over the bottom but not exclusivly like the other larger cories... my wife had pigmy cories as her only clean up crew for a while at the beginning and they did fine as far as cleaning up.. but they do behave differently than regular cories