I am planing a 20 long, i am almost positive i want to do a sorority, but i would like like some other fish, and definitely some type of cories.
can ghost or cherry shrimp live with them too?
I don't want to over sock either.
The tank will be planted, and most likely have sand as a substrate.
I am planing on moving some of my current plants from my 10 gal, but unless i dip them the pond snails will move in to.
Ideas on stock, and numbers would be helpful. thanks
oh and we tend to have hard water, but i hope to get some IAL and more Drift wood to help with that.
I would advise against any shrimp, esp any expensive shrimp. Your bettas may get along with your shrimp for awhile, but they will eventually hunt and kill them.
Cories are good as long as you have a small gang. At least minimum of 3 is a must, they don't like to be alone anyway.
I have a small 10g sorority set up with 3 betta, 3 peppered cories, 2 otto, an apple snail, and tons of plants. I have some ghost shrimp as well, but the girls eventually killed them all. The bettas do great with the corries, though they do try to steal their food. If any of the girls seem to be getting too rough with one of the cories then the other 2 quickly come to the rescue and chase the betta off. No one even seems to notice the ottos and the do a good job keeping algae at bay.
Regardless of what stock you put in, a well planted tank is highly recomened for any betta sorority.
I would advise against any shrimp, esp any expensive shrimp. Your bettas may get along with your shrimp for awhile, but they will eventually hunt and kill them.
Cories are good as long as you have a small gang. At least minimum of 3 is a must, they don't like to be alone anyway.
I have a small 10g sorority set up with 3 betta, 3 peppered cories, 2 otto, an apple snail, and tons of plants..
Three is not enough for cories; you need at least four. Your oto "group" is undersized as well. Both species are shoaling fish and need minimum group sizes of four members.
I do agree with the shrimp suggestion, unless you get lots of java moss. Which is a favorite hiding place for shrimplkins. :)
You need 4 min for cories, I don't know about otos though.
For a 20g long, I would get 10+ girls and some cories. Cories need sand as gravel hurts their little barbels. :3
Use aqadvisor.com and you can test your stocking level. :)
I put in 10females and 5 bronze cories, with no filter and your still only at 81%.
I do plan on having lots of plants and ordering more than what i currently have stocked in my 10 and 2.5 gal, as i am sure i could fit mroe into them as well. I love planted tanks!
Will any type of pygmy corries work? I am kind of thinking panda
as far as shrimp if i wantem I will just keep them with my guppy tank.
and I have heard mixed things about live bears and betta living peacefully, I am thinking maybe some female platties?
Panda cories would be great, and they'd love your sand. you could probably do 6-10 pandas in your 20 long. And oh man, do they LOVE big groups! My bronze cories are wild, they've got a shoal of 9 in my 29 gallon. They are super adventurous :)
in aqadvisor, it put 10 panda cories and 10 betta females at 85% stocking as well. If i plug in the aquaclear 20 as your filter, it says you are waaay under filtered though. with the aquaclear 30, it still says you'd be under filtered. I'd definitely get a great filter, lots and lots of plants, 7-10 betta girls, and 6-8 pandas if you go that route ^-^
aqadvisor.com is the stocking calculator Jen and I are using to get this info btw :)
OH. also it's important to wait for your tank to mature after it's cycled for a few months. cories, particularly pandas, are easily stressed, and can die real easy in an immature tank.
I'm new to live bearers as well, but you might be alright with a few females in your tank too. Just be aware that if they come from a mixed tank, they're probably pregnant, and will have several batches of babies before they run out of sperm (live bearers can store sperm- isn't that crazy???)
My guy loves the two platies that swim around his tank with him. They are gentle so they don't nip at his fins and all he'll do is flare every now and then when they come under his bridge, but he never goes after them.
Panda cories would be great, and they'd love your sand. you could probably do 6-10 pandas in your 20 long. And oh man, do they LOVE big groups! My bronze cories are wild, they've got a shoal of 9 in my 29 gallon. They are super adventurous :)
in aqadvisor, it put 10 panda cories and 10 betta females at 85% stocking as well. If i plug in the aquaclear 20 as your filter, it says you are waaay under filtered though. with the aquaclear 30, it still says you'd be under filtered. I'd definitely get a great filter, lots and lots of plants, 7-10 betta girls, and 6-8 pandas if you go that route ^-^
aqadvisor.com is the stocking calculator Jen and I are using to get this info btw :)
OH. also it's important to wait for your tank to mature after it's cycled for a few months. cories, particularly pandas, are easily stressed, and can die real easy in an immature tank.
I'm new to live bearers as well, but you might be alright with a few females in your tank too. Just be aware that if they come from a mixed tank, they're probably pregnant, and will have several batches of babies before they run out of sperm (live bearers can store sperm- isn't that crazy???)
Thanks for all the thoughtfull info, I am not new to the fish keeping hobby by any means, I once uppon a time was an avid fancy guppy breeder, I just got back into keeping fish since i had so much trouble at our last place with water quality. and proir to that i had tragically lost all my stock to power outage while i was on vacation. that was years ago tho. I could go on but no need to.
anyway
I plan on getting the aquaclear 30, and possibly a sunsun canister filter i have heard great things about them. I plan on seeding any filter media with my curent 10 gal set up, and adding the live plants any maybe a few guppies to get the tank establish fairly quickly.
I am still not so sure on basing all my stock options on aqadvisor, I think real experience always trumps calculators, but they can be a great tool.
oh and yeah sperm storing is a pain when you want a virgin female for breeding.
My guy loves the two platies that swim around his tank with him. They are gentle so they don't nip at his fins and all he'll do is flare every now and then when they come under his bridge, but he never goes after them.
oh that is good to know, i hope i get peaceful fishies too.
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