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A tank upgarde?!? YES! Um Help!

3K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  kfryman 
#1 · (Edited)
Ok. So I just found out, as a late birthday gift, I'm getting that ever elusive tank upgrade I've been itching for. I don't know the new tanks parameters yet, when I do I may have a WHOLE NEW set of questions for everyone.

Either way I know the first thing I will be getting is for poor Moyashi (Albino Cory Catfish); some schooling mates. My question for now is this: what other Cories will he school with? Am I doomed to have a ghost pack haunting my tank (and frightening Ryu - Half moon Betta), or can I mix in say a Brochis Cory and a Panda Cory?

Depending on the size and shape of the tank I may also add another fish or two... I was thinking of a pair of platies or a platie and a sword tail. Would these probably do well? Also, if they would, would a pair of males or a pair of females work better (males usually add more to the look of the tank, but I'm worried about any type of aggression)?

One last question. (I swear!) What plants would you suggest? Right now I have a fake plant because I've got a little 1.5 gallon. I really would like to do live plants if I can (as I can afford it). Until I can get the plant, I'll be sticking with some silk plants to get decent coverage (along with their current hide-y hole and maybe a new one).

I'm planning on a sand substrate if that is of any help in answering.
 
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#3 ·
Either way I know the first thing I will be getting is for poor Moyashi (Albino Cory Catfish); some schooling mates. My question for now is this: what other Cories will he school with? Am I doomed to have a ghost pack haunting my tank (and frightening Ryu - Half moon Betta), or can I mix in say a Brochis Cory and a Panda Cory?
Cories school with members of the same species. They will only school with other species out of necessity--one of each species. Because of this it's recommended to keep them with members of the same species because it lowers their stress level. The should be kept in groups of at least 4. You should figure out what species your albino is. He can either be a C. aeneus or a C. palateus (I think those are both spelled wrong). If he's a C. aeneus he can be kept with either bronze, albino, or green cories (the green cories should be labeled specifically C. aeneus and not Brochis splendens which they might be confused with). If it's a C. palateus he can be kept with like albinos and peppered cories. Albinos from Petsmart are C. aeneus. Both of these are large species and need to be in at least a ten gallon. I would say 4-5 of them in a ten gallon. When getting more cories I would recommend getting some of similar size to the one you have since in my experience cories spend more time with other cories of the same size.
 
#4 ·
The tank will definitely not be any smaller than 10gal. I don't know the shape yet so amounts are waiting until after that... I just want to make plans ahead so I can foresee any issues that may arise.

I got Moyashi and Ryu before I found out much about cories (a bad mistake on my part that I'm trying to remedy - thus the search for a larger tank and my joy on the up coming gift). This is also the reason I'm looking for help in determining what cories would school with him and if the tank is larger/or with future tanks if platies and/or swordtails would do well with the betta/corries.
 
#8 ·
Your cories are going to love sand substrate, and seeing an albino and a bronze school together is massively cute. :) My bronze won't leave my albino alone - I think he has babies on the brain.

As for plants, some great starter plants include:
- anacharis (also called elodea - plant it in the substrate)
- lacefern (grows very thickly, so keep in trimmed. Also planted).
- java fern (tie it to driftwood or something)
- anubias (ditto, plus has lovely broad leaves that my cories love)
- java moss (leave it loose or tie it down, make a wall or carpet...it's great stuff)
 
#9 ·
Water wisteria (hygrophillia difformis) is also great, and you can get 2-4 in the tubes at petsmart that most people caution against...My tube had three and they're growing like wildfire though.

By the way, If it's a 10g the cories are your limit. if it's Higher you could add platies (3 minimum, these are also schooling.) I admittedly know little about the swordtails.

final note: go to lowes and get pool filter sand. It's not much more expensive than play sand and has a LOT less dirt filler than play sand.
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the suggestions. I will deffinately be keeping it all in mind as soon as I get started (hopefully after this coming weekend)!
 
#11 ·
Just an update. I've got 4 Cories and the Betta now. (2 albino Cories -Moyashi and Yuki- 1 "green" (bronze) Cory -Ginga- and a "black" (bronze) Cory -Kira-) All are doing well together! currently I've settled with the temporary Kyoto Grass (which I'm told will die in 2-4 months, but was on a crazy sale) I'll be purchasing some of the suggested plants when budget and time allows. Thank you everyone for you help!
 
#12 ·
Just saying cories are schooling fish, you have enough for a school. You just didn't research that for them to feel comfortable, they need to have the same type of cory. Like 4 albino cories, they may still school but, they are doing it because they won't feel secure.

I think you should take some back and get a proper school.
 
#14 ·
The poster has a proper school. Cories school based on species not color. Since albino, green, and bronze cories are all the same species they can and will school together and it isn't simply out of necessity. I have a similar set up although it's one albino, one bronze, and three greens. They are always together. The bronze spends most of his time with the albino. They even breed amongst themselves. There is nothing wrong with this set up. It's hard to imagine it working unless you've seen or had the set up for yourself.

I got my albino and bronze from a giant tank with three different species of cories. The different species of cories only schooled with other members of the same species. Within the groups of species specific schools the different colors all intermingled. Since there were more than 4 of the two different colors of C. aeneus the albino and bronze wouldn't have to hang out if they didn't want to.
 
#13 ·
Getting at least another 3-4 more cories would be great for your poor lonely one. :)

Then, depending on the amount of gallons you get, you can have other fish, but I'd look at a few things:

Needs as far as water hardness - how hard is your tap water?
Potential aggression - Swordtail males can potentially bully a mellow betta.
Waste production - I typically prefer to stay away from any sort of livebearer (guppies, platys, swordtails) and goldfish in any tank less than 20g. These fish are happiest with a few of their own species, and.. They poop. A lot.

If you get, say a 20g, I'd recommend getting a small school of tetras or the smaller rainbowfish species (furcatas, threadfins, gertrudes, etc.) This would allow for your cories to school the bottom, a small school to school the middle, and your betta would be the centerpiece fish. :)

That's what I'd do anyway.
 
#15 ·
I've fallen in love with my Cories (they are very active in contrast to Ryu's serenity- a very pleasing combination). As for the schooling, they are ALL C. Aeneus, just different presentations (green, dark, and albino). Everything I've researched (and yes even after everyone said things I went and researched more -once bitten, twice shy) states that as long as the are the same (Only C. Aeneus only C. Splendor and so on) then it will work fine, they will be comfortable and content. Which seems to be true, as Kira(bronze) prefers to stick near Moyashi (albino) and Yuki (albino) prefers the presence of Ginga ("green"), but all four will spend time together as well. You can put in other kinds of Cories, but they won't school together, but will co-exist peacefully.
 
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