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well when i first went to my lfs a while back and saw these bottom feeders called corys, i fell in love immediatley! the worker there said that they were peaceful, low maintinance, and fun to keep. I was extacitic! I quickly whipped out my wallet and purchaced 2! they are still wth me and are still fine! I read up on them and found out that they need to be in groups so i went out and bought two more. They soon died, but i learned that they are ph sensitive so i decided to fix that and buy some more....2 to be exact...and this morning one of them died. Iam so frusturated, but i could be more extatic if i wasnt getting my money back...


Any ways...why is this happening my ph is fine alog with my amonia...and i syphon my tank every other day...well almost.......anyways with me being left with 3 emeralds could i add 3 pandas? would that be enought to make both species happy?...by the way this is a 10 gallon with 3 emerald cory's in there along with: one snail, 3 x-ray tetras, 2 cherry barbs, and one gold barb.

What can i do to help my tank...???? iam really just fed up....]:|]:|]:|]:|]:|......


Peter

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

And if i cant add any pandas what could i add....i love corys...are there any cory species that dont need groups????


Peter

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Get a bigger tank? I think you're quite full there, really. Tetras, as a rule, are schooling fish as well.

Cories tend to school by patterns. Emeralds and pandas are really quite dissimilar and probably wouldn't school. Besides the fact that pandas are TINY and emeralds can get rather large. All cories are schoolers.

How are you introducing your fish to the tank? How long do you take to acclimate them? Float the bag for at least 20 minutes in the tank, open it up and add some water from the tank to the bag. If you have had issues with them dying in the past, perhaps you need to spend a longer time in acclimating them?

Emeralds are probably too big for that tank. The barb may get too big as well. I'm not terribly familiar with the fish you have, but you might want to check on the prospective sizes of your stock.

Oh, and why are you siphoning so much? You shouldn't have to clean your tank that often, otherwise you may disrupt the cycle. Have you cycled this tank? And can you provide results from water tests (pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, etc)?

Last edited by Kitten at 25-Feb-2005 21:41

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

How are you "fixing" the pH?

pH altering products, if you are using them, tend to make the pH yoyo more than anything. Altering pH correctly, is a difficult thing, unless you are well prepared. It can be done with co2 injection or it can be done by softening the water with something like peat. However, your kH plays into it and you must know that before you play with the pH. Yoyo-ing pH causes more deaths and it takes very little.

The tank is almost overstocked right now. You need a good 20 long to add more fish. A 20 regular can't have as many fish as a 20 long and it doesn't take that much space. In fact, it's the same foot print as a 29 gallon. Because surface areas are identical, I 29 gallon can't have any more fish than a 20 gal long.

I too would be interested in your parameter readings.

As it stands today, what is your nitrate level? Are you getting anything other than zero for your ammonia and nitrite? If so, the tank is overstocked.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 26-Feb-2005 20:55