I promise the pics work this time! MY FISH PICS!

[theocnoob]

These are fish I have kept over the past 15 years. I no longer keep fish. But at one point I had so many tanks it was pretty bad. I always kept them immaculate, but still... fishkeeping is an addiction I had to kick.

Here are some pretty fish!

 

[Just-passn-thru]

I love the white Beta

 

[BlueAbyss]

Such beautiful fish. I agree with @Just-passn-thru , the white a betta is surely one of my favorites. I currently have three 20-gallon tanks and I used to own a 150-gallon tank. Then I have a aquaponics fish tank in the yard. So I get what you mean.

 

[Birdbabe]

Beautiful! I used to have several tanks years ago. They are addicting!

 

[theocnoob]

I love the white Beta

My aunt killed that betta when I was on vacation for a month. I left painstakingly detailed instructions but she killed it. I still don't know what happened .

 

[Just-passn-thru]

What the heck sorry , how difficult is it to take care of a beta.

 

[theocnoob]

What the heck sorry , how difficult is it to take care of a beta.

Bout the same as any other fish if you're keeping it in a filtered and heated aquarium.

 

[Begone]

Really nice pics!

 

[Aubrey]

I love keeping fish! I currently have 2 tanks. I used to keep African cichlids but have fallen in love with fancy goldfish

I'd love a 150 gal but my husband would kill me

 

[Aubrey]

One fish I've never kept but would love to are puffers. Maybe someday

 

[KimKim]

I've been thinking about starting up an aquarium again... I had goldfish before and wouild love to again, but I think my kids would enjoy having a variety of fresh waster fish rather than 2 goldfish.

 

[theocnoob]

if you need any advice let me know

 

[iamwhoiam]

I have a 10 gal. tank with two bronze cory cats. Wanted to move them into a larger tank but I think it would be stressful and not sure how I would do it. Guess I could put them into something smaller temporarily but that water would have to be seeded and then the new tank would also have to be seeded.

 

[theocnoob]

Buy a larger tank, hood, filter, heater. Set it up, let it run for a couple of days, then move the filter and any decor over from the 10 gallon to the new tank (in other words, run both filters simultaneously). This, in addition to a bacterial starter like Hagen's Cycle or Marineland's Bio-Spira (don't over dose it!) will make for a completely safe transition, I promise.

10 gal is sort of small for cories if you give them room to run they really run. You really ought to keep them on sand, btw, instead of gravel. A very fine grade pool filter sand is a good buy. Rinse it ridiculously thoroughly then put a 1" layer in the tank.

You don't vaccuum sand like gravel you just vaccuum the surface of it then run your fingers through it to release trapped gasses once a week.

If all you have is two cories I would urge you, once you have a bigger tank and it is fully established, to get at least four more. They are very very social little catfish. Get all the same species, don't mix.

If you are in the greater toronto area I can suggest places to get the new tank at a good price and where to pick up healthy cories.

HTH

 

[iamwhoiam]

Thanks for the great advice. I want to set it up where the current tank is. I can't set it up somewhere else and then move it. I had 3 cories at one time but "Mamacita" passed away last year. She was about 12-13 years old.

 

[theocnoob]

No, you can't set up a large tank then move it. I would suggest setting the new tank up beside the current tank, letting it run for a few days then doing the transfer as I suggested. Your fish will be fine I promise. Ive done this method many times and it was how we did things at the petshop I worked at (which is the most respected aquarium shop in Toronto for rare and unusual fish).

BTW I suggest, for cories (unless they are dwarf cories) to get a tank that is 36" long by 12" wide as a minimum for them to exhibit natural behavior. You should also add some other fish to make the cories feel comfortable. Maybe a school of a non shy hardy fish such as lemon tetras or bleeding heart tetras. You don't want a voracious fish in the water column like danios or they will pick all the food off the bottom before the cories have a chance at it.

Feel free to also add a bottom feeder friend for the cories such as a bushynose pleco. They are adorable, active, and a lot of fun. They require wood in their diet. I would urge you if you do get a bushynose to pick up sera's catfish chips (amazon) which contain the wood that these fish eat in the wild.

Add some driftwood with natural cave structures in it for your bottom dwellers. I like manzanita and malaysian wood. Let the algae grow wild, especially the furry stuff. It promotes the growth of microorganisms which your bottom feeders will munch on when they forage in the algae which are highly beneficial.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Unfortunately there is no room next to the current tank and no space available in the room to add another tank. I wish I had put it on a cart with wheels but I put it on a desk that is not being used. I'll see if I can figure something out. I just bought a new filter for the tank because the old one is not always working properly. The new filter is good for 10-30 gal tanks.
I feed them Tetra shrimp & New Life Spectrum.

 

[theocnoob]

What are you feeding your cories right now?

 

[theocnoob]

What filter specifically did you buy? You need to take the media (all of it) from the old filter and put it in the new filter. You MUST do this. I hope you haven't let the seeded media dry out.

Do not use filter cartridges. Biggest crock of BS in the aquarium industry. Instead run sponge (aquaclear foam) and ceramic media (biomax, ehfisubstrat, etc). No carbon. Never throw any of this stuff out. Just rinse about 1/3 of the filter media once a month in aquarium (not tap) water in a bucket just to get the gunk off. Dont rinse too vigorously.

If you want to get a REAL filter for your 35ish gallon new tank, you can't go wrong with an Eheim classic. Easily the best filter on the market unless you go into the super advanced stuff.

Pick up an Eheim 2213 (or whatever they call it now) and run it alongside your existing filter on your new tank. Cories and plecos love current so dont worry about that. If you get water column fish like tetras you might have to adjust the current slightly but even still, shouldn't be a big deal. Not sure what the 2213 costs these days should be around $99 US or whatever that is CDN.

Your cories are on a very good diet dont change it. If you get the pleco add the catfish chips and a high quality spirulina wafer. Plecos also like fruit such as banana slices or veggies such as cucumber slices. These float so you should get something called a "veggie clip"

 

[iamwhoiam]

What are you feeding your cories right now?

As per my previous post, Tetra shrimp and New Life Spectrum. I used to give them some kind of sinking wafers but haven't done that for awhile.

I haven't set up the new filter yet.

The filter you suggest sounds good but it's too much $$ for me right now.

Didn't think there was an issue with filter cartridges. I've always used those along with a sponge.