20 Gallon High - Not "mature'

[Doc7]

thanks to your help my tank chemistry is remaining perfect with fish in it (did an ammonia cycle, stopped when it seemed to stall and added fish, chemistry has been great except for the 2nd weekend when i came home and the impeller was stopped on my AC30 and i had a small ammonia spike which sucks). i posted a couple weeks back about a DIY stand but i have since bought at petsmart as it looks a TON nicer.

I have 7 Corydoras Sterbai on a playsand substrate in a 20 gallon high, with an AquaClear 30 filter (Sponge, with 2 layers of bio-max on top)

the fish are hiding when i turn the light on - i worry if it's too bright with the light (17W fixture that came with the kit from Petsmart, and light sand bottom)...but maybe it's just because i haven't been running the light too much, so now i put it on a 9-hour-per-day cycle hoping they will be accustomed to it and then not hide during those hours.



Anyway - as the tank is not mature (the filter has been dosed with ammonia since November - does that count as maturation time or does it start when i put in fish) does that mean i pretty much can't add any Apisto etc? It seems like almost any fish I like in the LFS, when i research it, says needs a "mature" tank of 6 months or older. ##150###.com calculates my tank to still have room (70% capacity with 7 cories) for fish and I really like some of the dwarf cichlids. I can kind of deal without having to get a dwarf cichlid right now though because I do plan, when my filter is 6 months old, to use it to help me "spawn" a filter for a much larger tank, almost definitely a biotope, either a planted tank of some sort or a rocky cichlid tank. So this doesn't necessarily have to be my "show" tank way down the road as it will likely be the cories + something i am quarantining or raising as a fry or some kind of thing like that. The cories to keep the filter running / keep the aquarium looking lively and the show tank with the plants or "showier" fish. I do LOVE the cories behavior and watching them snuffle around is fascinating.

anyway i am rambling now. my point is that I am not quite fully stocked and looking to add some color to the tank and not sure what would be appropriate, especially as many of the Apisto etc seem to be ruled out due to the tank not being 6 months old. I would love any suggestions!

Thanks

Doc7

 

[crago1990]

cherry barbs! awsome little fish and will add great colour to the tank.

 

[Doc7]

also - if i add my TopFin 20 HOB to my AquaClear 30, aq-advisor says I could do this:

7 Cory Sterbai
7 Tetra (i put in Black Neon for an example)
Pair of GBR


Or I could just run the AC30, and have 1 GBR...

 

[waterdrop]

As long as you choose a smaller type of tetra I don't see why 7, 7 and 2GBR isn't ok, even regardless of the amount of filtration (it's keeping up with the weekly gravel-clean-water-changes that would make more difference in my opinion.) WD

 

[Doc7]

WD: what are some "smaller" tetras? thank you...

 

[fishkeeper35]

WD: what are some "smaller" tetras? thank you...

smallish-lemon, glowlight,cardinal,neons,serprae,rummy nose, black neon, emperor, penguin tetra

medium-black phantom,red phantom, congo,bleeding heart

hoped this helped

 

[Doc7]

cool great thanks!

now if only my cories would eat the shrimp pellets before the filter flow blew them under plants, where i get worried and end up sucking the food out before it sits too long...

 

[fishkeeper35]

cool great thanks!

now if only my cories would eat the shrimp pellets before the filter flow blew them under plants, where i get worried and end up sucking the food out before it sits too long...

no problem

 

[waterdrop]

WD: what are some "smaller" tetras? thank you...

smallish-lemon, glowlight,cardinal,neons,serprae,rummy nose, black neon, emperor, penguin tetra

medium-black phantom,red phantom, congo,bleeding heart

hoped this helped

Well, I would tend to think:
small: glowlight, cardinal, neon
smallish: black neon (well maybe they are about the same as cardinal in size?)
larger: lemon, serpae, rummy, penguin, phantoms, congos, bleeding hearts

I may be over-generalizing amongst the larger group, which may vary between each other as to size. And don't forget the agression factors. Serpae and to a lesser extent perhaps lemons and bleeding hearts can be aggressive or nippy depending on situations, whereas rummys and some of the others can be completely peaceful - there are very real differences in the behavior habits of these different tetras. There is also the way they swim and move: some just sit and make little jerks whereas others glide back and forth across the tank in shoals... the degree to which you "know" each species can just grow and grow over the years. WD

 

[Newbie_87]

don't forget Ember tetras, they get about 2-2.5 cm in length and have an lovely colour, very peaceful to

 

[moochy13]

you could easily have cherry barbs instead of tetras.

 

[Aqua Tom]

you could easily have cherry barbs instead of tetras.

unless its a shoal you want. cheries dont naturaly shoal. most tetras do.

 

[fishkeeper35]

WD: what are some "smaller" tetras? thank you...

smallish-lemon, glowlight,cardinal,neons,serprae,rummy nose, black neon, emperor, penguin tetra

medium-black phantom,red phantom, congo,bleeding heart

hoped this helped

Well, I would tend to think:
small: glowlight, cardinal, neon
smallish: black neon (well maybe they are about the same as cardinal in size?)
larger: lemon, serpae, rummy, penguin, phantoms, congos, bleeding hearts

I may be over-generalizing amongst the larger group, which may vary between each other as to size. And don't forget the agression factors. Serpae and to a lesser extent perhaps lemons and bleeding hearts can be aggressive or nippy depending on situations, whereas rummys and some of the others can be completely peaceful - there are very real differences in the behavior habits of these different tetras. There is also the way they swim and move: some just sit and make little jerks whereas others glide back and forth across the tank in shoals... the degree to which you "know" each species can just grow and grow over the years. WD

well i was just generilizing but if thats what it is then your right!!!! after all you have more expierence!!

 

[Doc7]

I'm heading to pick up either 3-4 tetras (don't want to double number of fish in my tank instantly - i will give them more friends in a week!) or a GBR depending on what is available.

My tank temp is 76.5 Deg F - i'm going to try and raise it just a tiny bit but have had some trouble doing that with this heater in the past so will have to keep a close eye on it

 

[Doc7]

The tank temp is now at 80 Deg F.

Current stocking: 7 cory sterbai, 3 cardinal tetra

in another week, bump up to 7 total cardinals, and then a couple weeks after that, add a GBR!


i bought 4 cardinals but one didn't make it home from the fish store. Myself and my girlfriend were shocked at how poorly the LFS employee seemed to handle the fish when she was removing them from the store tank - it was a mistake to go to that particular place instead of the high quality LFS I got my cories from, and the future fish will not be purchased there.


I added a double-ply layer of paper towels between the glass and the light, which subdued it significantly without detracting from viewing the tank and the cories are no longer hiding when the light is on.

I just did my first WC since moving the tank off of the 6-foot high piece of furniture to a real tank stand 6 days ago and wow is it so much easier now. One problem is that i am changing nearly 50% of the water prior to getting all the sand clean and i can tell i'm probably going to have add some sand every once in a while to make up for sucking some out.