I am new to the hobby of keeping freshwater fish. I bought a 20 gallon aquarium in February, cycled it and stocked it with live plants, and then got my first fish. I started with 5 emerald cories. I got a 6th cory that was supposed to be an emerald according to the local pet store, but turned out to be a brochis catfish (much longer snout and slightly different coloring than the emerald cories). I also added 4 nerite snails. I then added a betta fish as I read in many places online that bettas and cories were good tank mates since they occupy different areas of the tank.
I have been learning a lot over the past few months and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. I learned that the betta really isn’t a good tank mate for the cories because he nips, eats a lot of their food, and so he now has his own home.
I’ve also dealt with the betta developing a weird white growth on his back and fin rot that didn’t respond to treatment recommended by the local pet store, although after several months somehow he’s still eating and energetic. The brochis catfish died with fin rot. I then proceeded to unintentionally kill 2 cories and all 4 nerite snails with API treatment for algae that I didn’t realize had copper in it. I then learned that blue green algae is actually Cyanobacteria and not algae.
I learned when I got 6 new cories and put them into a quarantine tank that they need adequate places to hide even though the tanks at the pet store don’t have hiding places. I ended up with 3 cories dying within 1-2 days. Also, there was a dead Cory in the tank at the pet store, in hindsight I should have avoided getting fish from that tank.
Currently, I have 5 cories (1 albino and 4 emerald), 5 shrimp (3 blue and 2 orange) who are new additions as of a few days ago, and a mystery snail in my 20 gallon tank. The betta is in his own 2 gallon tank.
I still have a lot to learn as I have 2 cories who are not as active and are behaving like previous cories who have died.
I’ll definitely be posting in the catfish section and have been reading threads in that section already. I’m really looking forward to learning even more so I can have a healthy, happy aquarium.
I have been learning a lot over the past few months and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. I learned that the betta really isn’t a good tank mate for the cories because he nips, eats a lot of their food, and so he now has his own home.
I’ve also dealt with the betta developing a weird white growth on his back and fin rot that didn’t respond to treatment recommended by the local pet store, although after several months somehow he’s still eating and energetic. The brochis catfish died with fin rot. I then proceeded to unintentionally kill 2 cories and all 4 nerite snails with API treatment for algae that I didn’t realize had copper in it. I then learned that blue green algae is actually Cyanobacteria and not algae.
I learned when I got 6 new cories and put them into a quarantine tank that they need adequate places to hide even though the tanks at the pet store don’t have hiding places. I ended up with 3 cories dying within 1-2 days. Also, there was a dead Cory in the tank at the pet store, in hindsight I should have avoided getting fish from that tank.
Currently, I have 5 cories (1 albino and 4 emerald), 5 shrimp (3 blue and 2 orange) who are new additions as of a few days ago, and a mystery snail in my 20 gallon tank. The betta is in his own 2 gallon tank.
I still have a lot to learn as I have 2 cories who are not as active and are behaving like previous cories who have died.
I’ll definitely be posting in the catfish section and have been reading threads in that section already. I’m really looking forward to learning even more so I can have a healthy, happy aquarium.
