Stocking A New Juwel Rekord 600 (63 Litre)

[doggiebag]

HI Guys

I bought one of these tanks today, my plan was to fishless cycle it then upgrade my 6 WCMM from their 25 litre tank to this one. I was thinking of adding some cherry shrimp later on, but not sure yet.

I adore cories but know that they are tropical, so julis, pandas etc out of the question to go with white clouds, unless I go tropical with this tank and give the minnows a new 35 litre I have waiting.....I have been doing some research on the net and read that peppered cories can make suitable tankmates for WCMM as they tolerate slightly lower temps than other cories, it was stated that they could live in ranges of 15c-25c......similar to WCMM. Now this would be perfect, my minnows would get their upgrade and I get a cory...... I know I have seen peppered cories in with white clouds in the coldwater section of the LFS while the julis and pandas are in the tropical section, but experience now tells me that means nothing

Just wanted to check this with you all as I would hate the add them later on and find this is not the case. MY room temp ranges from 22c to 25c at present, however it winter it can go down to around 14c, but I was thinking of adding a heater in winter for the minnows anyway, to keep them around the 20c mark in winter........would this range work for peppered cories or is it a no go.......also, if so what amount is best, I was thinking of maybe 4, would this work with 6 white clouds (though may increase white clouds to 10 later).

I am pretty new to this, having struggled through a fish in cycle with my minnows in one tank and a betta in another, thanks to LFS advice, I want to do this right and make sure the fish are as happy as possible. So thought best to ask here to see if this would work or not, way before I need to worry about it, as my tank needs to cycle yet. Best to find out beforehand, than risk poor fish lives later.

 

[OldMan47]

The C paleatus is indeed very tolerant of lower temperatures and almost not tolerant enough to higher tropical temperatures. They are very popular and common in tropical tanks but are probably better suited to unheated tanks.

 

[doggiebag]

oh, so its a possibility then? Good stuff.
Trouble is I just bought a load of gravel for the new tank and it is German Quartz gravel, bits around 2-4mm not round, so I am thinking this may not be suitable for the peppered cories? Will I be better using roman gravel, not brave enough for sand yet, too hard to clean......

Would 4 be a good number fo that size tank, with say 10 WCMM (I have 6 but was going to make it 10 once moved)

 

[OldMan47]

You might get away with 4 C paleatus in a tank that small but it would be only marginal. The sharp gravel has no place in a cory tank. A cory can work fine with dirt, sand or rounded gravel.

 

[doggiebag]

I just read that peppered cories are the largest one and should be in a 20g minimum......I think mine is around 10-12g so would this really not be big enough for them? Considering they are schooling fish too, I don't want to overstock and have unhappy fish.......even if I really want them lol

 

[OldMan47]

They are not the largest by quite a bit but they are not small fish. If you like their basic look, you could try habrosus instead but you must be aware that they need water that stays above about 22C.

 

[doggiebag]

Maybe, for the good of the fish, I wil stick with just the WCMM and a few shrimp then, I really don't want to compromise any of the inhabitants of the tank, as much as Id love them. The temp range was perfect but not the size requirement. Maybe when I get braver and upgrade to the 20g size tanks lol

Thank you so much for your time and advice, so glad I asked about it instead of just going ahead.