CorydorasEthan

I always enjoy helping out with planning biotope or habitat oriented aquariums! Here goes nothing! Are you planning a true biotope aquarium, or just a collection of fish from the Amazon river basin/rainforest? If the former, what specific region or river might you be interested in replicating? Just choose one and I can help you get started. If the latter, here are a few suggestions on stocking: An Electric Blue Acara might not fit perfectly into an Amazon biotope aquarium, mainly due to its distribution. The wild form (the blue acara) lives in Venezuela and Trinidad, so not quite within the main Amazon river basin. Also, as you mentioned, the acara might eat the smaller fish like the otos or smaller cories and tetras. Keep the Bolivian rams in as mentioned above. They would work great in this style of tank. Other options in replacement of the rams would be any common Apistogramma species. The rummynose tetras are also going to work quite well. Of course, when doing an Amazon themed aquarium, virtually any South American tetra will work out fine. Generally smaller species will work better, as in the many tributaries of the Amazon (and their respective tributary steams) the tetras will be found in huge groups weaving amongst the marginal and aquatic vegetation. This means many of a single species would be ideal. Tetras I would recommend other than the rummynose are the cardinals, neons, glowlights, and pristellas to name a few smaller species. What is an Amazon themed aquarium without Corydoras? There are hundreds of species to choose from, and it just happens to be that the genus Corydoras is the largest genus of fish in the Neotropical realm (basically Central and South America). In your aquarium any species would work, so get creative! The otos and bristlenose would certainly both work. I am not an expert on plants, but I do know that swords, vallisneria, sagittaria, Amazon frogbit, and more come from the region. Crypts and anubias are native to Asia and Africa, so unfortunately these would not fit with the full Amazon theme. Hope this helps!

@Catfish_Lover_Jane It was on for a while, but it looks like it's gone now.

Before I start: I haven't kept fish anywhere other than my bedroom, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Also, this is just my opinion on things, not any definite rules or facts. Best fish for a dining room? First I would rule out very fast fish. They are hard to focus in on and probably would not be the ideal fish for relaxing while eating at the dinner table. I would say anything slower moving and at least the size of the palm of a hand would be ideal (I don't know why this particular size of fish would look good, but I feel like it would in a dining room). Also, I would say anything that is of a relatively neutral color scheme would work better, as it gives the room a more toned down feel rather than a hyper colorful, almost chaotic scheme. This brings me to my suggestions for stocking. The first thing that came to my mind was a group of pearl gourami. They would look amazing in a jungle of vallisneria! They act similar to angelfish, and will dance at the glass when they are hungry too! Maybe four or five of them in the tank, and a borneo sucker or similar species for algae control. The only problem is that the gourami may need slightly higher temperatures, like maybe at least 76 degrees? Of course, as I mentioned earlier, you definitely don't have you go by my earlier suggestion, so here are a few more coldwater fish that might also work well: weather loaches, white cloud mountain minnows, zebra danios, rosy barbs, peppered cories. I hope this helps, and good luck! I look forward to seeing how it turns out, so keep us updated on the tank!

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but what is the Trader Feedback thing on each member's profile for?

My trio of Endlers (actually two endler males and a guppy female) took several of months to reach a large population size. They have not overcrowded yet, as I many to another breeding tank. So they would be a great choice for your community! I think that the fry might be preyed upon by the tetras, but their population will still be sustainable if you have enough plant cover.

The fish you mentioned (lambchop rasboras, chili rasboras) would work great. Any peaceful tetra or minnow species would work out fine as well. I would definitely recommend the livebearers (I personally like the Endler's livebearers), and enjoy when they grow very numerous (I don't keep any predators in my tank). Of course, when you get too many babies you can sell them to your local fish store. In terms of the centerpiece, I would stick to the honey gourami (any number is fine I'm guessing). I personally wouldn't do the pearl gourami, as I found that mine is aggressive to my bottom dwellers, especially my Corydoras, during feeding time, though this is just my experience and other fishkeepers might have different experiences. The Bolivian ram might work as well, though if you wen with the ram, choose a schooling fish that hangs out more towards the surface so that you will get more of a balance of fish at different levels.

There is a book called "A Complete Pet Owner's Manual - Catfish" that goes into depth about the care, housing, breeding, identification, and more about Corydoras (as well as plecos, synodontids, pimodelids, and other lesser known groups) in the aquarium hobby. It also covers several natural habitats in which they are found. I would recommend it, though if you are looking for resources covering specifically Corydoras, I haven't came across any books as of yet. The books I found on eBay are mostly outdated. However, I will continue my search and hopefully will find a good book. In terms of online information, there are plenty of general articles and videos across the internet, but I find the best way to get what you are looking for is through websites dedicated to providing exact information on individual species. One website that I find particularly good is Planet Catfish. https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/subfamily.php?subfamily_id=79.

Where did you find your Corydoras elegans? I can't seem to find them anywhere but online, and even then, they are usually sold out. Is it easy for local stores to order them in by special request? Thanks.

Hey guys, Here is a cool article I found. It is on the classification of species within the subfamily Corydoradinae, specifically the genera Corydoras, Brochis, Scleromystax, and Aspidoras. Just something I thought was interesting and worth sharing. https://corydoras.zone/fish/corys/corydoradinae-corydoras-lineages/. One fact I found particularly interesting is that Corydoras habrosus is not in the same clade as C. pygmaeus and C. hastatus, and instead more closely related to the short-snouted clade containing C. panda and C. sterbai, amongst others. The website also has some other pretty good articles to read as well. I recommend checking them out.

Prime Time Aquatics posted this video today on misleading aquarium products. Does it not make your blood boil? While here is your chance to talk about it! What's the most aggravating thing in the fishkeeping hobby to you? Is it misleading picture on tank boxes like in the above video? Is it misinformed pet store employees? Or maybe the negligence that the fishkeepers themselves have towards their pets? Comment down below on your greatest annoyance in the hobby and a story of your worst experience if you have one.

I keep killing my Amazon swords and Cabombas too, so you're not alone! However, I did find success with water sprite. It grows in pretty much anything. Same with the dwarf aquarium lily. I'd say that these are worth trying out. They are relatively easy to take care of. Just post if you happen to find eggs, and I'm sure we can walk you through it! You could probably do a honey gourami as well. It might be pushing it a little, but it would probably do fine. Here is a stocking calculator that might help: http://aqadvisor.com/. Just add in your tank size at the top and add in the fish. It will calculate how stocked your tank is, and also how often you need to water change. Unfortunately, it doesn't take into account the great benefits of plants, sponge filters, or even airstones, so you could potentially have way more fish than the calculator recommends. So I would pair this calculator with Cory's video: This video covers upgrades you can make to your filters to provide much more surface area for bacteria to grow, thus increasing the bioload of your tank.

Just a side note: Don't trust any of the other reviews on PetCo.com. People writing negative reviews usually do not keep the fish correctly, do not cycle the tank, etc., and will write a negative review saying their fish had died. This being said, big box stores like PetCo or PetSmart more than often don't keep their fish in healthy conditions either. I would go for AquaHuna like members above suggested. Don't worry this is a perfect stocking plan! If you have plenty of plants, you might also be able to accomodate for the babies that the panda cories might have as well! Haha I quickly learned this too! Hope this helps, and good luck!

Okay so I did a little research on Betta mahachaiensis and learned that they are brackish water fish, originating from mangrove swamps and estuaries in Thailand. Given that they need/prefer salt in their water, finding tank mates may be much harder. Tank mates to consider would be loaches (maybe kuhli loaches) or small cyprinids like barbs. One fish that lives in the same habitat in the wild is the exclamation point rasbora (Boraras urophthalmoides), so these would work well too. I would scrap the idea for the tetras, badis, or pencilfish, unless you plan acclimating your Betta mahachaiensis into freshwater. If they have been grown and raised in freshwater though, they would probably work out fine in a freshwater community. I hope this helps, and good luck! Keep us updated on the tank's progress!

Corydoras catfish are the best! I have albinos (C. aeneus), orange venezuelans (C. venezuelanus), peppers (C. paleatus), and pygmies (C. pygmaeus) in my 29 gallon tank. Here are two of the albino females and a venezuelan male: A large group of cories, mostly juvenile peppered cories: The biggest cory of the tank - a female peppered cory: Here you can see her size compared to the other cories: Two peppered cories (male and baby), the venezuelan male, and an albino female:

What kinds of Corydoras are those?

Welcome to the forum! I got obsessed with the hobby when I was in middle school as well! Nice betta by the way.

Yes I use pool filter sand. It is very cheap and easy to find, yet I forgot the name of the brand that I use. It is also relatively easy to grow plants in. That is, only very easy ones, like water sprite or dwarf aquarium lilies. It is somewhat harder to grow plants, especially things like swordplants or vallisneria, without the assistance of root fertilizers.

Hey there welcome to the forum! I was in the process of writing a response, but it looks like @Fish Folk got to it first! It was going to say pretty much everything he said, so there's not much point in me repeating it. The only thing to add on is that I would recommend getting some more plants to take advantage of that good substrate! Plants I would recommend are water sprite (super cheap and easy to grow), dwarf aquarium lily bulbs (also easy), vallisneria, and sagittaria species. Also, just a side note in case plants are new to you, remember to plant the Java fern on wood rather than in the substrate. If it is planted in the substrate, it might rot and die off. I hope this helps, and good luck! Keep us updated on the tanks progress!

Yeah that stocking plan is going to be perfectly fine then.

Welcome to the forum! It depends on the filtration and amount of plants in the tank. What kinds of filters do you have and how planted is the tank? Any pictures? But generally, this seems like a good stocking for a 45 gallon. Everything you chose will work fine together, as they are all pretty peaceful. If you have good filtration and plants, I would do more midwater fish. Things like neon tetras, harlequin rasboras, white cloud mountain minnows, endler's livebearers... pretty much anything that will kind of fill up the middle/top section, as it will look pretty empty with only a betta and CPDs. Maybe also do a couple more kuhli loaches and Corydoras too just for good measure. I hope this helps, and good luck!

Welcome to the forum! Great looking tank you have there. For your 55 gallon, the fish you listed (Corydoras, bristlenose, tetras, guppies) would work perfectly. The things that @Isaac M and @CalmedByFish recommended are what I would recommend as well. Corydoras are a great choice for any peaceful community. Anyways, I look forward to seeing how your 55 gallon turns out!

There is no reason to keep the threadfin rainbows out. From what I've heard, they are great peaceful community fish, and will work perfectly fine with the tetras, minnows, corys, and otos that you have. The only problem that might arise is your bioload, depending on how big your tank is. What is the tank size? I wouldn't think that rainbowfish would attack something like a vampire shrimp. Vampire shrimp seem far too big. Also, rainbowfish are generally known as peaceful (yet active) fish. I haven't kept rainbowfish like boesmani as of yet, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I have been addicted for over three years, when I first started getting interested in fish. I was not allowed to actually get an aquarium about a year and a half ago, and I have been keeping them since. When I finally did start keeping fish, I made many mistakes that you are currently going through, such as adding fish before a cycle is complete. At the moment, I have a 29 gallon planted community aquarium, which features Corydoras and guppies (Endler's livebearers). The plants include water sprite, dwarf aquarium lily, Java fern, vallisneria, cryptocoryne wendtii, dwarf hairgrass, and water lettuce. I am currently still learning the basics of plant care, so this tank still has a ways to go! As can be inferred from my username and profile, my favorite fish are Corydoras catfish. I currently only keep a few species, but I plan on enlarging my collection very soon! I am also fond of keeping guppy/endlers. It is so fun to have constant activity with infinite amounts of baby fish! Cycling is necessary because it allows the beneficial bacteria to build up inside the aquarium. Without this bacteria when you introduce fish, the ammonia produced by the fish cannot be broken down, and it becomes toxic to the inhabitants. Beneficial bacteria grows to the amount of food it has (ammonia and nitrites), though it has to be given some time for it to establish first. You can encourage the process of the bacterial colonization by trying the processes listed by everyone above, as everyone had some great suggestions. Anyway, I hope this helps, and good luck!

Hey there, welcome to the forum. Don't worry, every new fish keeping goes through a "fish killer" stage. Don't beat yourself up too much about it. It is not water changes that will remove ammonia (water changes and plants remove nitrates), but beneficial bacteria that grows on surfaces in the aquarium. To provide maximum beneficial bacteria coverage, add extra sponges or bio-media to your filters, rather than interchangable cartridges. If you want more, consider getting a sponge filter if you don't have one already. These sponges will provide homes for bacteria that will in turn consume ammonia and convert it into the easily manageable nitrites and nitrates. Here is a video that Cory posted on this topic: Here is a video on the nitrogen cycle. Anyways, I hope this helps. Good luck!

A 40 breeder would definitely be enough for this amount of fish. You could probably do a lot more rasboras, loaches, and shrimp. Of course, since your parameters are stable, you could probably keep them in the 20 long, though if you wanted more fish I would go ahead and just upgrade to the 40 breeder. Also, there will be hardly any difference in the bioload between the 40 and 55 gallons, as the 40 has more depth while the 55 is taller and longer, though it is also skinnier. Anyways, I hope this helps.