CorydorasEthan

If they chewed up angelfish, they would do the same to a gourami. Even though I have not had any experience with them, I would recommend bigger cichlids like a blue acara or severum, as I heard that they work well with semi-aggressive community fish like barbs. Just make sure that these bigger fish don't pick on the cories, loaches, otos, or whiptail catfish.

Is it hard to get food down to the bottom dwellers? If you can get enough down there (try sinking pellets if you don't have them yet), get more Corydoras catfish! Also some more otocinclus. For showpiece fish, a pearl gourami would do really well in that aquarium. Maybe a dwarf gourami would work too. Other fish to try would be angelfish, kribensis cichlids, and bolivian rams. Any pictures of the tank? It might give me a better idea of some more options for the aquarium. I hope this helps, and good luck!

Oh sorry I didn't see that it said endlers and not guppies. In my experience, endlers do not even go after their fry, so the fry would be safe in either tank. This explains how they grow their numbers so quickly.

The fry will definitely be safer with the shrimp, although if you have plenty of plant cover in the tank with the parents they would be pretty safe (though not quite as safe) as well.

Wow this is great! I would personally do both if possible, but if only one, I would go for the... while, it's hard to decide. The C. adolfoi have pretty coloration and patterning, and I heard they are pretty easy to breed in terms of Corydoras. The snow white cories are (correct me if I'm wrong) a leucistic variant of the panda cory (C. panda), which means that they will also be very easy to breed. Both are about equal when it comes to aesthetic appeal. In terms of size, the panda cories will stay smaller, making them slightly more appealing to people with smaller tanks. As you can tell by the few comparisons above, the two cories are probably worth an equal value to each other (to a nerm). So if you are concerned about this, just pick which one you like the best. But here is where what @swivvr said comes in. Regular people seeing the white panda cories would not be able to tell the difference between them and the albino cory. This would mean choosing the adolfoi cories is a better move when trying to maximize profit. Okay, so on to breeding. I have bred my peppered cories (C. paleatus) and spawned my albino cories (C. aeneus) multiple times in my community tank. Here is @Irene's video for breeding cories in case you are interested. Here is my experience and explanation. So follow @swivvr's suggestions on conditioning. Then, use a spawning trigger. Many sources say that a cooler water change will work to get them spawning. To do this, take out around 30% of the aquarium water, then top off the aquarium with water that's around 5-7 degrees (Fahrenheit). I also found that cories prefer spawning when they are in much cooler water in general, especially for subtropical/lower-tropical region species such as C. paleatus , C. panda, and C. trilineatus. My cories spawned when I (unbeknownst to me) left the heater for the aquarium completetly unplugged, and the water was somewhere around 72 degrees (Fahrenheit) or less. Of course, now here comes the hard part - taking care of the eggs. The best bet here is to removing the eggs from the community tank. The other fish (especially other cories) love to eat the eggs. I found that the peppered cory parents actually somewhat cared for their eggs, and did not eat them. They cleaned off a spot on the glass and laid their eggs there. Once they found out the albino cories were trying to eat their eggs, they would lay them somewhere else. However, they do not show any parental care otherwise, so the eggs should be removed to safer conditions. A good container for the eggs is a plastic tub or small aquarium (only a few gallons are necessary). To ensure no eggs have fungus, use chemicals like methylene blue or botanicals such as alder cones. Also, remove any eggs that turn a pure solid white, as those are infertile eggs which could quickly grow fungus and corrupt the other eggs. The cories will hatch in a few days, probably 3-5 days at most. To take care of the fry, follow the instructions in the above video. Finally comes the re-introduction into the community tank. I made the mistake of introducing my batch of over 30 babies into the tank slightly too early, and lost all but 3 of them. Don't make the same mistake as me! I would wait about a month or more before setting the babies loose. Remember, they have to be big enough to not fit into anyone's mouth, while also being big enough to compete for food. Anyways, I hope this helps. Good luck with those cories!

Thanks for the help! I am looking into trying out different test kits, but I have to save up some money before I get the API Master Test Kit first. Currently, I have a 10 gallon sponge filter and a Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 150 (rated for 30 gallons) for the tank. I have increased the surface area (for beneficial bacteria) by adding plenty of filter floss and sponges inside in addition to adding a pre-filter sponge. I have been using Aqadavisor, and it says I need to water change a bit more than 30% weekly (of course, I rounded the number of endlers down, because I have so many, mostly tiny babies). Over the past few weeks I have been adjusting my water change schedule accordingly. My only problem is with plants. I have quite a few of them, but (based on the results) they don't seem to be helping with my nitrate levels. Will adding fertilizer to help them combat nitrates? Thanks again!

Those all work with the catfish you have!

Hey welcome to the forum! Also nice to have more newbies! "Albino Catfish" is an extremely generic term. It could mean anywhere from an albino cory to an albino walking catfish (look it up its a real fish). But thankfully the pictures show enough for me to identify it. This is almost certainly a member of the family Callichthyidae, which includes Corydoras catfish. I would say it is an albino variant of the species Megalechis thoracata, also known as the hoplo catfish. It is a great fit for your 55 gallon, growing to 5 inches max. They are peaceful community fish and will do fine with tetras, rasboras, barbs, dwarf cichlids, livebearers, angelfish, plecos, and more. I would say get it a few friends of its type, but if you can't find any more, go for Corydoras catfish as well. I hope this helps, and good luck!

You certainly could start up the articles project. Of course, I would always like to help with it as well. I think the "articles?" thread may be a better place to discuss this.

@Fish Folk Very good explanation! I was going to comment on your thread, but I didn't want to ruin it by going off topic like I am about to. Anyway, on to the review first. Your choice of words, addition of quotes, and style of writing made it feel very professional, as would be expected when reading a scholarly article or aquarium guide. I would hope that this serves as a guide for future new aquarists to come across it. As you mentioned, all too frequently we nerms find ourselves answering the same few questions to beginners seeking help. Though this is not at all a bad thing, it certainly can get pretty old. This is where @Fish Folk's post ties into the topic of forum members writing articles. But here is where the concern arises. The concern that we average nerms do not have the experience and knowledge to provide sustainable information for an article. But in reality, we have one of the biggest stores of experience and knowledge here on the internet. Each of us nerms on this forum has at least one area of expertise in the hobby, be it in the care of a certain fish species, the delicate works of aquascaping, or the complicated measurement and analysis of water chemistry, amongst many others. If those of us who wanted to were to each make our own contributions according to our own strengths, many of the gaps in our individual contributions would be filled in. The forum could put together a large store of information that would serve as an excellent resource for newer aquarists. Of course, with the process of gathering information, writing the article, and the final checking it by experienced nerms would take a while. Any suggestions on a faster and smoother process will definitely be taken into consideration. I have also been asked by @Hobbit to make arrangements for the articles on Nerm Day/CARE Forum Anniversary Day (July 14). Those of you who want to are welcome to post your first articles during the course of that week. Those of you who are interested in writing articles can either post here or contact me through personal messanger. I will need a group of nerms to help me! Anyway, thanks for reading!

Perfect timing! I am in the process of posting something in the articles thread, so be on the lookout!

I agree with @Brandy. They have many common names, include the red tailed black rasbora, blackline rasbora, and brilliant rasbora. I remember @Fish Folk used to keep them and breed them.

@James Black and @FlyingFishKeeper made some great suggestions. Keep in mind that water sprite does grow tall, so you might need to trim it frequently (every few weeks or so).

Yes some may get too big. Maybe anubias species instead?

Then your filtration should be enough. Dwarf habrosus cories (we don't have them here so this is a logical guess based on videos of the Co-Op) are usually around $4-5, and pygmy cories (in my area) are usually $3-4 a piece. Nerite snails will be around $2 and under. Get a siphon hose it will help tremendously with aquarium maintenence.

Maybe just the fish you plan on getting, and then either 1) a pothos plant (around $8?) or 2) another nano sponge filter ($5 I think). Do you have a filter currently in the tank? Also, do you have that siphon hose yet (costs around $10).

Both sponge filters and plants are great for cories. I found that my pygmy cories love spending time under their favorite sponge filter. Coconut huts are not necessary, but are always welcome. Honestly, if you are on a budget, I would just stick to what you have.

Haha I run into this same problem too. I would just add in the nerite snail for now, and then when you slowly build up your collection of plants, add in the cories. That water lettuce you mentioned earlier will quickly spread and help with nitrates as well. Another alternative would be another nano sponge filter, which would hold more beneficial bacteria should you need it when you get the cories as well. Of course, you always have the option of a pothos plant, which is a semi-aquatic plant (grown with roots in the water, hangs like a vine) which filters out a ton of nitrates. It is fairly cheap and common too. Here's a video Cory made on it:

The one inch per gallon rule only applies very rarely. It is too generalized of a rule, and often does not work. This rule allows you could to an oscar in a 12 gallon tank. On the other end of the spectrum, it would mean only 50 micro-rasboras in a 50 gallon tank, and so on. As long as you have sufficient filtration and space to swim, you will probably do fine. But if you really wanted to play it safe (I would do this as well), add a ton more plants into the tank to help with nitrates. This would help a lot.

5 dwarf cories and 1 nerite snail would work.

I am willing to host any of mine. Probably the debate one, and maybe one of the others. If I can, I will do the articles, but I may need someone more experienced to help check the information in them to see if it is accurate. The mockumentary one is up for grabs if anyone wants it. If not, I'll do it as well.

Sorry to hear this. If I know anything about tetras, they prefer lower pH water, like 6.5-7.5 I think. Could it be the high pH (you mentioned 8.3) that is upsetting them and making them more vulnerable to ich? I am no expert, so this might not have anything to do with the problem. Also, according to what I've read, high temperatures are used to combat ich. Lower temperatures like 78 allow the ich to thrive. But I think the cause of ich might have to do with the stress of the quickly raising temperature, rather than the temperature itself. Anyway, I hope this helps. Great looking tank by the way.

Looks great! I don't think cutting is necessary!

Yes I would definitely be up for organizing some (or all) of these. This is a great suggestion! We could definitely do this. Yes!

Yes than those filters would be good for your stocking.