Maggie Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Hi everyone, I'm Maggie. Like so many here I recently became re-interested in fishkeeping after being out of it for many years (fam, job, cost, etc). I don't exactly remember what sparked my interest again, but first I read up on and looked at photos of what kind of fish I wanted. I watched several of Cory's videos to hear the descriptions and more about the fish. I knew I wanted a peaceful community tank but didn't really want tetras or guppies. It turns out I really love harlequin rasboras, so I built my dream tank around them, hopefully to end up with around 15 or so. I have a 45-gal tank that is now fairly heavily planted. My showstoppers will be 2 or 3 pearl gourami, and I love the peppered cory cat (planning on 4), but there are several other adorable cories, too. My tank is about 3/4 done with fishless cycling using ammonia. Algea started growing 2 days ago, nitrates are finally rising, up to almost 20, ammonia and nitrites have been steadily high w/dosing. I am at that "I can't wait" point right now!! I have some trumpet snails that came in on my plants and am wondering how they are still surviving the ammonia bath. I just know I'm going to want a 10 gal for some cherry shrimp, which I've heard are expensive snacks for gourami, so I need a separate tank for them. Then they'll need some fishy companions in the form of (maybe) green kubotai rasboras and a few cories. I am looking forward to learning a lot from everyone and sharing fish stories! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mridul Singh Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Welcome! I'd for sure keep the shrimp in a different tank than the Pearl Gourami; they love eating shrimp (learned that the hard way a few years ago) For the corydoras, I would up the number to at least 6 to 9. Your tank can handle that many. Hope the hobby is enjoyable for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADMWNDSR83 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Great to see you here Maggie, from a fellow east coaster! I've got 6 cories in my 37 gallon, and will echo @Mridul Singh that you'll want at least 6 cories to get their personalities going. Other than that the plan sounds great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Six cory cats it is, then! Thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 On 10/7/2020 at 5:06 PM, Maggie said: It turns out I really love harlequin rasboras, so I built my dream tank around them, hopefully to end up with around 15 or so. Me too, right up there with angels. I have them in two tanks, and miss seeing them in the other tanks, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Fishless cycling update: this am, ammonia <2 ppm (w/daily ammonia dosing), nitrates still 40-80. Nitrites fell drastically from ~5 ppm yesterday to .25 ppm today, and I'm so happy! Maybe only a few more days before the ammonia-nitrite crash to zero. Snail update: I either have an algea-eating assassin snail who somehow was in the plants I purchased (doubtful), or I have a regular trumpet snail who was so hungry he attacked and ate one of his (now several) tankmates. I witnessed and recorded it. I have no idea how to upload a video but if there's a way to clip some screenshots from the video I will try to do that. This guy saw the smaller one, came upon and grabbed hold. At first I though they were mating, but it soon became obvious thats not what it was. I recorded 3 separate vids over about 5 minutes. I guess if there's not enough algea, they resort to canabalism. Any snail experts? Here are pics of them a couple days before. First one is the victim. He looks bigger in the pic, but was about 2/3 the size of the second one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 @Maggie, @Lizzie Block did a nice tutorial on how to post videos to the Forum. Turns out it is pretty easy. I look forward to seeing your snail video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Gifs of various parts of this incident. The black line is some sort of discharge from the victim. I missed that part getting a chair bc i couldn't hold it steady. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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