Is a 10 gallon enough for 6 albino corydoras?

[cloud]

This post isn't about breeding but I don't know what other topic to label this as.

I have a 10 gallon planted tank with 6 albino juvenile corydoras that I added around 3 months ago. Would I be able to safely grow them out and keep them in the tank? They were gifted to me by my brother-in-law because he had to get rid of all his tanks and the 10 gallon is my only tank slightly big enough for them. I cycled the tank for about two weeks before adding them and they're doing good so far. The tank is now full of rotala, dwarf sag, red root floaters, salvinia, and duckweed (the floating plants don't cover up the entire surface). I love my corys and I'm willing to upgrade, but I'm only 16 so a new tank, stand, substrate, light, heater, filter, etc. will definitely hurt. My last resort is to go to my lfs and trade them for store credit so I do have options.

I'm relatively new to the hobby so all the advise and criticism will be appreciated 🙏.

Maintenance:

25% water change every 1-2 weeks or when nitrates get above 15.

 

Feeding:

Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, and frozen baby brine shrimp.

[Tony s]

Honestly, they would prefer more swimming space. But, could you, yes you could. It’s a bit crowded, but not horribly so. You’ll have to watch the ammonia closely and keep up on your tank maintenance diligently. Smaller tanks are harder to keep stable. But, if you can, they’ll be perfectly fine. Enjoy your corys. They’re really just adorable little fish. 

[Tlindsey]

On 2/4/2024 at 4:15 AM, cloud said:

This post isn't about breeding but I don't know what other topic to label this as.

I have a 10 gallon planted tank with 6 albino juvenile corydoras that I added around 3 months ago. Would I be able to safely grow them out and keep them in the tank? They were gifted to me by my brother-in-law because he had to get rid of all his tanks and the 10 gallon is my only tank slightly big enough for them. I cycled the tank for about two weeks before adding them and they're doing good so far. The tank is now full of rotala, dwarf sag, red root floaters, salvinia, and duckweed (the floating plants don't cover up the entire surface). I love my corys and I'm willing to upgrade, but I'm only 16 so a new tank, stand, substrate, light, heater, filter, etc. will definitely hurt. My last resort is to go to my lfs and trade them for store credit so I do have options.

I'm relatively new to the hobby so all the advise and criticism will be appreciated 🙏.

Maintenance:

25% water change every 1-2 weeks or when nitrates get above 15.

 

Feeding:

Sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, and frozen baby brine shrimp.

I don't know how you cycled your aquarium but 2 weeks normally isn't long enough unless you jump start your filter with seeded media from an established aquarium. I suggest staying consistent with the water changes. 

[Tony s]

Yeah, at the very early stages of a cycle at best. And 6 Cory’s are going to push the limits. As I said, keep a very close eye on your ammonia. Use api master test kit. If possible. At the least, I believe api makes a test kit for ammonia. You’ll probably want to do this daily for a couple of weeks. If/when you see ammonia, you’ll want change about half the water with fresh water. Grab a small bottle of Seachem prime and use after every batch of new water. City water contains chlorine to kill bacteria. Your cycle is also based on your good bacteria. Prime has the added benefit of helping to neutralize the remaining ammonia. So you’ll be good until you check it the next day. Petsmart/petco also has their own brand of bacteria you can add to speed your cycle. Not sure what you’re currently using. Fritzzyme 7 is better than theirs, if you can get. People get wound up on whether this works or not. Honestly, if there is a chance it helps (I believe it does), go ahead and add bacteria according to directions. 
 

when you get to the point of seeing no ammonia for a couple of days, then you can relax your testing to 1-2 times a week. By then you’ll be cycled. 
 

But, really, enjoy your fish. That’s the whole point after all. I know you’re going to do your best for them. 

[cloud]

On 2/4/2024 at 7:04 PM, Tlindsey said:

I don't know how you cycled your aquarium but 2 weeks normally isn't long enough unless you jump start your filter with seeded media from an established aquarium. I suggest staying consistent with the water changes. 

I started by dosing the tank with Tetra Safestart just to see if it worked, but I don't really know if it had an effect on the cycle. The hob filter was loaded with a piece of sponge, poly fil, and a media bag. For starting the cycle I tried the fishless cycle method with some fish food. I do have and use the API master test kit and I tested every other day to see how the ammonia and nitrites were doing. After a few days I did see ammonia and nitrites, but it went away and nitrates started to show after the two weeks (Tbh it was probably longer, two week is just a guess). Just to be safe I dosed the tank with prime and stability every 1-2 days for about a month and my parameters were good.

[Tony s]

Yeah, that’s not really how prime works. Prime is mostly a good dechlorinator. You want to use it mainly after every water change. It eliminates the chlorine in your tap water. It also has the side effect of neutralizing ammonia. Just putting it in without the water change doesn’t really help. 
when you’re testing for ammonia and need a water change, then you use prime. But, the key is testing. 
 

when using fish food for ammonia you need to keep adding a bit daily. To provide a consistent source of ammonia. I’m guessing your cycle stalled out after it used up your ammonia. So this really will be a fish-in cycle. That’s ok. As long as you’re testing every day. Changing water every day. And using the prime afterwards. You can start using the stability again if you’d like. Just follow its directions on the back. It may speed up the process.
 

What you’re looking for. You’ll start to see ammonia after a couple of days. Do your water changes. Keep your fish safe. Then after 4-5 days, you’ll start to see nitrites form. And possibly ammonia starting to disappear. After a couple of weeks (yes, weeks, this isn’t going to fast) the ammonia should be at zero. You may still have nitrites. That would be normal. You’d still do water changes with nitrites. Then a couple more days, you should have zero nitrites and zero ammonia. You should always show nitrates at this point. And you’ll be cycled. You want to keep nitrates under 50 for fish health, but you’d only need to do water changes if they get above that. Once every week or longer. Most people on this kind of forum will still do weekly changes. Which is great. People who don’t do forums like this, do much less.  The key is still testing. Periodically. Unfortunately, you can’t see if your water needs changing. If you actually can see, you’re already having major problems. 

 

once you’re cycled, it really gets much easier. Cycling with fish requires the most work. But it also builds some good habits. Which will help your corys stay happy and healthy.

Edited February 5 by Tony s

[TOtrees]

@cloud I think you're fine, if you stay on top of water quality. Is a 10 gallon the best place for 6 larger bronze cories? Probably not. But it'll do in a pinch, and the juvies should be okay. 

Water quality isn't just a function of "cycled" or not. You can use water changes to keep the water quality great, if the filter/cycle isn't up to the task. If I could provide an executive summary, it would be this: 

• some ammonia ("trace") is usually okay, but medium or high levels is not.
• same for nitrites. 
• Nitrates up to 30-50 is totally fine for the fish. You can aim for something at the low end of that (or lower), but don't panic if you see 50 or even higher. 

At the early stages you're in, we don't know if nitrates are staying low (15) because you're doing a great job changing water, or because the nitrifying bacteria that produce nitrates ("the cycle") aren't banging yet. Or maybe a mix of both. 

There is a huge debate in the hobby about whether prime neutralizes ammonia and nitrites. Personally, I wouldn't believe anyone who says they know for sure unless they have tons of experience, great connections in the hobby, and probably a few letters after their name. I have my opinions, but I'll keep them to myself. But it doesn't matter, if you stay on top of water changes. With just 6 juvie cories, if you feed conservatively and change say 10% daily, you'll never run into ammonia, nitrite or nitrate issues, regardless of whether you're cycled or not, and even regardless of whether you have a filter. Even if you're only changing half those amounts, you're still probably fine. Maybe even a quarter or less. How can you know? Test for ammonia and nitrite. Do you need the API master kit? No, you can use dipsticks - they're way easier when you have to test often. That's where the advice above comes in: you don't need to know precise numbers, you just need to know the difference between zero, trace, some, and lots. Zero, you're fine. Trace, probably also fine. Some, you should probably take action, especially if it's like that all the time. Lots, DO take action, and not just once. 

FYI 1/2 gallon plastic pitchers are your friend. Get 3: one to remove water, and 2 to fill. To start, fill 2 pitchers with temp-matched water, add 1 drop of prime to each. Let them stand for a few mins, and use the 3rd pitcher to remove 1 gallon or 10% of the water. Then pour the new water into the tank (gently), and you've just done a 10% water change. 

[Tony s]

On 2/5/2024 at 9:07 AM, TOtrees said:

There is a huge debate in the hobby about whether prime neutralizes ammonia and nitrites.

That is correct. But you're dealing with people's pets. The fact there is a debate isn't really relevant. People keep bringing that up, that debate has no place when you're trying to help save the life of their animals. If there is a chance it works, we use it. period, end of story. Academic arguments are great, but not in this kind of situation,

Edited February 5 by Tony s

[Snackbacon]

They will be fine in a 10 gallon, but as others have said, they would thrive in a larger tank. The frequency of water changes you'll need to do will partially depend on how planted the tank is. It's a good idea to constantly test your water when starting out to see how often nitrates/nitrites/ammonia build up in your aquarium. You'll start to find out a "routine" get set with how long you can go without doing water changes. If you haven't, you can read up on the nitrogen cycle to explain the process.
https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle



Don't stress out too much and make sure to have fun with it. That's what the hobby is for 🙂 

[jwcarlson]

It certainly won't be ideal long-term.  So, if that's not what you want to do, then perhaps it would be best to rehome them.  I don't know if you're going to find a LFS that's going to take surrenders for credit, but maybe you know of a place.

In the meantime, fish-in cycling is easy as pie in a small tank.  Change 50% of the water every day, it takes a matter of minutes in a small aquarium like that.  I do them in some of my 10 gallon grow outs every morning.  It takes a few minutes and the most intensive part is vacuuming the bottom.  The rest is hands off.  While I'm refilling the bucket from my aging barrel I can do get the baby brine ready to feed and/or do a load of laundry.  It's close enough in time to doing a water test to see if anything is building up, it's just more efficient to do the water change.

[Tony s]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:38 PM, jwcarlson said:

It's close enough in time to doing a water test to see if anything is building up, it's just more efficient to do the water change.

Absolutely correct. But unless, they're doing water doing water changes every day like some people, Hi! :), they may miss when they're fully cycled.

[jwcarlson]

On 2/5/2024 at 12:45 PM, Tony s said:

Absolutely correct. But unless, they're doing water doing water changes every day like some people, Hi! :), they may miss when they're fully cycled.

I still dip a test strip every once in awhile.  It's like Groundhog Day... if I see any of the "bad stuff", I just keep doing daily changes.  If it's looking good, I wait a couple days and test again.  If still good... probably cycled, but check again in a few days.  If not good... change water again.  In general the world seems more and more water-change averse and I don't quite understand it.  Especially as the hobby seems to be moving at least a bit towards the more nano sized tank.  

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue.  I just think it's astronomically easier to cycle a tank with fish in and doing daily water changes in most cases.  Outside of some outliers (like a huge tank or something).  It takes all of the understanding of toxicity and all that noise away.  It also helps lean away from the idea that you can just dump something in your water and solve all the maintenance you should be doing.  And to be clear, I'm not saying anyone in this thread is saying to do this, but as you can see... it's a VERY common thought process out in the real world.  Plus, you get really efficient at changing water. 🙂

Edited February 5 by jwcarlson

[Tony s]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:53 PM, jwcarlson said:

I still dip a test strip every once in awhile.  It's like Groundhog Day... if I see any of the "bad stuff", I just keep doing daily changes.  If it's looking good, I wait a couple days and test again.  If still good... probably cycled.  If not... change water again.  In general the world seems more and more water-change averse and I don't quite understand it.  Especially as the hobby seems to be moving at least a bit towards the more nano sized tank.  

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue.  I just think it's astronomically easier to cycle a tank with fish in and doing daily water changes in most cases.  Outside of some outliers (like a huge tank or something).  It takes all of the understanding of toxicity and all that noise away.  It also helps lean away from the idea that you can just dump something in your water and solve all the maintenance you should be doing.  And to be clear, I'm not saying anyone in this thread is saying to do this, but as you can see... it's a VERY common thought process out in the real world.  Plus, you get really efficient at changing water. 🙂

Very correct again, no arguments from me. Maintenance is key. It's why I advocate for daily testing. just so they get a good grasp how and when to test.  a "feel" for what's going on. Then once a week is more than sufficient. Then just prime for dichlorination after, Yeah, I absolutely do not agree with people using additives in place of work. It's bad habits. I personally never use a dechlorinator even. I have bad well water instead. But for city water, I wouldn't take the chance of not using it 

[jwcarlson]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:14 PM, Tony s said:

I have bad well water instead. But for city water, I wouldn't take the chance of not using it 

Yeah, gotta use it on municipal water, for sure.  I even age all my water 24 hours and still can't get away without using it.