My 10g tank... Take two!

[Googlybubble]

Alright, so after a huge disaster, I'm doing take two on my 10g.

My disaster goes as such - I bought a 10g tank, cycled it for 8 hours and plopped 7 fish in it. You can imagine what happened. My best friend thinks she knows what she's talking about, but obviously doesn't!

So... I have a cory right now. I'm not sure how he's still alive, but he is!!

I feed him about 1-2 Hikari Sinking Wafers and 1/2 an Omega One Algae Wafer every day and then a chunk of Hikari freeze-dried tubifex worms every few days. (Got this info from Cory_Lover. Thanks, Matt! )

The tank started cycling on December 26th, so it's almost the 5 week mark. I am waiting until 6 weeks to buy new fish.

After the 6 week mark, I will buy 2 more cories.

Some people have argued that 10g isn't big enough, some have said it's fine. Some have said you need 6+, some have said they are fine with 3. So I will have 3 in my 10g.

After my cories have settled, I would like to get a couple of fancy guppies. I'm not sure how many of them I will get, but definitely not that many.

Here is my cory and his tank as it is now. I will probably buy silk plants in the near future. I also need to buy some hiding spots.... But I haven't found anything I like =\

Gah. I can't get the pictures to work. I will try again later. =)

But to you, my readers...

Opinions on fancy guppies? Good idea? How many shall I get? I'm thinking like four or so. I haven't read anywhere that they need to be in a certain size group.

I think they are very pretty. =)

By the way, I am planning on bringing this to college in the fall. Does anyone else have a 10g in a dorm room? I was pondering on what I'll have to give up to have this thing in my room. It might be my TV... But that would be OK with me. I'd rather have nice fish than a TV. =)

[Chrispy]

maybe two or three guppies. ALL MALE. dont get a female one. you will have problems quick

[trashion]

heh, i had a 10 gallon in my dorm, now i upgraded to a 15. no one knows the difference

i keep it on the end of my desk, it's great except i get very distracted watching everyone cavort in it. when i really should be doing my hw

[Googlybubble]

Are the males the prettier ones, or will I have to tell by that little thing on their underside?

(what will the problems be?)

[trashion]

the problems will be TONS of fish faster than you can say wait! don't breed!

[TheOldSalt]

Yes, the males are the prettier ones.

[Googlybubble]

Alright, yeah, that's what I was thinking about the guppies but I thought they'd just eat their babies? I guess I really wouldn't want to watch that, it would probably make me sad. =(

So yeah, I was already thinking of males only... I asked my friend about it but she didn't really know (about if they would breed and how quickly). She has guppies and they haven't done anything yet, probably because her water is really bad (She's the one who thinks everyone here is "anal about taking every single small step in setting up an aquarium.")

I thought you were implying something else other than breeding. =P

Yeah, my mom really likes them... So I'll get a few of those and two more cories. =)

Hmm... Let's do an update I suppose.

Well, I fed Mr. Cory boy a nice big chunk of tubifex worms yesterday... he enjoyed that muchos. He kinda spazzes out against the wall of the aquarium... I read someone else's topic about that and someone said they do that because they need more cover... So I will continue looking for some more stuff to put in the aquarium.

I've also got a betta, for those that haven't read the other topics. I changed his water today and put him in a new bowl. He was in a vase before. Now he's in a bowl that's probably oh... 1.5 gallons... and it's an actual bowl shape, not a vase. He's still pretty sick and floats at the top... I've gotta feed him a pea today, but he's not eating so I really don't know how I'll get him to eat it. =\

Once he gets better and actually swims, I will buy a bigger bowl for him and some silk plants.

Today is the 5-week mark in cycling. =) One more week. Perhaps this week will land me a job so I can get money to spend on these fishies? I hope.

I will actually look online right now for some more stuff for my tank. =)

[Googlybubble]

Bought 3 cories today. =)

So now I have four.

Also bought a little blue like... glass sorta thing. Thought it'd make a nice little hiding spot if they need one.

They're so cute. :3

I'll upload pictures onto imageshack.us because this site doesn't like my pictures. No idea why.

[fishbguy]

Originally Posted by Googlybubble

They are still in their bag.

Maybe they're just quite a bit stressed?

Maybe get them in the tank

[Googlybubble]

Naw, I had to get them to the tank temp and that sort of thing.

[fishbguy]

once they go into the tank, they should stop breathing so heavily

[Googlybubble]

Yeah, I actually checked out my cory I've had for a while.. They were all breathing the same... Mr. Pops (Old cory) is always moving around, though, so I never really noticed how quickly they breathe.

Anyway. Pictures.

Here's Mr. Pops and the smallest of the new ones. He's really black, but I think he'll lighten up a bit.

http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn1126yd0.jpg

And here's my tank...

http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn1129za1.jpg

Any suggestions about it? I'm going to re-arrange it this weekend, as that is my very first setup.... I was thinking of getting a few more plants and moving the rock to the back right corner... Face the rock diagonally so there is a space behind it and put plants (Fake... ) all around it. I think I'm going to get another red silk one... And I've got a green silk one with big leaves that's not in there. And then maybe some smaller ones.

Not sure what to do with the blue... glass... figure. Any ideas with that? I'd love to leave it in there. I just found it today. Maybe put some plants around it?

I know it looks like mass poop. I'd really like to have the right side be the "highest" so to say... With high plants and all. Then have the left side be nothing. I'm just not sure how much to put with the cories and all.

I'd like to get some driftwood but I can't find any that I like... And it's so dang expensive.

[trashion]

couple of things-if those are real seashells i see on the left, take them out of the tank! unless you have a problem with ridiculously low pH. seriously, they will slowly leach calcium into the water and raise your pH.

also, top up! your tank only has like, 7 gallons in it now

[JustOneMore20]

I'd add more decorations and plants for the cories to hide behind.

[Googlybubble]

Yeah, I know... the water had already evaporated and I filled it up a bit more... But the fish bag was in it.. Gunna get to that like, right now!

And thanks for the shell info... It's only been in there for like 2 weeks... But I will definitely take it out. The others are coated with something.

Safe or unsafe?

And, I shall go on a shopping spree today and buy some more plants.

Will it really stress them out too much if I re-do the tank? I mean, I just moved the new ones in yesterday, so they're probably a bit stressed. Think I should wait a week or will they be big boys/girls?

One of the cories is hiding by the blue glass thing, so I suppose I shall keep that... Just not sure where.

[Obsidian]

They might get mometarily stressed while you are messing with things, but they will calm down when you stop. I would not worry about the additions. You do need to keep the water much closer to the top. Its a small tank to start with, don't make it any smaller!!!

I like your blue glass thing and the red rock in the center

It would be good to find out what the other items are coated with. Many of the coatings are not safe for fish. If you cannot determine what it is I would err on the side of not keeping it in the tank.

[Googlybubble]

Hmm, alright, I will take them out. Some shells at Michael's craft store said they were aquarium safe and they looked just like that.. However, those shells have been hanging around this house for the past 10 years... So I have no idea.

Alright. Here are pictures taken maybe like 30 minutes ago. Sorry the water is cloudy... I was stirring up the rocks, of course, when putting the stuff in.

Let's see if the picture thing on this site will work...

Do you guys think I went overboard? My mom (who knows nothing about fish) is all "OMG THAR IS SO MUCH STUF IN THAR!!" So, you guys tell me. My cories seem to love it, as they have been half hiding and half out in the open.

They're cute... They stick together, generally, except the smallest is acting kind of weird... I'm keeping my eye on him and today was my last day using melafix (Tells you to use it for 3 days when introducing new fish).

Is it enough room for guppies to swim around in?

[Chaos553]

looks fine to me, but if youre getting guppies, get all males and keep around maybe 3-4 since you dont want to overcrowd your tank. setup looks nice, but whats that blue thing on the right in the first pic?

[Googlybubble]

Hey, thanks. Yes, I am getting all males... Don't want to deal with breeding... I'd rather actually learn more about having an aquarium first. =P

And the blue thing is a blue glass.... uh... I dunno. vase? Jar? Just glass, though. =)

I thought they'd like to hide in there. They just like to hide behind it, though.

[Chaos553]

if you have remaining slate, you could probably form together a small little cave to replace the vase, just for a more natural look. that is, if you had any leftover ;D