I have 3 corys (probably Corydoras venezuelanus). I've had them and they've been together since Feb. 5, 2007. One of them recently lost his coloring: at first I thought it was a trick of the light, but he really has lost the green patches on his shoulders so that he's almost all beige. The other 2 ...

Ammonia and nitrites are zero, nitrates are less than 5.0. I've never medicated the tank. No visible symptoms of illness, that is, nothing that looks odd or out of place (I don't actually know what the various fish diseases look like). One of the dead Otos was missing fins, but I'm pretty sure that ...

I confess I don't have a quarantine tank. I feel just awful about this. How can I feed the Otos more? Like I said, they eat squash and brocolli and skinned peas; the other fish like the brocolli (the danios wind up tossing it all over the tank), but Otos didn't seem to have to compete for the squash ...

Added 5 Oto Cats to the tank Feb 9-10. They've been fine, I thought. Other fish are fine and no other fish added recently. Suddenly, they're dying. The first died Mar 23, then Mar 27 and 28. I added squash in case they were starving - the Corys and Danios like the algea tabs too - and I've seen the ...

Larry, that's what I did. At the store, I thought they were C. hastatus because of the green, but when I got home I realized they're missing the black diamond on their tails. I spent a long time in the Cat-eLog! I'm pretty sure they're C. aeneus. I suppose I could return them and demand my money ...

I'm keeping them though. They're too darn cute! It just means I'll have to upgrade my tank sooner, which bums out my budget, but it's already been blown to smithereens since I received this, my first, fishtank for Christmas.

Oh, man, I should've taken Larry's advice. I'm pretty sure the LFS did a bait-and-switch (is that TOO cliche for a fish forum?). I finally found an LFS that carried dwarf corys. Silly me, I didn't download photos of the dwarf and pygmys to take to the store. I get them home and - what do you know ...

Where can I buy pygmy or dwarf corys? My order of preference is Corydoras hastatus, C. pygmaeus, C. habrosus. I haven't been able to find them locally (Denver, CO) or online.

What's the difference (if any) between a school & shoal?

I'm planning to get a Dwarf Otocinclus, either O. sp. or O. arnoldi. I'd prefer to get just one. Are they okay as individuals? They don't appear to hang out together.

I'm mad that the instructions that came with the aquarium said add fish on the 3rd day! How's a new fishkeeper to know any better!?! I was following the instructions!

I now have one spotted pictus catfish. Bummer ... as I reported Monday night, they'd finally started swimming around the tank "normally"; Tuesday morning, dead catfish (no visible signs of trauma). The petstore refunded my money on the deceased and tested my aquarium water: 7.2 pH 0 Chlorine 0.5 ...

Ammonia level was between 1.0 and 2.0, definitely not over 2.0, so I just did another 5% water change. After the water change, it's right at 1.0, so I'll do a 10% change tomorrow. Nitrite still reads zero - will nitrite go up as ammonia goes down? (I'll get the nitrAte kit later this week.) Actually ...

Not at all harsh, thank you very much. The store said 4" adult size and had them housed with Barbs (rolling my eyes). I feel a lot better knowing this up-down behavior could be normal while they get settled. My starter test kit doesn't test ammonia or nitrates, so I'll get these test kits tomorrow ...

Total newbie, so forgive my ignorance and impatience: Got my first 10-gallon fish tank for Christmas, went through all the prep, testing, etc., waited until end of 3rd day before adding fish. I fell in love with the Pictus Catfish at the petstore because they were so active, I planned my habitat ...