temp question

[ginagv]

Hi again all..

I moved the inhabitants of my 20 gallon into their new 55 gallon home. Everyone is really having a good time with the extra space! I was wondering though... right now I keep the water at 77 degrees f. Would c. elegans, c. trillinus, and otocinclus be able to thrive at a higher temp.. say 79 degrees f? I have been considering what else I might want to add to the tank now, and have been thinking about one of the smaller plecos.. 5 inches no bigger.. or a hoplo.. but I'm still checking into how they get along with the current occupants including the aboved mentioned cats and my shoal of female cherry barbs... for the upper regions of the tank I was thinking about a pair of mated angels.. since I really dont want to get 4-5... and I know until they pair up they need to be in a group.. or maybe a gourami.. one that grows to 6 inches or so..

so many decisions.. I may wind up throwing my hands up and just getting a bazillion more cories and call it a day though

anyway.. thoughts?

Gina

[MatsP]

79'F is roughly the highest temperature recommended for the vast number of corys. There are some that like higher temps, and a few that require lower temps.

Oto's (at least the commonly available species) should be fine with a similar temperature.

--
Mats

[ginagv]

Hi Mats.

see that's what I was finding too. In this bigger tank, populated by bottom feeders.. even the cherry barbs stay near the bottom and eat from the substrate, there is alot of, well, emptiness.. In a perfect world I would have made a more cory specific tank.. not very tall but long.. so they have room to shoal but not too high since the height is unnecessary... but thats not what I have.. the Angels like a warmer water apparently.. I think they'd be calm enough and would, for the most part, left my cories alone.. but from what I have found out so far, the lowest temp they will take is 79. Hey what else do you all keep? If anything? I guess another option is a single gourami.. there are some that get about 6 inches.. but.. I don't know lol... In the spring, Frank Falcone will be sending me a few more elegans to go with the couple I have.. I'm really honored to have some of his line... especially since I have read he is closing down his commercial business... If he has another species available at that time, I might get a small group of them too.. I'm very honored and excited he remembered I was looking for more elegans.. and much to my surprise, having a very hard time locating any.

From the time I first started keeping fish..oh way back in.. um.. like 1972... Ive had a love affair with the cories.. when I got back into keeping fish this past April, they were the first inhabitants after cycling...

Some things never change, eh?

Gina

[MatsP]

Sounds like you'll get some great C. elegans.

I've got angels in my big tank. They are nice.

Another option that works well in a medium-sized tank with fairly hard water is Raindbow-fish.

--
Mats

[sdm]

I would also recommend one of the smaller rainbowfish species, praecox maybe.

[ginagv]

well... decision was made for me last night... hubby came home with 4 tiny angel fish.. all about the same size, body size of about a quarter... and he said.. hey hon.. look what I got.. I thought they were so cute....

Hope as they grow they don't get too aggressive....

After we did the acclimation process they started to investigate their new surroundings.. picking at plants and substrate... and they were quite interested in my cories.. who were for some unknown reason, all actively shoaling all over the place last night... Don't know what their problem was... went on for a long long time too...

So, the tank temp is at 78f.. which is what they were at at the store.. I may or may not raise it up a degree...

thank you all for your help once again,

Gina

[MatsP]

Angels should be fine at 78'F - and shouldn't cause any harm to reasonably adult corys. They will eat any cory eggs and fry, but so will many other fish...

Corys "swimming around madly" could be spawning behaviour. Or stress, or just "happy". It's hard to say without actually seeing the fish...

--
Mats

[ColumbianChocolate]

Hi ginagv
If you were still looking for a single pleco that grows no more than 5" you could choose a common favourite the bristlenose pleco great personalities and you will never have any algae problems.
If you were looking for a fancier pleco I would highly recommend the L204 Panaque sp. (Flash Pleco). My L204 is out all the time not shy at all and has beautiful thin strips, he is always the first to feed and is fine by itself.
The Gold nugget plecos L18/81/177 are a popular choice too but I find them really difficult to keep where some of the Panaque species are quite hardy. Other smaller pretty plecos like hypans, peckoltias etc.. are very shy if kept by themselves, you will never see them once you put them in your tank and fair better in groups!

If you were to buy hoplos I would get a group of at least 4 as they love each others company

[ginagv]

Hi..

thank you for all your recommendations. I wound up with a regular albino bristlenose last night. A small one.. really not much more than 1 inch long, as I thought it would be good if he would grow up with the Angels, who are also pretty small right now.

He immediately got to work on the glass... My otos have been... well I don't know what they've been doing as they hide alot, and I only see shadows at night, moving very quickly to and fro.. I put in algae wafers and zucchini for them, and so there will be some for the new pleco too when he decides he's finished with the glass.

I decided against the hoplos. Im going to stick with my cories for now...

again thank you for all the help,

Gina