pygmies and adfs?? and various other questions

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 21 Aug 2006, 01:45

I have an empty 10 gallon tank that i hope to fill with one of the following combos.

1: ADFs, pygmy corys, ottos, shrimp
will the frogs and corys get along? i know adfs aren't at all aggressive eaters. will the pygmys dominate the feeding?

2: pygmys, kuhlis, ottos, shrimp
too many bottom dwellers?

which combo seems better, if either?
how many of each species would fit?

help please...

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 21 Aug 2006, 05:40

i'm thinking combo 1 might work.

if i had 3 adfs, 3 ottos and 3 shrimp, could i keep around 5 pygmy corys? less? more?

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 21 Aug 2006, 10:44

I'd say keeping otos in a 10 gallon tank with other, more aggressive, feeders is a recipe for dead otos - or, if the oto turns out to be one of the individuals who attack other fish rather than starve to death, dead other fish.

Any combination of your other fish is probably OK, but Otos just aren't competitive enough to get anything to eat when there's any other bottom-feeders around, and there wont be sufficient algae for them in a 10G.

Btw - by far the most competitive feeders among those you've listed are the shrimp and the kuhlis (somewhat depending on the size of the shrimp - e.g. tigers/bumblebees compete less strongly than amanos & ghosts).

EDIT: As for stocking density... You can put a lot of shrimp in a 10G. If I were you, I'd probably get 10-20 bumblebee/tiger shrimp, 10 pygmy cories, and 4 ADF. I'd also make sure the tank was densely planted & had decent light, to keep algae & pollution down.

(Incidentally, make 110% _sure_ it's really African DWARF frogs and not African CLAWED frogs, or your fish & shrimp will become very expensive frogfood.)

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 21 Aug 2006, 16:55

thanks so much.

ya, i'd definitely like to go with less aggressive shrimp. are cherry fire shrimp okay? or are they too aggressive?

and would less shrimp mean more fish room? say, instead of 10-20 shrimp, i got 5 but added 6 dwarf spotted harlequins? prolly just wishful thinking...

thanks

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 21 Aug 2006, 18:11

smellsfishy wrote:thanks so much.

ya, i'd definitely like to go with less aggressive shrimp. are cherry fire shrimp okay? or are they too aggressive?

They're a color variation of bumblebees, so they'll be fine.

and would less shrimp mean more fish room?

No, they're pretty much independent from the fish. Also, they'll breed...

Cornuta · Post by **Cornuta** » 21 Aug 2006, 20:12

Hi

I'd avoid the frogs altogether, or give them a tank all of their own, they really cant compete with fish and tend to get pretty skinny pretty quick. They dont do all that well fed on fish food or the usual meaty alternative like bloodworms. They really need food like chopped small earthworms and live food like gammarus and daphnia.

In a tank like that it would also be a shame to have the ottos or corys spawn and then have the fry eaten by Hymenochirus

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 21 Aug 2006, 21:20

i've planned on feeding the adfs bloodworms, earthworms and daphnia. from what i've read they should do well on such foods.

i think i'll start with my adfs and shrimp so they can adjust to the feeding schedule and their new home before introducing the pygmies. hopefully their acclimation period and the fact that cories tend to be more of mid-bottom dwellers will make feeding easier on the adfs. of course, if they still aren't getting enough food, i will separate them.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 22 Aug 2006, 03:40

Even the dwarf African frogs can eat cherry and bumblebee shrimp once the frogs have begun to grow. Leave the frogs out or the shrimp. I think the shrimp are more fun and you can keep quite a few. I raise both kinds of shrimp so I am a little biased but I don't think so much as to give you bad advice.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 22 Aug 2006, 03:51

Even the dwarf African frogs can eat cherry and bumblebee shrimp once the frogs have begun to grow. Leave the frogs out or the shrimp. I think the shrimp are more fun and you can keep quite a few. I raise both kinds of shrimp so I am a little biased but I don't think so much as to give you bad advice.

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 22 Aug 2006, 04:58

hmmm... i'm starting to think no froggies.

I really don't want to risk anything.

maybe 6 spotted harlequins, 8 or so pygmies, 10 cherry shrimp???
numbers sound right?

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 22 Aug 2006, 05:41

That would be a good group to keep together.

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:06

i really don't want the tank to look bare with so many dwarf fish.
could the tank take more? or is that pushing it?

edit: oops.. spotted rasboras not harlequins... brain fart

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:21

I'm not sure what species you are calling spotted harlequins but I'm guessing that you are talking about Boraboras maculata which are indeed tiny. I have a bunch of them myself and they only get barely 3/4 inch. A larger rasbora such as T. heteromorpha or T. espei would add color, size and shape variety. A school of 8 of these would liven things up. Also cosider an albino bushy nose pleco for algae control and something interestingly different. A few Otocinclus would be OK, too but don't count on them making a big dent in algae growth. In any case the shrimp, BN and Otos will need an algae tablet or so a day in addition to your staple food. These additional fish would be compatible with the spotted rasboras. Their generic name has been changed from Rasbora maculata(spotted rasbora) to Boraboras maculata.

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 23 Aug 2006, 05:10

will my dwarf cories breed?

should i prepare for fry somehow?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Aug 2006, 09:49

Dwarf cories can be bred. However, to breed them, you probably don't want to have any other fish in the same tank - most fish will eat other fishes eggs (and their own in many cases too), so to breed any fish, you're best off with a setup that allows them to breed on their own without any "companions" that will rob the eggs away...

--
Mats

smellsfishy · Post by **smellsfishy** » 23 Aug 2006, 19:41

i'm not planning on breeding them, i just wanted to be prepared if they do. but i think i understand after reading the sticky.

thanks everyone for your help.

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 23 Aug 2006, 20:26

MattsP,
A little off topic but last year I acquired a group of the biggest Corydoras pygmeus I've ever seen. Separated the sexes for what was going to be only a day or two and this huge female spawned almost 100 eggs all by herself with the males next tank over and never could get her to spawn again.
Larry