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I have a couple albino cory's in a tank by themselfs. I would like to know what are safe levals of nitrAte for them? Also I'll be out of town for 3-4 days. How should they be fead? Do those weekend feader work?

Safe levels depend on if you mean short term (as in over a weekend) or long term (averaged levels over a few months). Short term, 100ppm or more is survivable, even if it's not ideal. Albino cory are usually , or slightly less commonly - other albino forms EXIST, but you'd probably know if those where the ones you had, since they are so rare that people will tell you what they are and sell them for lots more than the "common" albino's.

Back to the thread: C. aeneus and C. paleatus are probably among the hardiest of Cory's, so they are unlikely to die from even fairly long term high levels of nitrate, but they will be much happier if the average level is significantly lower than the 100ppm that I would consider too high. Keeping below 50ppm should be the guideline, and ideally you want to keep it below 20ppm for good health and growth.

If you're out of town for 3-4 days on one occasion, I wouldn't think that you even need to do anything - they will NOT starve to death or suffer from this - it happens in nature all the time that the fish go without food for some time... If you are frequently on 3-4 day trips, I would invest in a timer-based feeder that you load up with food and it feeds your fish once, twice or thrice a day.

Weekend feeders, as in blocks of white "chalk" with bits of food in them do work, but I think they are a waste of money if it's a rarity that you need them, and if you're often away, you should have a automatic feeder anyways...

By the way, you probably should consider getting a few more... They are happiest if you have at least 5 - more is merrier here... But this is of course dependant on the size of the tank and what water quality (e.g. nitrate level) you can keep...

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Mats

Thanks for the help. It's only a 5.5 gallon tank so that's why there's just two. So I really shouldn't worry about feadings while I'm away? I asked about nitrates because I have 5ppm in my tank so I assume I'm fine then?

I guess I could add one more if you think it would be okay?

I'd say you can keep a few more if the nitrates stay at 5ppm - anything up to around 20ppm is fine.

No, don't worry about feeding them - as long as you're not away for 3-4 days every week.

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Mats

Thanks a lot I really appreciate it

Let me just ask this one question. How sensitive are they're barbels? I mean I have a gravel substrate with fake plants and a rock cave. Now the cave isn't smooth but it isn't really sharp either, it feels like rock. Is this fine for them? It's kind of like this

The barbels are used to "smell" for food in the gravel. This is why it's important that the gravel is rounded. Of course, if other things aren't sharp, that's a good thing too, but the odd sharp bit of stone (or similar) shouldn't be a problem. It's the daily rooting around in the substrate that is the cause of "barbel erosion".

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Mats

Is spectra stone a good substrat? Also what would be the best way to set up the tank decor? Would it be okay if I just put a row of hygropilla in the back kinda bush and that's it or should I add a cave? It's my understanding they like open swimming room rather than a crowded tank

In my experience, they like fairly open areas, but will "crawl" into more densely planted areas if there's something smelling like food.

I'm no expert at decorating, but generally tall plants at the back and lower plants at the front, with the open spaces at the front, of course.

A piece of driftwood or similar is a good way to make a natural looking hidey-space.

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Mats

Okay then I have natural river gravel and some hiding spots from plants and lots of open swimming room. Does this sound like a good set up for a few albino corydoras catfish? It's a 5 gallon long tank BTW

Sounds OK to me, although I prefer somewhat larger tanks - they are easier to look after...

The river gravel should be the finest variant, as that's easiest to dig and shuffle about for the corys, when they are looking for food...

I use play-sand from the local garden-centre. (Intended for kids playing in a sand-pit, but works well in a fish-tank. A few dollars will get you a 25kg (50 lbs) bag, which is MUCH more than you need for a small tank, but you can save that for some other project). Don't put too much sand in, tho', about half to three-quarter inch deep is the right amount.

Even nicer is to mix sand and gravel, so that you have some sand and some gravel - looks more natural, since in nature, it's not always so ordered with sand in one place and gravel in another, it's usually a bit more mixed...

A few small rounded stones will make it look even better.

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Mats

The gravel is about this size

It's smooth and the best I could find. I can't use sand because I have an intank power filter. There's a area of the tank set up with some small bushy plants and and good area for swimming.

Both of my tanks that have sand in them have internal filters. It's not a problem as long as you don't have the filter intake very close to the sand. [And even then, it's not really a problem unless the filter also doesn't stop the sand from getting to the impeller - a small amount of sand caught in the filter itself isn't going to be a problem, just rinse it out together with the gunk that collects there - use aquarium water, of course].

The gravel looks good from the roundness perspective, at leas tin the second picture. But have a smaller grain-size would be better...

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Mats

Well I hate to take apart the tank to get a smaller size. I honestly couldn't find any better than what I got. I intened to fead them tetra colorbites rather than flake so would that be okay the way I've set up and be good for them?

Sure.

By the way, I'm not saying you need to change anything, I'm just saying that a finer gravel is better for the fish, so if you decide to change it at some point, you know what to do...

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Mats

Looking at the pictures I have two issues, the first is that in the top picture the fish looks to be a C. paleatus male and the fish in the bottom picture look to be female C. aeneus. If they are as I suspect then they are very unlikely to breed, in fact it would not be at all desirable.

The other point is the grave in my opinion is far too large, it looks smooth enough, but because of its size food will penetrate to where the Corys cannot easily reach it. What happens then is the Corys use their barbels as earth moving equipment to shift the particles of gravel to get at the food, their barbels are not designed for this kind of activity and will become worn very quickly, in fact the barbels on the fish in the second picture look pretty short all ready.

Smooth grained sand is regarded as the best substrate for Corys because they sift through and filter it, removing food particles as they go. As a compromise, if you clear the centre area of the tank of gravel and replace it with smooth grained sand, it will give you a place to feed the Corys where it should not cause and barbel problems. The sand a gravel areas can be kept separate by using a thin strip of acrylic. If it is cut 3 or 4 inches longer than the tank, it can be wedged in the front corners creating an arc, which will hold back the gravel and give plenty of room for a thin (3/8") layer of sand.

Ian

I've read that the the sand used in Swimming pool filters is a good smooth sand for Cory's.

Has anyone else heard the same?

I'd guess that sand used in Swimming pool filters is similar to play-sand in at least some aspects: It needs to be chemically inert, non-colouring. Not sure if it needs to be non-sharp, so some places may use crushed gravel instead of natural sand, which would make it sharp. The problem with crushing gravel is that you get loads of dust and variable size particles, which would have to be washed off. Natural, which is what's used for play-sand is usually formed in sand-dunes or river-deltas is usually relatively clean and uniform size[although that's not at all where it's harvested now, that's just what was there when the sand formed many thousands of years ago when the sand built up]. So, my conclusion is that it's highly likely that filter-sand and play-sand is "the same thing"...

Of course, in this country, swimming pools aren't exactly common, so it's much easier to find a kids-play-sand shop than a swimming-pool-filter-sand shop...

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Mats

I had no idea those filters even had sand in them.

I guess my Sister won't appreciate my dismantling her pool filter to investigate.

Kana3 wrote:I guess my Sister won't appreciate my dismantling her pool filter to investigate.

If you clean it in the process, maybe?

By the way, I'm not sure all filters have sand in them...

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Mats

I decided agesnt keeping them in the 5 gallon and went with a 10 gallon. It's fine gravel bottom and fake plants and a lot of them and they share the tank with a albino shark and paradise fish which will get a new tank as soon as I'm done cyling it

Coryman wrote:Looking at the pictures I have two issues, the first is that in the top picture the fish looks to be a C. paleatus male and the fish in the bottom picture look to be female C. aeneus. If they are as I suspect then they are very unlikely to breed, in fact it would not be at all desirable.

The other point is the grave in my opinion is far too large, it looks smooth enough, but because of its size food will penetrate to where the Corys cannot easily reach it. What happens then is the Corys use their barbels as earth moving equipment to shift the particles of gravel to get at the food, their barbels are not designed for this kind of activity and will become worn very quickly, in fact the barbels on the fish in the second picture look pretty short all ready.

Smooth grained sand is regarded as the best substrate for Corys because they sift through and filter it, removing food particles as they go. As a compromise, if you clear the centre area of the tank of gravel and replace it with smooth grained sand, it will give you a place to feed the Corys where it should not cause and barbel problems. The sand a gravel areas can be kept separate by using a thin strip of acrylic. If it is cut 3 or 4 inches longer than the tank, it can be wedged in the front corners creating an arc, which will hold back the gravel and give plenty of room for a thin (3/8") layer of sand.

Ian

Those are not pictures of my fish

Trout, I'm not trying to play moderator, but a couple of things come to mind.

1. It was confusing when you posted those pictures. I am certain everyone reading this thread assumed they were photos of your fish. As well, the gravel size and texture received comments, and it was not even gravel from your set-up.

2. Did you have permission from Aquahobby (Age of Aquariums) to use their photos? I have contributed photos to that site, myself, and I wouldn't be too happy to have them used without permission. Especially, if the implication was that they were someone else's.

BTW, I'm glad you're going with the larger size tank, and I hope your gravel is very fine. It's just so bad for corys to have to push gravel around like little earthmovers. That's not their role.

Post some of your own photos of your fish. We'd all like to see them.
Deborah

deb wrote:Trout, I'm not trying to play moderator, but a couple of things come to mind.

1. It was confusing when you posted those pictures. I am certain everyone reading this thread assumed they were photos of your fish. As well, the gravel size and texture received comments, and it was not even gravel from your set-up.

2. Did you have permission from Aquahobby (Age of Aquariums) to use their photos? I have contributed photos to that site, myself, and I wouldn't be too happy to have them used without permission. Especially, if the implication was that they were someone else's.

BTW, I'm glad you're going with the larger size tank, and I hope your gravel is very fine. It's just so bad for corys to have to push gravel around like little earthmovers. That's not their role.

Post some of your own photos of your fish. We'd all like to see them.
Deborah

Do I have permission? WTF? I guess I'll be leaving this forum for getting the third degree. Wasn't aware I couldn't show what I was talking about and had to buy a digital camra just for this site.

The playpit sand is called "silver sand" it is used in the building trades amongst its other uses.
It has a very high silica content with much less iron and other mineral content, so the grit is more rounded and if the child got this into their eyes it is far less likely to permanently scratch the lense, also as the particles are more rounded they do not form compacted layers readily in comparison to sand with varying grit size amongst its particles and is part of what makes it suitable for the aquarium as this allows ease of digging/foraging (sp?)

Kevin

TroutAngler wrote:

Do I have permission? WTF? I guess I'll be leaving this forum for getting the third degree. Wasn't aware I couldn't show what I was talking about and had to buy a digital camra just for this site.

I don't know what "WTF" means, but my remarks were meant to be helpful to you in future postings, were not impolite, and ended with praise and encouragement.

I'm very sorry I insulted you, and there is no reason for you to leave the site.

You do need to have permission to use other people's photos, and you do need to say when you are doing so, even with permission. That helps the people making responses.

Deborah

I must have missed the point when I said those were my fish. First of all I said I only had two corries and there's 4 between those to pics and second sue me

Deb is just trying to explain a few things, I don't think anyone is going to sue anyone... But it is in fact, illegal to display or otherwise make use of someone elses picture, whether it's available on the web, your uncles wedding photo (in the sense, you can't make copies of it, you can obviously SHOW it to people) or a newspaper photo. They are all copyrighted to the photographer, and it's up to the photographer to let anyone else use them, and give the conditions (such as charges or limitations to the use). This is international law, so it applies anywhere you live.

Further, Jools (our esteemed webmaster) can be forced to remove content that isn't rightfully displayed [and the hosting company can shut down the site until such material has been removed - and probably also end the contract for hosting the site if they want to do that], and more importantly (for Jools at least), it may be cause for a lawsuit against the owner of the web-site for allowing such material to be published. I think you appreciate that there are several persons who do not want any of these things to happen, right?

If you are posting pictures from another site, make VERY CLEAR, that they are NOT your pictures, and you should also permission from the owner of the photos. It is often better to post a link to the photos if they are on another site.

Finally, the point about it not being your fish in the pictures missed me completely too. Figuring out who's fish it is by numbers or other ways that are perhaps obvious to the poster, may not be so easy to realize for someone else, particularly if you have to look back 5 or 10 posts to actually find the difference.

I think we should now aim at getting this thread back to the original thread of how to best keep the fish you intend to keep. And I too like the fact that you've decided to go a tank-size up, it's a good idea.

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Mats

Well said.