PlanetCatfish.com

Well after abject despair of losing some of my cories and some of my Danios to New Tank Syndrome and Stupid Newbie Syndrome, I'm getting that rare shot at a fresh chance! I've got a 40 gallon (151 liter) SeaClear Acrylic tank on order from PetsMart--with yayyy free shipping. Also have a sturdy (I hope) inexpensive stand on order from Petco with $6.95 shipping...yayy again!

I'm switching over because with kids under 2 around (mine and her crazy little friends) I feel a better margin of safety with acrylic. Also, I prefer the dimensions of the SeaClear 40 Regular 36 x 15 x 16in. / 92 x 38 x 41cm to what I have now, at least as far as cory-keeping goes. I noticed that the extra height of my current tank is just wasted space as far as the cories were concerned. Duh--as if Mats and half a dozen other experts here hadn't already emphasized the importance of surface area and substrate area where catfish are concerned.

Of course I could be making a huge mistake going with SeaClear and this particular selection. If I did, I'll be honest about it as I have been about all my other stupid mistakes and dumb conclusions I've jumped to since joining this forum. The fact is I had a heck of a time finding user feedback on SeaClear tanks. I found just enough positives to make me feel okay about taking the plunge. I have my 29 gallon to dump the fish back into if this whole thing fails on me. Not that the 29 gallon has been a rousing success story. Sigh...I know, it's not the tank, it's me...

The 29 gallon will be stored away until my daughter and her gaggle of pals are older and past doing toddler ballet in the family room. Then it may be resurrected as a Krib tank. Cichlids are my second big love in the fish world.

Anyhow...my next project is going to focus on cories. Oh of course the Danios are invited to it, too--but those clowns would be happy anywhere so I'm not worrying about them.

Anyway, folks with cories and lots of 'em...what makes cories happy? Strong current? Weak current? Both in different parts of the tank? Mud? Leaves? Tree roots? Driftwood? Floaty plants? Potted plants? HDTV & Dolby Surround Sound? A natural looking backround? A poster of Orlando Bloom?--no, wait...that's for me...okay, how about a poster of Algae bloom? No, wait...that's a bad thing, nevermind.

Okay...lighting. The tank comes with a fixture of some sort, and I have to supply the lightbulb. Um...I dunno. I'm going to grow some plants...maybe, but I have a brown thumb on land and I don't expect that to change much with underwater tanks. So it's not going to be my emphasis. So what kind of light would make the cories happy? I'd like to simulate whatever sunlight looks like them in the wild, if I could. Within reason--I mean, I would like to be able to see them, too.

I DO have LED's for a moonlight effect on my current tank. It's awesome! The fish seem to love it and I love watching their nocturnal behavior.

Oh well what I will have is the wonderful sand I'm using now--which the cories love already. I've got fake slate caves--those are also loved and going into the next tank. I have a beautiful piece of real slate that I'd like to lean up against the back of the tank using suction cups and/or silicone as a brace--IF that is safe to put that weight on acrylic.

I will be faithful about water changes, as I am already. Filtration will be the Rena XP3 canister I just bought and my AquaClear 200, if I can fit it on the opening. My cories love my silk plants so those will go in, too.

Beyond that...I'm drawing a blank. I feel like I'm missing crucial items. Well this is just a brainstorming session. I'm open to suggestions about filter inlet and outlet types and placement. I did try reading what their natural environment is like but it's still really hard for a girl raised in a blighted suburb filled with drug dealers and junked out cars to imagine, much less try to translate into a fishtank design. But I'm giving it my best. I still have plenty of cories left and I adore them and want to give them corytopia to make up for putting them through all my newbie mistakes.

I will have my tanks running concurrently until I'm sure the new one is stable and will NOT be increasing my stock until my existing ones are secure.

p.s. for anyone who followed that soap opera about my busting a gut worrying about how my dad would feel about me doing things my way on my tank that he set up for me--I finally fessed up to all the changes and he was totally supportive and he even said he was sorry my undergravel filter gave me so much trouble and he is really excited about the new tank to be! Yay again! So I was fretting for nothing.

Well hello catfish I'm not a fan of acrylic tanks. But I understand your situation. I would would be very very careful with placing real rocks in those type of tanks cause Number one they scratch and mar very easily. And can be an ugly site. I would try diftwood my new little corys love it. Try to get a nice long one with a natural arc. It gives it that cave feeling with the scratches. And If you like rocks try finding the plastic ones made by Jungle that stick together, but make sure they have enough room to get out or glue them to the back of the tank wall. Or if your creative paint a nice little back drop with rocks and stil As for lighting really don't use it they don't seem to like it and neither do I since it shocked me a couple of times. Also beware if you have hard water the carbonates stick on there and be a real pain to clean and be careful using alge scrappers the scratch your tank too.

I think that in the balance plexis are equal to glass.
Each has it's pros and cons.

You can use real or natural rocks as long as you avoid scratching the sides and be carful about scraping the algae. Always use plastic tools.

I recommend supplementing that Aquaclear 200 with a Hydrosponge IV with an Aquaclear 600 powerhead or equal.

Corylover, thanks for the info on the driftwood. I'm glad I decided not to order online from DrFosterSmith then, since they pick for you and I might have gotten the wrong shape. I'll see what I can find at the LFS's. Sometimes they have nice driftwood, sometimes not--now I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Larry, thanks--I'll go look for the Hydrosponge IV and the powerhead while I'm driftwood shopping. I had been wondering about supplementing with one of those kinds of filters ever since I saw one in the tank of another forum member whose tankwork I admired. I also have the canister filter I ordered--but since I have to cut the hoses to specifically fit with the tank, I decided to save it for the SeaClear. I'm going to install the Hydrosponge on my current tank to help it out while I work on the new one which won't be arriving for quite some time. They took my order but it's still "in process" so who knows when the tank or the stand will get here, especialy with us due for another ice storm.

Yeah, I heard about acrylic and scratching. That's okay--you know something, my glass tank always looks like crud anyway. There's cat nose prints on it, toddler fingerprints, dried up water drops from my own little splashlets when I fill it. And then there's the gunk that always forms on the inside within an hour of my scraping the glass clear. No matter what tank I get, it's not going to win any beauty contests. I heard acrylic can also yellow over time. I'm not worried about that either. I suppose if I were trying to maintain several tanks I would worry about long term operating costs more, but with just one or even two setups, if I end up having to replace the tank in 3 years, that's okay, it's a reasonable price for added safety. I'm more worried about shattered glass cutting kids and cats, and a flood in my family room aiming straight for my husband's beloved big-screen HDTV. I know acrylic could break or crack, too--I've read about stress fractures in them, but my kid is a girl and she is not THAT rough, so I still think acrylic has a slight edge to glass where little kids are involved.

I think what gives me the heebie jeebies about glass is the memory of sitting with my mom, chatting near her dining room, when all of a sudden the glass in the china hutch suddenly just burst outward as if it had exploded. I would have thought a poltergeist had done it, (not really, but that's what it looked like). But what really had happened was my mom had cleaned the hutch earlier in the day and moved the hutch just an inch or two. That was enough to stress the glass shelves and cause a delayed shattering that was just unbelievably violent, considering at the time it had no apparent cause.

Couldn't find good driftwood or the Hydrosponge IV in the LFS's. But did find the Hydrosponge online so will get it that way. May end up ordering driftwood from DrsFosterSmith as well, if I don't find what I'm looking for in person soon.

But at long last, I found and purchased real live plants! PetCo had gotten in a fresh shipment of the plants kept in a gel base in a canister. Guaranteed snail free. I got an Amazon Sword, Umbrella plant, and some kind of small fern. None of those is likely a good choice for my tank but I just wanted to get a feel for what it was like to have real plants. They're just stuck into the sand at this point. If they survive until I'm setting up the next tank, I'll plant them properly and work out better lighting for them. My lighting now isn't actually that bad. My dad had bought it with the idea that I would have a few plants in the tank. So it's probably adequate for a lightly planted tank.

What makes my cories happy

- cory-friendly sand (they love to dig )
- bloodworm (they love live food..frozen worms also good)
- big leave plants to take cover
- floating plants to play around (especially for mid swimming cories)
- well maintained fully cycled filtration system
- high oxygenated water
- NO other tankmates

Mine love the javafern in there.
and of course, the sand.

Freshman, do you really have a tank with JUST cories? What's that like?

Okay...javafern...added to the list. I have a lot of the things Freshman mentioned, waiting to be set up.

Still haven't gotten the sponge filter--the place I was going to order from was sold out of the exact one I was going to order. Ain't that always the case? Sheesh!

My new stand is here and already set up. Once I get most things set up and evaluated I'll post in tank talk. I hope to be able to help out anyone who was curious about SeaClear tanks. A lot of people couldn't even find stands that fit some of the SeaClears. I found mine at PetCo online. It's really nice and inexpensive as far as aquarium furniture goes. By nice, I mean it's spray coated to resist water. My current stand has a laminated surface and the danged thing may as well be a sponge. It's going to be reused as a tv stand in our bedroom. When I someday set my 29 gallon back up as a secondary tank, I'll get a more water-resistant stand for it.

The tank is supposed to be here tomorrow. I'm really excited.

My eventual order of business will be to figure out how many cories I can safely house in there. I want only 3 schools--Sterba, Pepper and Aeneus. So basically I am just filling out the species I have now...though poor Elegans will have to remain an honorary Aeneus. Pepper thinks he's a Sterba now, but he'll get at least 2 comrades to remind him he's a Pepper. Sterba--gosh what a sad thing to have only 2. They are clearly not happy about that. I would love to add more Aeneus but they are happy just as they are, so if I can't add any more, I'll leave their school of 3 plus the Elegans "as is".

One thing's for danged sure...no more bleeping Danios! Oh well...maybe, but I have to vent about them a little. I do like them & enjoy their antics, but they're a pain in the butt at feeding time. Good grief, what pigs! And yet it looks like I have another developing that wasting disease. He's not emaciated yet, just slender. But he's not looking like the others when he feeds. I know the pattern and I've got a sinking feeling about this Danio. If I knew what it was, I'd treat it. But I have no clue. If it is the Danio disease I've heard about...there's no cure, as far as I've read. I just hope it's not something cories get.

EDIT: P.S. Gee, where are my manners? Thank you all so much for helping me out in this topic. I appreciate it so much!

Yes. I have a 15 gallon tank with just corydoras n brochis..Nothing else.

Definitely include some broad leaf plants. There's nothing funnier than watching a cory go through its sniffing motions around and under a crypt or lotus leaf, then take a nap sitting on top of it. You can't ask them whether its making them happy, but they sure do give off happy vibes.

Add in some sand for digging, a few high current spots to swim against once in a while, fish that don't harass them, and live worms or brine a few times a week, and I think you've got corydoras nirvana.

Oh no...most of my plants didn't make it. The ones that are include 2 of the umbrella plants, and they were having rotted roots until I pulled them out of the sand and just let them float. The swords weren't liking my light or substrate. I have one sword I also pulled out and let float, and it's doing well because it came with a clump of dirt still attached to its roots and has managed to hold onto that dirt. Only the fern is thriving. It's made itself at home in the sand and is just fine with my single fluorescent light. Well I got these plants as an experiment anyway. Now I have a better idea of what I need to make live plants a part of the new tank. However...I'm thinking of sticking to silk broadleafs and just go with real floaties and real ferns. My cories do play and sleep on top of the fake plants and seem to enjoy the fakes ever bit as much as the real ones. So I'm covered, there. Being silk and not regular hard plastic, the fake plants have an almost real look to them.

I have not liked any of the silk or plastic floating plants I've seen so I think I do need to go real and natural for those. I just need to work out the lighting.

I have the new tank all set up now. All that's missing is a main light (has lunar LED lights set up already) and a better heater...and some driftwood and additional greenery.

Going to a canister filter has been just a huge revelation and even my husband is just in awe of what a difference there is in capacity vs. the poor pitiful Aquaclear hang-on-back filter I'd been trying to run a tank on.

The Aquaclear is actually in storage now. The media went stagnant on me when the filter stopped during a cleaning. Aquaclears can't run if too much water is out of the tank, so during the last water change, while I was warming replacement water, the matured filter went totally disgustingly bad and super-stinky. I'm running the 29-gallon on my original TopFin30 filter now. So actually, I'm dealing with two tanks with no stable biological filtration!

I will never ever ever trust the manufacturer's recommended tank sizes again. If they say something is suitable for a 40 gallon tank, I'll assume it will barely be able to keep up with a 10 gallon tank! Grrrr!