planted tank and pygmy cories & basic questions

SST

How big of a tank do you need for a group of 10? If I did a species only Pygmy Cory tank could I do it in a 10 gal? Would that be interesting?

tophat665

You could do a great 10 gallon for a shoal of 10 pygmies, but that's it. I would recommend a 15, with a glass top and a pair of 23 watt compact fluorescent desk lamps over it. Plant a nice lawn in the middle, get some nice branchy driftwood for the sides, plant stems in the corners, and get some nice, branchy driftwood and frame the tall plants and arc it over the lawn a bit. then put in about 10 pygmies, 6 red cherry or Amano shrimp, and a shoal of 10 small tetras (Embers or neons or lemons) or Microrasboras.

Get a layout something like this:


And maybe stack some small slates in that clear area in the back for hiding spaces.

The reason I suggest this particular layout is that it will get enough planting to allow you to push the bioload a little while still giving plenty of swimming room in the middle and security in the back corners, and well as overhead cover under the driftwood and rosettes. While a species tank would be neat, one of the fun things about pygmies is they will sometimes school with Tetras, so putting a school of small tetras in can enhance the behavior of both the tetras and the pygmies.