Setting up a new 6gl- stocking question

aunt kymmie

I'm going to be setting up a new Eclipse 6. I will get one betta who will be added last. I wanted to get 7 to 8 pygmy cories but I'm not able to locate any locally. Instead would I be able to add a group of 6 pandas or another species? Are six cories too many for a 6gl?? Thanks in advance for the info!!

catfishtabbi

hi, i would think so. you'd have to put so much food to feed them it would cloud your water or worse mold algae you name it .i dont know the exact rule but i think its around 1-2 small fish/gal .i was an over feeder once i stopped i realized my 6 bottom feeders were starving so i found a new home for my rainbow sharks love your gold fish.i cannot understand why they push those corys in6's. i prefer a bit of variety.

aunt kymmie

In my situation cloudy water & algae would not be an issue. I adhere to a strict maintenance schedule. I set aside an entire afternoon every week without fail for this task. If things are looking a little funky I'll do a water change midweek. Compared to my larger tank doing a 6 gl is a stroll in the park.

The one inch per gallon rule is really just a basic "guideline". You can't keep a 10" pleco in a 10gl. and expect the pleco to thrive. Perhaps I can keep four cories in a 6gl? I know cories are naturally very social (which is why I want them!) and need to be in a group. I'm not sure that 4 would be considered a group? Maybe I'll have to go ahead and order the pygmy's on-line??

Tyyrlym

Well, looking at mine I'd say that full size corys are probably gonna be crowded. Even four would be pushing it. I'd say go with the pygmys.

aunt kymmie

I thought that would be the case. I've already got one Eclipse 6 set up (love it) w/ a betta & 6 otos and it's a perfect little tank. Heading over to aquabid to see what's available as far as pygmys. How many pygmys do you think I can get away with?? I can't seem to recall what batman had originally suggested to me when I asked this question prior...

Tyyrlym

I'm trying to operate from memory but I think you could do six no problem, they're pretty stinking small.

iamntbatman

It will probably depend on the lot sizes you can find on aquabid, but I think you could get eight of them in there no problem. I have a standard 5.5g with six pygmies, an amano shrimp, and now more Endler's livebearers (most still quite small) than I care to count and the nitrates never get above about 15ppm with weekly 50% water changes. The only live plant in the tank is water lettuce that does o.k. but doesn't grow quite as well as it does in some of my other tanks. The size comparison between pygmies and regular sized cories is incredible - I would say a 1" pygmy probably weighs about 1/10th or less of what a 2" cory weighs, so the bioload difference is probably just as significant.

Tyyrlym

1/10th is not a bad estimate.

It's a simple mathematical relation actually. Length is a single dimension, volume is a cubic one. Therefore to see the change in volume, and consequently mass, of a fish you have to use the cube or cube root of the relative lengths. For instance a 2" fish is twice as long as a 1" fish. Twice as long so 2 cubed is 8. Assuming a similar body shape the 2" fish is 8 times as massive as the 1" fish. This is the big reason the "inches of fish" rule fails so spectacularly. I've been toying with a method to estimate stocking levels based off fish volume but it's far FAR more complicated than just saying "6 inches of fish in a six gallon tank" so I doubt it'd ever catch on.

aunt kymmie

No kidding...I became completely lost once you started explaining your mathematical procedure. Some of us simply aren't gifted in that area which is why it's just easier to rely on advice for how many I'm able to have in my teeny tiny tank. I'm getting 8 pygmys!

iamntbatman

If you blew up a Pygmy Cory to regular cory length, I think it would still be a slightly thinner fish, which is where the 1/10th comes from.

I saw a rule for stocking based on fish volume once. It's probably more accurate than the "inch per gallon" rule but still doesn't take into account aggression, schooling needs, swimming levels, swimming speed, etc.