Corys - getting new fish

[FishQueen]

I have a five gallon tank right now with no fish in it... I plan on getting a few platties. Could I get some corys too?

[Pooky125]

hmmm, for a five gallon, that isnt alot of space, but, if you could find some pygmy cories, i think it should work....

[clothahump]

Yes Corydoras Pygmaeus will be fine, just make sure the tank is cycled fully before introducing ANY fish.

[FishQueen]

Yes, I'll be SURE this time... how long? 21 days or something?

[luvfishies]

The tank sitting empty with the heater and filter running is NOT cycling the tank.

Cycling refers to actively "growing" the good bacterias that convert ammonia to nitrites, then nitrites to nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites are deadly to fish in low concentrations. Nitrates are the lesser of the 3 evils, but should still be kept under control with waterchanges.

Now, to start the cycle, you need a source of ammonia. I prefer the "fishless cycle" method, which is just adding clear, unscented, non-sudsing household ammonia toa  concentration of 5ppm (as determined by your test kit )

The other way that has been used for ages is "with fish" cycling. That means adding one or two fish at a time, testing the ammonia level, and doing waterchanges to keep that level down. Then you test for nitrites, and waterchange to keep THAT down. Once ammonia and nitrite are 0, you then add a couple more fish. VERY stressful to fish, stressful to the fishkeeper IMO.

In your 5 g I would not add any more than one fish a week if you choose to use fish to cycle the tank/filter.

Of course, if you could get some filter material from a tank that has been running disease-free for at least 4 months, you could use that filter material in your tank and add a light load of fish and keep an eye on the water parameters. (test kits)

You DO have test kits right?

[FishQueen]

yeah, okay, thanx...