New Tank Mates!

[Zerileous]

Okay, I got some new mates for my 10 gallon tank.

I am afraid of the 4 oto catfish I purchased only one made it. I know this is bad to have only one catfish but I just don't have the heart to keep going through these guys. I think 2 of them died after I had to transplant everything from the cracked tank. The remaining oto is a champ, and I really hope he does okay on his own. I would consider replacing them but I have to go back to college in less than a week and there is no way such a sensitive fish would survive a 3 hour move without having longer to acclimate :(.

Anyhow, today I purchased some water sprite. I also decided that I needed to take advantage of having an LFS and purchase some fish because all I will have at college is Wal-Mart. So anyhow, 4 albino cory cats now call my tank home! They seem to be doing pretty well so far, and I am hoping all goes well. I will take some pictures to post when I have the chance, but I am going out of town tomorrow so you guys might have to wait a while.

Now my tank is what you would call over-stocked. I know I know what everyone say's about this, but I have a feeling it will be okay. I am pretty dilligent about water changes, and I have excelent filtration (AquaClear 30 HOB and Fluval 1 Plus internal).

Foliage:
6-8 bronze crypts
2 water sprites
2 cabomba carolina
4 anubias
4 java fern
java moss

Fauna:
4 albino cories!
1 oto cat :(
5 male guppies
2 lg snails
3 malaysian trumpet snails (tiny guys, minimal bioload; free from LFS)
x ramshorn snails (also minimal bioload

So I know I took a pretty big risk doing this, but to me it was worth it because I won't have access to a real LFS in the same town my tank is in for a long time. I also think that all my plants will help with the heavy load.

Zer

[zackish]

That doesn't seem too too overstocked. That sucks about your otos. How long have you been acclimating them? They are notorious for being poor acclimaters. I acclimated mine for like 2.5 hours as slow as I could.

[Zerileous]

I acclimated them for quite a while but they were in poor health and from petsmart. Secondly I don't have a ton of algae and i have had bad luck getting them to eat other stuff.

[zackish]

aha...petsmart X.X

[MeganL3985]

I've only got 1 (possibly) bad one from Petsmart, which was the newest one I bought, that died of a (possible) bacterial infection. Others are fine though. The two platys I lost were of my own fault.....stupid test strips making ammonia pretty non-existant for an inaccurate readings. Blah!!!

[zackish]

I've only got 1 (possibly) bad one from Petsmart, which was the newest one I bought, that died of a (possible) bacterial infection. Others are fine though. The two platys I lost were of my own fault.....stupid test strips making ammonia pretty non-existant for an inaccurate readings. Blah!!!

Eh, I believe it. Many years ago when I decided to dump 6 cichlids in a 10 gallon tank and not cycle it they were fine until they magically died 3 weeks later. I am assuming it was something to do with my water parameters:ezpi_wink1:

Not really funny but a classic beginner fish story.

[Zerileous]

I just wanted to give an update. Ammonia never spiked and all four new cories are doing well. Nitrates have been climbing a bit, but thats to be expected. I am hoping the plants will catch up and start soaking them up.

The fish have been fasting in preparation for a 3 hour move tomorrow, so they are not out of the woods yet. However i am optimistic about it because I will be running heat and filtration in the car (hooray power inverter), and I only lost one guppy fry when I made the move back in may (back then it was 30 or so guppies of various developmental stages).

Wish my fish luck guys.