Pygmy cory's in a 29 gallon

**KINGMED** · 07-05-2009, 10:54 PM

How many can I get put into a 29 gallon safely, I have a spotted raphael in there and a large marble angelfish but I'm thinking about moving the angelfish into my 55 gallon tank. I was also thinking about some other dwarf fish such as the pygmy gourami's. I think it'd be neat to have an all pygmy tank. I read on here where to put fresh oak leaves on the bottom of the tank, mine has pool filter sand. Question is how would you clean the tank with all the leaves on the bottom? I know this may seem to be kind of a stupid question but I'm not real experienced in this sort of thing. Also I have a 10 gallon that has 3 female platy's in it with a piece of mopani drift wood that I put on top of a large clump of java moss, how many of the pygmy cory's would be safe in this tank. Before I go any further I would like to thank all of you that give advise to myself and others on this site who still need to learn about fish keeping with the help of those of you who have alot of experience, a personal thanks for all the help and great advise!!!!!!!

**rich311k** · 07-05-2009, 11:09 PM

I would think you could do a dozen if you wanted.

**smaug** · 07-05-2009, 11:12 PM

I did the oak leaf thing for awhile.It is quite neat to watch the bottom dwellers scrounge around in them and and hide under them.Dwarf cichlids such as apistos would feel very at home in a tank such as that.It does cause quite a mess however ,as the leaves fall apart they become impossible to remove intact.I used pin oak leaves and maple leaves that I boiled for 15 minute to toughen them up.It reduces ph quite a bit,a drop of at least a half point is normal and you may experience more depending on the original hardness of your water.Actual softening of the kh or gh did not occur for me.The best way I found to do this without so much mess was to keep a good amount of them ready to put in and only keep them in for about 2 wks at a shot,removing old and adding new.Its a cool affect,here is a pic pf my tank with them in.,
3rdincarnate.jpg
The water will become very much the color of light tea so if you dont enjoy that look ,dont do it.As for dwarf cory in a 29 if you are not stocked heavily at the moment there is no reason to not put 20 of the smallest type [hasbrosus] or 10-15 of the larger pygmy.The corys were expecially fond of the leaves btw.

**KINGMED** · 07-06-2009, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by smaug

I did the oak leaf thing for awhile.It is quite neat to watch the bottom dwellers scrounge around in them and and hide under them.Dwarf cichlids such as apistos would feel very at home in a tank such as that.It does cause quite a mess however ,as the leaves fall apart they become impossible to remove intact.I used pin oak leaves and maple leaves that I boiled for 15 minute to toughen them up.It reduces ph quite a bit,a drop of at least a half point is normal and you may experience more depending on the original hardness of your water.Actual softening of the kh or gh did not occur for me.The best way I found to do this without so much mess was to keep a good amount of them ready to put in and only keep them in for about 2 wks at a shot,removing old and adding new.Its a cool affect,here is a pic pf my tank with them in.,
3rdincarnate.jpg
The water will become very much the color of light tea so if you dont enjoy that look ,dont do it.As for dwarf cory in a 29 if you are not stocked heavily at the moment there is no reason to not put 20 of the smallest type [hasbrosus] or 10-15 of the larger pygmy.The corys were expecially fond of the leaves btw.

I notice you have an anglefish in there, do you have dwarf cory's in there also? If so does the anglefish bother them?