Fish tank expert advice please?

In a 5 gallon a Betta fish only .

Neon Tetras should be in 20 gallons plus

Your Cory’s need to be in 20 gallons plus.

A 5 gallon is a very small tank and it is very,very hard to keep stable water conditions, and stable temperature.

Neons are very sensitive fish and a fully cycled 20 gallon is the smallest the should be in. Cories and any fish with barbles require very clean stable water with sand or very smooth natural type gravel. These fish dig all the time, the barbles can get scraped right off, but also, slime coating “fish immune system” gets rubbed of there facial area, and since these fish are living in the dirtiest part of the tank, problems can come up. I use smooth natural type gravel with my loaches for many years, I also use stresscoat with every water change, and they have never had any fin barble or eye or facial or any other kind damage

Just because you can see some water between the fish doesn’t mean they have enough room!

A 5g is a tiny tiny tank, really best for a single Betta only.

The fish you have at the moment really need more like a 20 gallon.

Corydoras are prone to bacterial infections in their barbels if they’re not kept on very very fine gravel or sand, if they’re on chunky gravel they’ll lose their barbels. They really NEED sand to keep their barbels clean and healthy.

Sorry but you need 20 gallon for that amount of fish. The catfish was stressed from the small tank size. Get a bigger filtered tank ASAP. It’s good that you treated the catfish straight away, but you may be doing this a lot, and sometimes, not successfully if they are continued to be kept in such a small tank. Sorry.

Source(s): Kept fish for 8 years.

Oh dear. You may need to target feed the cory with the lost barbels. They may or may not come back. Usually one dies before that because they need them to find food. Gravel substrate and sharp or lumpy decorations do this. They need sand substrate. Unfortunately if he lost all of them, chances are they will not come back and he may die, barbel erosion is one of the biggest killers of cories, unfortunately. The wrong type of substrate and rough decorations also can cause them injury on their bellies and sides. Armored or no, if they hit hard surfaces enough, it will cause both inner and outer damage, usually internal damage is the most common because they slam back to the ground after getting air.

Now then, your tank is WAY too small for anything other than a single male betta. The toxin build-up will be immense and fast with that many fish in there even if you have super filtering and cleaning, which is just as bad as filth. They type of fish you have need a twenty gallon tank to house proper groups, a thirty gallon being much better and more preferable to the fish. Aside from your “Mini neon fish” which gives me nothing as to what they are, that’s what your other group needs.

Cories must be kept in groups of five+ to be happy and feel secure. They will get stressed and depressed, and have even been known to injure themselves, which may have been the cause of his barbels falling off, erosion takes a while. Dwarf cories can go in a five gallon tank in a group of five and be fine, but that’d be it on stocking. Julii cories, while small, are still too much for that tank unless they are all by themselves, and that’s still pushing it.

For neon tetras, they are fairly small fish, but they are active! They are A LOT more dleicate than people say they are. They’re fairly skiddish as well, and not a beginners fish contrary to what others have said. They need proper water parameters and people that know little about it will have a fine time getting them there! They need to be in a group of 5+ and have a minimum tank size of fifteen gallons per proper group of five alone. They also require different water parameters from your type of cories. Tetras can handle that kind of water for a short time, they need softer acidic water and Julii’s and many other types need it harder. There are a couple that can handle and even like softer water. Neons can live for ten years or so if kept properly, but most die before the age of three in water that is too hard. From seemingly nothing, but it’s actually kidney problems and calcium deposits in the organs from harder water that causes their seemingly from nothing demise.

Melafix with cories is bad. Cories are Labyrinth fish and if you put more than half the required dosage in, and even then, it can be dangerous. Melafix will coat their labyrinth organ and can suffocate them. They’re air breathers like betta and gourami’s. I would suggest other antibiotics for them, but the problem he has is clear: You have too many fish in too small of a space.

Unfortunately they will not last long and will all probably die within the year if not within a few weeks, and having owned a five gallon tank, I can tell you that there is absolutely no way that it “Looks” like they have plenty of room, that tank is stuffed to the gunnels. You should return your fish until you can get a larger, and properly cycled tank. =)

Sorry to come off harsh! But when you’re going to buy pets, you should research everything they need, and what the tanks parameters and size needs to be first, and never, ever listen to pet shop workers. They will tell you something like one inch of fish per gallon, which is completely wrong, nobody would put a ten inch fish in a ten gallon tank. ^^; You should find some nice sites online or get some beginner books for fish care. That will help you and tell you what to do when you hit a problem.

Source(s): Had many kinds of fish for about twenty years, but now I mostly keep cories, tetras, gourami’s, betta and livebearers.

Yes your tank is wayy overstocked. Rule of thumb when thinking of adding fish to your aquarium is the “One Inch Per Gallon Rule”. Every inch your fish is, that’s one gallon. So if you had 2 fish at 3 inches a piece that’s going to be 6 gallons… You did not include the measurements of your fish in your questions but I work at a pet store in the fish department so I can tell you from my own knowledge… the Neon Tetras are about 1.2 inches overall length, so we’ll round it up to 1.5. So that’s 7.5 inches… and you’ve got 5 so they will need 8 gallons.

The “5 little mini neon fish” are called GloFish and they’re genetically altered freshwater (Danio rerio). Scientists inject a fluorescent protein gene to the embryo before the fish hatches. And obviously those are about an inch each. So you’ve got of them so – 5 gallons…

Julii Catfish need to be in groups or “shoals” of four or more of the same species as they like to swim in schools and stay together mostly all the time. But for now, one catfish is about on average, 2.5 inches. And you’ve got 3! That’s 7.5 inches so that would be roughly 8 gallons.

So your best bet is to get 20 gallon tank. Add no more fish! Your fish are not happy and are most likely hiding because they’re nervous or insecure.

Best of luck! Take good care of your little buddies!

Here is a link for a 20 gallon tank just so you can see the price range:

http://www.bing.com/shopping/all-glass-aquarium-20…

Source(s): Pet Store Associate

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