HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello all! It's me (again). Recently, I managed to acquire a ten-gallon tank at a yard sale, complete with unused filter, aquarium hood (with lights), unopened fish food, and unopened water conditioner. All for a grand total of two dollars The tank is definitely used, (I don't understand exactly what's going on with all the supplies???) but I'm not complaining! I was originally planning on adding it to my crab tank before deciding against it. I did a bit of research and have decided to get a betta instead. I have my heart set on a few panda cories as well but had a few questions... I've heard conflicting stuff about Cory Catfish. I DEFINATELY don't want to overstock, but I also don't want my cories to be lonely. Some sites say that you can only keep two cories and they will be fine, and others say you need at least six. I was thinking two to avoid stressing the beta, and to avoid over stocking, but now i'm second guessing that that would be ok... Any opinions? If I do need more, is it still okay to keep them in my ten gallon with a betta? I've heard dif stuff about that two...

Sorry if that's a confusing question

Edit: If there is another species of Corydoras that would be ok in my conditions I'm open to that too

Hermiecrab wrote:Hello all! It's me (again). Recently, I managed to acquire a ten-gallon tank at a yard sale, complete with unused filter, aquarium hood (with lights), unopened fish food, and unopened water conditioner. All for a grand total of two dollars The tank is definitely used, (I don't understand exactly what's going on with all the supplies???) but I'm not complaining! I was originally planning on adding it to my crab tank before deciding against it. I did a bit of research and have decided to get a betta instead. I have my heart set on a few panda cories as well but had a few questions... I've heard conflicting stuff about Cory Catfish. I DEFINATELY don't want to overstock, but I also don't want my cories to be lonely. Some sites say that you can only keep two cories and they will be fine, and others say you need at least six. I was thinking two to avoid stressing the beta, and to avoid over stocking, but now i'm second guessing that that would be ok... Any opinions? If I do need more, is it still okay to keep them in my ten gallon with a betta? I've heard dif stuff about that two...

Sorry if that's a confusing question

Edit: If there is another species of Corydoras that would be ok in my conditions I'm open to that too

Hi!

Congrats on the great bargain!
I've been fish keeping for many years, but I'm always learning something new! When I had spotted corydoras and Adolfo's corydoras, I always kept them in groups of 2-4. They seemed to be happy and active. My Adolfo's lived 10+ years with all different tank mates, including male or female bettas and goldfish (I know goldfish are supposed to be kept separate in cooler waters, but my goldfish have always seemed just fine with the tropicals in slightly warmer water. I had my late goldfish Monet for over 9 years when he passed). My current 4 rescue goldies live with a 13 year old upside down catfish and a 13 year old striped Rafael Catfish. Once the tropical guys pass, I don't plan on getting anymore tho. I just want to dedicate the tank to the goldies since they are getting so big.
When my one Adolfo's cory passed, the one left became very attached to my rescue goldy Poseidon. They'd hang with each other all day. I'll search thru my phone and see if I can find a pic of them together for you.
I'd say you could keep 2-3 small corys in a 10 gal with a single male Betta or a couple of females. I LOVE female bettas. At one point, I had 9 of them together. I named them all makeup brand names like CoverGirl, Maybelline, etc lol. I always had those fake floating aquarium safe logs when I had Bettas. Since Bettas take gulps of air in from the surface, they loved hanging in the logs on top where they had easy access to the surface. Personally, I never had a problem with Bettas picking on their tank mates as long as everyone had enough food and room.
I always made sure to offer sinking foods for the corys, like algae and shrimp wafers and shrimp pellets since they are bottom feeders.


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WOW! That is a beautiful goldfish and an ADORABLE cory. Female bettas are definitely beautiful! It's amazing that you had so many! Thanks SO MUCH. that helps a lot.

Also does any one else share my love for Black orchid, Paradise, and Copper betas Every time I see them my brain goes into admiration mode

Aw thanks! Poseidon (the Goldie) was a rescue in 2017 from someone keeping him in a dirty 5 gal tank in their basement. They were moving and didn't want to take him with them. I got my other 3 goldies in 2020. They were crammed into a 10 gal tank with 2 other goldfish. I wish I could have taken all 5 but didn't have the room. I think that lady eventually found homes for the other 2 tho.
Yw! Glad I could help a bit! Let me know when you get everything set up. Would love to see pics!

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Honestly, the larger species of cories do best in a 20g long so there's enough room for a suitable sized group and enough floorspace to move around.

Depending on the betta, some may tolerate some pygmy cories (I reccomend C. habrosus, which behave like the 'regular sized' species) and a 10g could handle a small group on a sand substrate with an increased maintenance regime.

Okay, thanks for the advice! I'll for sure look into the pygmy cories.

I would also caution to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. It's probably just my luck, because no one else ever seems to deal with this, but my bettas over the years have all been super aggressive and more than one has murdered corys and other types of supposedly suitable tankmates . Also had a few bettas choke to death by attempting to eat tankmates that I didn't think would fit in their mouths. They're interesting fish. I still have two.

wodesorel wrote:I would also caution to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. It's probably just my luck, because no one else ever seems to deal with this, but my bettas over the years have all been super aggressive and more than one has murdered corys and other types of supposedly suitable tankmates . Also had a few bettas choke to death by attempting to eat tankmates that I didn't think would fit in their mouths. They're interesting fish. I still have two.

Oh no! I must have been lucky with my males. I never saw them try to eat anyone else thank goodness.

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Oh gosh! I'll for sure have a backup plan ready!

I've heard that putting bettas into an already established tank can help though, so I might do that.