Panda Cory question

Question
QUESTION: I am in the process of cycling a new 10 gallon fish tank.  I've never gone below a 20 gallon before so I have some stocking questions.  I recently found the cutest juvenile panda cory catfish and would like to get one as my starter fish.  I will be using fish water out of and existing tank to start with (African Cichlid tank, I would change the ph). Or should I start with fresh water?  Is it possible to put several pandas in with 5 glowlite zebra danios?  Do you still start out with just one fish, or buy all the catfish together?  Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Amber,
Panda Cories are too adorable. But unfortunately they aren't hardy enough to be cycling fish. The glowlight Zebra danios would be hardy enough definitely.

An ideal situation would be if you bought a medium-size sponge filter from your pet-store. (They are the big sponges with the airpumps driving bubbles up the center tube) and ran this filter in your current african cichlid tank for several weeks. The sponge will quickly be colonized by beneficial bacteria and after say maybe 3-4 weeks all you gotta do is put the sponge filter in your 10 gallon the same time you add a small group of fish. Due to the huge surface area on the sponge enough bacteria should be established to take on a small group of fish right away. Sometimes the addition of an established sponge filter eliminates cycling all together and creates an "instant cycled tank".

Taking water from an established tank doesn't really help much and even if you take some of the substrate out of an established tank, while it will help a little, there still won't be enough bacteria on it to handle a big fish load. Sponge filters are by far the best. And I'd just fill up your tank with complete freshwater (with dechlorinator of course!)

Several Pandas with five Glowlight Danios sounds like a perfect combination. Two interesting types of fish and at just the right number.

You could do a very slow gradual stocking with just two baby panda cories, but you must be VERY careful as you know about the danger of rising ammonia levels. But it is possible to gradually cycle with sensitive fish.  The process must be slow and you should test your water everyday for ammonia/nitrites. A large 50% water change is in order at a buildup in ammonia.

Or simply use the Danios to cycle, they usually are quite hardy. You could probably add all five, they are small and don't produce a lot of waste. Be just try to test your water if possible or do daily 30% water changes just as a precaution or at any signs of stress.

When your water tests out ZERO ammonia and ZERO nitrites, you could add the cories. I would add them all at once. I can bet they are quite small and won't be too much at once on your system. Just test that water!

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Okay unfortunately the closest actual "pet store" is 45 minutes away so that leaves out the option of the sponge filter. (darn).  I think I will start with the zebras.  Checking the water on a daily basis won't be a problem, I do regular water checks already.  

The little pandas are about the size of my thumb nail and are the cutest things I've seen in a while.  Hopefully they will still be around in 6 weeks.   

While thinking about the glolites, I was wondering if 6 would be too many?  Two of each color.  How many cory's would be several? 2 or three?  Sorry for the silly questions, I just get very attached to my fish and don't want anything to happen to them.

Answer
Hi,
I am worried the cories might not be around for 6 weeks. :( Since they are so tiny (didn't know they were that small!), I wonder if getting 3 wouldn't be too much of a problem. Honestly, since you are so good with testing the water I would say no. Also, if there is some way you could put some filter material from the cichlid tank into the 10-gallon's filter and some of the substrate out of the cichlid tank into the the 10 gallon would also likely help a lot. Still, I'd keep up with the water changes and daily testing. I don't know if Panda cories are in constant supply around your area, around here they aren't and its bad to miss out on them! You could try asking your store too if you are going to stock panda cories regularly.

Six glowlight danios would likely be fine. But I'd probably add only 3 in the beginning to actually cycle your tank. Then add the others later.

I hope this helps and there's no such thing as silly questions! ;-)
Karen~