Bottom Feeder Floor Space Requirements

[ticklemepunk473]

So here is the deal, I just planted my tank very heavily and there is not a lot of floor space left. I was wondering what kind of bottom feeders I could keep who would be happy with a very small amount of open floorspace but plenty of places to hide! The tank is a 20 gallon standard with 6 Harlequin Rasboras and a whole load of plants! I guess if there arent any fish I can keep I will throw in more snails and some ghost shrimp....

 

[DeputyChiefJR]

I don't think many would mind a floor like that

 

[ticklemepunk473]

ok excellent I just thought if I wanted say some coryadoras or something they would want a bit of room to swim about and do some laps. :dive2:

 

[DeputyChiefJR]

Nah, they'd probably just plop down onto the plants

 

[Wishful]

I have a very heavily planted 20 gal and my three corys split their time about 70/30 between the planted areas and the small front open area. Two of them, in particular, will spend a good hour at a time searching their way thru my tallest plants looking top to bottom for food trapped in the finer leaves. When I put in a couple anubis nana in their favorite resting spot, they immediately started resting under the leaves--and after a week, on the leaves as well.
It probably helps in my tank that I don't overly crowd the plants, I open up all stem bunches and plant them individually, and I leave a small strip of open space behind any hardscape piece so I have room to work around it.