cories & pea gravel

[hle_81]

Is pea gravel from home depot/lowes safe for cories?

 

[jpappy789]

I have never used that specific gravel but try feeling around some different edges. Is it sharp to the touch? If so than it is definitely not safe to use with cories.

Someone esle might actually have some experience mixing that gravel with cories though so wait for some more suggestions beofre making a decision

 

[jm1212]

i havent used gravel from lowes or home depot, but the pea-sized gravel that i have in my 20 gallon has not caused any problems with my shwartz's corydoras.

 

[kj5kb]

I've had good luck with the "all-purpose " gravel from Home Depot; usually next to the bags of concrete, not in the garden area. It's usually river gravel, well rounded and nicely colored. It does need WELL rinsed tho; it looks dirty brown in the bag but comes out great once rinsed (and rinsed again). I have it in 2 tanks with corys and 1 with BN plecos, no problems.

To me, it looks WAY better than any "aquarium gravel" I've ever used...and way cheaper.

This is a close-up, it's about pea gravel size.

 

[Reddog80p]

cool colors. Is it hard to vaccum? Does it scratch your glass?

 

[fishorama]

IMO smaller rounded gravel or sand is better for corys than pea-sized. Waste & food fall between the stones making more heavy, dirty work for the cats to feed. The smaller the corys, the more difficult. I have habrosus, only about the size of 2 or 3 peas, I can't imagine keeping them on pea gravel. The bigger the pieces, the deeper the spaces, on sand all is on top.

I really like the look of kj5kb's gravel, but it sounds too big for me. The kind of gravel & sand will vary by regions, they get it fairly local.

 

[RedScare]

I bought some of the pea gravel from Home Depot and it failed the "Fizz Test."

 

[clayt101]

I use pea gravel from Home Depot. When I kept cories, they never had really long whiskers. I am not sure if this was due to the gravel or not.

 

[kuhliloach]

if you thoroughly wash it well i would think so.

 

[kj5kb]

cool colors. Is it hard to vaccum? Does it scratch your glass?

it's pretty smooth, easy to vac. no scratching noted on glass tank. I am careful when vac'ing next to the glass...

I imagine it does vary regionally...I would think that gravel suitable for making concrete would be more-or-less consistent size/texture-wise, tho...maybe not color...

I looked around the pile til i found a bag that was broken, grabbed a small handful, and rinsed it off (in their fountain :eek3 to see what it looked like before I bought a bag.

I do have RUGFs in those tanks; I'm sure it helps keep the crud toward the surface.

another thing I've used for non-RUGF tanks is "all-purpose" sand, which is unscreened coarse sand, screen it thru aluminum window screen, and use what's left on the screen. the fine stuff then gets added to the garden