In my 46 gallon I have 3 bronze cories - substrate is aquarium gravel. Nothing fancy. No issues, and I've had them for somewhere around 4 years I think.
In the 75 gallon I have a dozen Julii cories - substrate is pool filter sand. I like this MUCH better than the gravel, but that is really just a matter of taste and the fact that I think the sand is prettier.
I'll also say that I've had play sand before and HATED it. It compacted too much and just didn't look nice. The grains were way too small. The pool filter sand has bigger grains and I think it looks a lot nicer, plus it seems to stay cleaner. But again, this is really just an aesthetics thing.
In fact the only cory injury I've had happened in the 75 gallon, but that was because one of them got too close to the little hole I drilled in the intake tube for my eheim, and got one of his barbels sucked into it. I don't know how long he was stuck there. I got him loose and moved him to the QT tank, but it was too much trauma and he died.
Bummed me out big time.
Anyhow, I really think they'll be ok with anything that isn't real sharp. I plan to eventually change my 46 gallon over to pool filter sand, but it's just too much of a pain in the butt to do it at the moment with all the other things I've got going on. I only want to change it because I think it will look nicer and I like the ease of cleaning (no crap gets stuck down in the sand like it does in the gravel).
In the 75 gallon I have a dozen Julii cories - substrate is pool filter sand. I like this MUCH better than the gravel, but that is really just a matter of taste and the fact that I think the sand is prettier.
I'll also say that I've had play sand before and HATED it. It compacted too much and just didn't look nice. The grains were way too small. The pool filter sand has bigger grains and I think it looks a lot nicer, plus it seems to stay cleaner. But again, this is really just an aesthetics thing.
In fact the only cory injury I've had happened in the 75 gallon, but that was because one of them got too close to the little hole I drilled in the intake tube for my eheim, and got one of his barbels sucked into it. I don't know how long he was stuck there. I got him loose and moved him to the QT tank, but it was too much trauma and he died.
Bummed me out big time.Anyhow, I really think they'll be ok with anything that isn't real sharp. I plan to eventually change my 46 gallon over to pool filter sand, but it's just too much of a pain in the butt to do it at the moment with all the other things I've got going on. I only want to change it because I think it will look nicer and I like the ease of cleaning (no crap gets stuck down in the sand like it does in the gravel).
