Recommend me some bottom feeders!

T

theFinn

AC Members
Dec 29, 2003
42
0
0
Edmonton, AB, Canada
www.thefinn.net
Greetings all. I just recently bought my first house and moved out of the little apparment I was living in. Suddenly I"ve got tons more space for a tank! So I rushed right out and picked up a 55 gallon. I had a 20 gallon housing my fish which included 2 Corys (unsure of exact species, they were sold as 'spotted corys' at the store). Sadly, the heater on the 20 malfunctioned and raised the temp to about 40C and killed off my Corys. Luckly my other fish survived but I had to rush them into the 55 before I could fully plan the tank and the inhabitants out...

So, here's the situation. I've got my 55 with:
2 Blue Dwarf Gourami
2 Honey Gourami
5 Danios (Spotted and Zebra)

I have a sand substrate and am going to add some river rocks, make some caves out of slate slabs, and put in some wood (probably fake wood if I can't find any real stuff that's stuitable) and fake plants.

So, based on my current fish and what I've got for decorations what would you guys recommend?
 
Me personally, I would add some cories like 5-6, i like them a lot, and they are really neat in schools, and/or a bamboo shrimp or 2, they are technically filter feeders, but mine like to pick the gravel also. Another thing that might be cool is a couple red claw crabs, just make sure they cant get out because they are major escape artists. And different from what most say, they can be completely submerged for the duration of their life, i have had one for over 2 years completely submerged and she is doing great!

FWIW
 
Ahh yes, but those crabs are supposed to eventually be in brackish water, regardless of what you have heard. And they are great at catching slower fish.

Cories would be great, but with all that added room why not look into the various loaches. Yoyos are a great choice ina school of 5-6. An even larger school of khulies would also be nice. Stay clear of clowns as they get to be 8-12 inches long and a group sof 5 or so would be far too much for your tank.
 
Another possibility would be to get 5 or so Brochis splendens. They're often called "Emerald Cories" even though they are not technically corydoras. They're greenish in color and get a bit bigger than regular cories, generally between 3.5-4". They're commonly sold in petstores in the cory tanks. I love mine - it's cool to see them in comparison to a little panda cory. Their behavior is identical to that of cories. If you were to go with regular cories, I'd have to cast my personal vote for pandas :cool:
 
I agree a group of cories or loaches would be really cool. Someone else was asking about upside down cats, a few of them would be fun to watch. I'm not sure if they would fill the bottom feeder slot you are looking for. I think they swim at all levels.

Frogs are pretty cool. So are plecos.

...so many fish, so few tanks....
 
Frogs are really cool....but don't make a good choice for a tank that large:)
 
botton feeders

4-5 panda cories with 3-4 botia straita, and a bristlenose pleco. The panda cories stay at the bottom and are out and about so cool. The pleco ( or at least mine) pretty much stays near the bottom, and the straita eat off the bottom but freely roam the bottom half of the tank. The straita and bristlenose are soooo funny to watch when fed the tetramin wafers. The bristlenose "sits" on it and the straita all try to get under him to grab it clicking like crazy. Most loaches, like cories need to be kept in groups.
 
TKOS said:
Ahh yes, but those crabs are supposed to eventually be in brackish water, regardless of what you have heard. And they are great at catching slower fish.
Click to expand...

Well maybe you need to tell my RCC that because she lived a full life at just over 2 years 8 months and never had brackish water ever, and she was always active and "normal". FWIW. Also mine never ate any of my fish and i have cories and such, but i do feed pretty vigorously.

My RCC is 5-6" across, quite large!!!





faf21147.jpg
 
my personal favorite bottom feeder would have to be pictus cats i have 2 in my 55g they r really cool and i have a cory with them and they all get along good
 
For that size tank, a nice mix would be about 5 or 6 yoyo loaches and 2 bristlenose plecos. My yoyo loaches are probably my favorite fish, always moving and full of personality. When I put my hand in the tank, they always come over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom