Which sand for corys?
- Thread starter emmz
- Start date
Ive just visited my local aquaria and asked for sand for the corys...his reply was that they dont need sand, they prefer gravel because they can root around in it. I said that Id been advised to get sand and that gravel may in fact hurt them. He was quite blase about it and then explained that they were his favourite fish. He didnt sell me the sand in the end and I left feeling a bit unsure.
What do you think?
Id go with your suggestions rather than his, to be honest.
What do you think?
Id go with your suggestions rather than his, to be honest.
Corys do well on sand or gravel, mostly you need to make sure their substrate doesn't have sharp edges so they don't injure their barbels.
Most gravels are rounded, some sands are sharp edged.
My LFS has a display tank that's held the same five cory for about three years now. It's substrate is a medium sized gravel, none of the corys show any sign of deterioration of their barbels.
After watching my corys deal with my larger gravel, my next tank will
have a finer gravel (which will be better for my plants anyways), and I'll be putting in a sort of sand "playbox" just for the fun of it, notbecause it's needed.
Most gravels are rounded, some sands are sharp edged.
My LFS has a display tank that's held the same five cory for about three years now. It's substrate is a medium sized gravel, none of the corys show any sign of deterioration of their barbels.
After watching my corys deal with my larger gravel, my next tank will
have a finer gravel (which will be better for my plants anyways), and I'll be putting in a sort of sand "playbox" just for the fun of it, notbecause it's needed.
I've kept cories on gravel for years with zero problems. The next tank I set up will have pool filter sand for substrate — not because it needs to, but because I like the look. If you prefer the look of gravel, keep it.
Corys do well in either. Like was said, just be sure the gravel doesn't have sharp edges (most don't) and you'll be ok. An all sand substrate is plain & ugly IMO. Plus its a bit harder to clean up.
My 7.5 is getting a little "sand box" area soon since Ill be adding a couple corys. They do like to root around.
My 7.5 is getting a little "sand box" area soon since Ill be adding a couple corys. They do like to root around.
I have the regular sized gravel in one of my tanks and a mix of regular and fine gravel in my other. The peppers don't have problems with the large gravel at all, but the bronze really love rooting around in the fine gravel - they'll bury their whole heads sometimes digging for a morsel of something.
My cories have been in pea stone for over a year with no problems and it is quite a rough stone. They still get their heads dug in. Pick the substrate that you like, your cories will manage fine.
My cories have been in a laterite/black tahitian sand mix for a year or so. They snuffle around on the bottom all day and seem to enjoy the sand much more than the old gravel I started out with. That and I suppose the sand is closer to their natural environs than a gravel bed. They are rather hardy fish, so I think it would be up to what you feel best with. I only swapped to sand because I tossed the plastic plants and went with live plants and moss.
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