Austin {Aquarist}

I have been wanting to get some cories for a while now and I have heard many contradicting things about what kinda of substrate they need. Recntly I got a 25 gallon tank and wondered if that was big enough for a few cories
maybe 4? I would also lke to keep a few other small fish in with them. Is there a substrate that would satisfy them and that would e easy to clean?

Barbrella

Corys prefer sand, but you can also use aquarium gravel as long as it's very smooth. Anything rough, jagged or sharp at all will damage their delicate barbels, leading to infection.

You could keep about 6 - 8 corys in your 25 gallon, if you want to put some small fish in as well. Do you mean something like a school of tetras? That would be nice.

Austin {Aquarist}

How many tetras is a school?

and have any recomendations for plants?

(I love live plants in my aquariums)

I was thinking amazon swords

sirdarksol

If you're looking for plants and cories I have two suggestions for substrate:
1) 50/50 Caribbean moon black sand and Fluorite. Put the fluorite down first, then the sand. The two will eventually mix a bit, but i like the effect. It looks kind of natural, but the black sand is still cool. Both products are a pain, and have to be rinsed well, but provide for very happy plants, in my experience.
2) Eco-Complete planted substrate. No rinsing, and still contains everything your plants need for their first year (at least). It's black, it's small (easy on catfish barbels), and our cories will love sifting through it for bits of food.

One thing that I do not yet know is how easy Eco-Complete is to vacuum. The sand/fluorite mix is surprisingly easy. I lose a little tiny bit to each water change, but not enough to make a dent, even.

Austin {Aquarist}

hey sirdarksol will 20 pounds be enough to cover the bottom of my 25 gallon aquarium?
and how deep should substrate ussually be?

sirdarksol

My answer is "Yes, that should be enough." I think most people who are really, really serious about planted tanks want 3-4 inches on the bottom of the tank, and I'm not sure that 20lbs will do this.
I go with less than standard depth for substrate, however, and have had decent luck with plants.

Austin {Aquarist}

do you recomend any plants that are semi big and would go wel in 25 gallon tank..

and when you say the "standard substrate level" what is it?

sirdarksol

That would be the 3-4 inches I referred to.

I like water wisteria, Java fern, Java moss, and anubias. I've also been learning to like crypts.
Check out plantgeek.net for listings of plants, which give difficulty of care as well as the light needed to keep the plants.

chickadee

I have heard it said that the general rule is one pound per gallon of tank size is the minimum of gravel or substrate. I used 25 pounds of gravel in my 25 deep and it was about 2 inches + but no where near 3 inches in depth. I have just started to get into real plants and it is enough for the unpotted plants but the potted plants are the pits to bury in this amount of gravel. I do not want to add more though so I just take the pots off and the stuff around the roots and try to make bare root plants out of them but it is hard.

I just did not want the extra weight as when I figured the 50# that the empty aquarium weighed (glass) and then the weight of the gravel (25#) and then the weight of the water (about 180#) it came to over 250# and I thought that was enough for my table to carry. Another 15# to 20# of gravel would just have freaked me out.

My plants are tall Sword plants and Crypts as they have the size and shape not to be dwarfed by the size of the tank and the fish I have love them for beds and just to swim through. They have narrow stems and broad leaves and this makes for fun fish traffic.


My plants are for the most part doing okay in the lesser amount of gravel and the fish seem to be doing okay too and it is much easier to keep clean than the larger amount.

Rose

sirdarksol

Any "pounds per gallon" guideline is only going to work for tanks of a certain size ratio. For example, I have a 40g hex that has a smaller "footprint" than most 20g tanks. So if I put 40 lbs of substrate in the hex, I might get 5" of substrate. The same in a 20g long might only produce 4" of substrate.

Austin {Aquarist}

How many would be good for a school of tetras?
And are Neon Tetras Good?