Stacie H.

I'm interested in getting some bottom feeders for my tank. I have a 36 gallon tank with 2 platys, on rubbermouth pleco, and various tetras (9 neons, 4 rosy, and 5 flame).

I'm interested in some bottom feeders to help with the food/mess that has fallen to the bottom of the tank. I only give them one small pinch each morning, but I think my filter (bio wheel rated for a 50 gal tank) may be sending a lot of the food to the bottom.

Will corys work as bottom feeders? The pleco is working okay, but not really doing the job. My substrate is standard sized gravel and river stones, not the sandy substrate that I understand corys need.

Any suggestions? I have also been reading tonight that some folks only feed their fish every other day, rather than every day. I think I'll try that as well.

Attached Images

Tetra tank 1.JPG (61.5 KB, 87 views)

Janmitch22

Skadunkadunk

you can get another pleco, snails, or shrimp.

newbie101

nice tank! I have that same treasure chest

Jason

Feed the fish every day as you have fairly small fish which require to be fed more often as they have faster metabolisms. I reckon 2 times a day would be fine

Gunnie

Corys would work just fine. They would bring a lot of activity to the bottom of your tank.

vin

I second the recommendation of some corys....Great little fish with personality.

atmmachine816

Yes but won't there lifespan be shortened since the gravel will wear their barbels down or is that ok?

I say tons of ghost shrimp, they are so much fun to watch, I recently got 10, probably will get 10 more soon.

0morrokh

Neither Cories or Ghosties will probably eat junk off the bottom--they need their own sinking food, not just the remains of what the other fish got 2 days ago..."bottom feeder" just means they take food from the bottom, not that they will clean up the mess. That has to be done by hand with gravel vacuums. But bottom feeders add a great element to the tank as they create movement on the bottom. Cories or loaches--be careful what loaches you get if you do, some are coldwater and some get huge--are what I would recommend.

Cutting down on food will not take care of the mess. The majority of fish need feeding twice a day--although some people including myself skip one day of the week just to make sure the fish aren't being overfed. When you feed the fish, stick around and watch. Feed them a couple flakes at a time until they have eaten all they can in 2-5 minutes (my Guppies and Platys would get too fat if I fed them for more than 2 min, but with how many fish you have I would guess it would take around 5 min for the fish to all get fed enough.). If any food should go uneaten, it needs to be removed immediately with a net.

A little off the subject, you should get at least 2 more Rosy Tetras and 1 more Flame Tetra, since they feel much more happy and secure in a shoal of 6+. I bet that shoal of Neons looks awesome!

atmmachine816

It depends on what you view as "junk". If you view junk as just non-eaten food then yes cories will do the job, if you view junk as everything that makes it look bad then yes the only thing that will get rid of it is you gravel vacuuming it. Cories can do fine on just flake food as long as you feed enough so that you purposely have left over flake food that falls to the bottom just for them.

0morrokh

Yes they will take flakes that the other fish miss, by "junk" I mean the bits of rotting food and poop and pieces of plant leaves that accumulate on the bottom.

atmmachine816

Ya that's what I thought you meant, in that case you are the best option, phsyical work it such a pain, not with fish though.

mistycheri

I personally recommend cory's. I have three panda cory's that are adorable, also several speckled cory's. They are constantly moving all over the tank searching for food that the other fish have missed. They even clean the leaves on the live plants I have in there. They look like bee's hanging on the leaves. They do a great job cleaning up food that the other fish miss. And they look sooo cute swimming around.

Shorty

I recommend corys too, i have 3 peppered corys, and they are adorable, if you look at them just right it looks like they are winking at you

vin

The majority of what cories and other bottom feeders eat is whatever falls to the bottom....This is what Catfish do.....In addition to this you must supplement them with a staple of some sort. I use shrimp pellets.....Also, fish will not starve if you skip a day or feed them only once a day.....With the exception of the fry, I feed my fish once daily. They are healthy and it keeps them active. Fish in captivity need stimulation and one way to accomplish this is to feed them sparingly so they have to 'hunt' or work for the food. It's important to remember that if these fish were in the wild there would be times where they would eat only once per day if at all. Sometimes they will not eat for a day or more if the food source were limited or unavailable......

LOULOU

i have catfish, clown loaches, plecos and 3 small snails, they all do a grand job of cleaning away leftovers, but as someone here has said to me if you dont overfeed your fish there shouldnt be much waste, unfortunately yhats where i go wrong sometimes, hehe hence the various cleaners i have.

0morrokh

Of course fish won't starve if only fed once a day...but frequent, smaller feedings are more natural--it is more like what they would do in the wild, eating little bits of food whenever they find some, not just eating a bunch all at once. It is the same for most pets. Anyway it's fun to watch them eat

vin

I don't want to get into the behavior of animals and fish. I'll just leave it at - animals in the wild often do not have the fortune of eating several small feedings per day.......which is why they have to hunt for food.......it's the same with fish......We've becomed conditioned to follow what labels and directions say for the sake of the pet food industry making more money off of the pet owner and creating unhealthy, overweight pets.