mibro

..but with the type of gravel i have from petco, I've been wondering if its alright for having barbs and corydoras? I feel like its too jagged and whatnot. or if I need to swich to eco lite or sand for my 29 gallon tank? Because I have also read they like plants. I'm all types of confused lol

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Nick G

Thats not a dumb question at all. I wouldn't think that it would affect the Barbs, but Corys actually are better of with either sand of smooth gravel. Big jagged gravel can damage their barbels when they're rooting around at the bottom,(which they spend most of the time doing!)

mibro

thanks! and thats what i love about the cories, they seem very playful from what I've seen however I might have to make due with just the barbs for now in that case

Nutter

There's no such thing as a dumb question. It's good that you are asking questions before you do the deed rather than after. It shows that you ae concerned for the well being of your fish & want to do the best for them that you can before you make any mistakes.

I would be concerned about the corys damaging thier barbels as well with that particular gravel. You could always just set aside a section of the tank with sand as the substrate for the corys if you want them or just pick a different substrate. The tiget barbs will be fine with that blue substrate or almost any other substrate you may choose.

You don't need a nutrient substrate to grow plants. Plants can do very well in just plain gravel or just sand. Sand is ok for plants but I would recommend going with gravel for those new to planted tanks as it is much easier to maintain. Sand requires more work & a better understanding of exactly what plants need. If you really like sand though, go for it. There's plenty of articles on how to look after a sand substrate & plenty of people here on Fishlore that will be willing to help with any problems you may encounter.

ilikefish

My corys live with very similar substrate in your photo. It didn't even dawn on me that this could affect their barbels and at petco they had the cory's in similar substate as well. From my experience with my corry's and the substrate they could care less... They don't dig they just skim the surface of the rocks. So in my opinion you'd be fine with that substrate but if others have different advice you should take it into consideration.

mibro

Wow i never knew that, I thought they needed all this special stuff but if I can have some live plants..I think that would look much much better and perhaps better for my fish also. Thanks for all the great advice everyone, I appreicate it!

Nutter

If you post the details of your set up in the plants section of the forum, including tank dimensions, filter type, type & strength of light as well as what fish you intend to keep there will be many people willing to help put you on the right track when it comes to plants. Getting plants growing well is almost as rewarding as having the fish happy & healthy IMO. The best part is that your fish will love having live plants & your aquarium will have that 'natural' feel about it.

Keep us informed on your progress & your problems. People will always be willing to help where they can & try to get some photos of your tank up in the photo section. People around here love tank & fish pics.

Meenu

I have the same gravel, and my cories do fine. All of the stuff I read says that you shouldn't go bigger than the regular fish store gravel, but that the gravel works okay. Some of the people here have suggested sand, but I prefer the gravel. Apparently, they dig into the sand and it's really cute.

eiginh

The reason why the corys do not dig in the jagged substrates b/c they're really sensitive about it. They don't want to hurt or cut their barbels hence the reason why they do not dig around your substrate. It's true you do not need special substrate to have live plants but it does help to have those types of substrate such as eco-complete. I have that in my 10g and my cories love it, it's both sand and rocky type of substrates and it doesn't hurt their barbels whats so ever. If you are putting plants in their make sure they are hardy and easy to anchor plants b/c barbs usually uproot plants.

Nutter

Eiginh - Your barbs uprooting your plants is easily avoided by removing the plants from thier pots, planting them in the substrate proper & surrounding thier bases with large river pebbles. That will stop your barbs being able to dig around the bases & they will anchor themselves better in the substrate than they will with the pots still on them.
It should be pointed out that your barbs are considerable larger & more destructive than the average barb is to!! Most barbs are under 10cm & plant friendly whereas yours get to over 12inches long & love chewing plants!!

Very good advice about why the corys don't dig about in the substrate from Eiginh. The fish know that they will likely get hurt so they don't do it.

Nutrient substrates are for those of us that want to have spectacular plant growth in heavily planted tanks. It depends on what the aquarist is after exactly but in 90% of cases using liquid ferts or substrate tabs will be fine. You can still have excellent growth with simpler maintainance. Besides you would be sticking substrate tabs in even with a nutrient substrate to keep it topped up with minerals & make it last longer.

eiginh

I did remove them from the pots and they still do it! LOL never again!!! Evil little minions!

Nutter

That's Tinfoils for you. I don't think I've come across anything more efficient at destroying planted tanks. I've even seen them tear the odd silk plant to pieces!!

hooxeii

Honestly I think it depends on the cory. My panda cory loves to dig in the substrate and so I have to make sure there's no jagged bits, but some cories prefer to skim the surface