Corys and gravel type

After allllll of the reading I've done about corys, and after deciding they were a good fit for my tank, and after adding some to my tank, I just today came across an article that says irregularly-shaped or rough-type substrate is not recommended for corys. And that's what I have (the Eco-Complete dark substrate that looks like little pieces of black lava rock).

Is this going to be a problem?

 

The problem is that the rough substrate can wear down the cory's barbels. I have a sand substrate in my tank and all of my corys' barbels are normal. However, when I recently bought another one from a pet store and rescued another from a friend, I noticed that their barbels were worn down considerably. They seem to be coming back now though that they are in my sand substrate. The two corys didn't come from too rough of a substrate, just normal gravel, but the damage was still done.

 

Mine are in gravel and the barbels are very small I will be switching to sand very soon like in a week.

 

Same story here, I'm afraid. Had them on 1/4", relatively smooth, pea gravel. Barbels were worn. Moved all seven into a 55 with PFS a few weeks ago and they all seem to be growing them out now.

 

: ( my plan isn't for a substrate change. Should I return them to the store?

 

I swapped my pea-sized gravel out for PFS last night, and the one Panda (barbels missing) that would sit by him/herself with a slightly pale color is still pale and solo, but the rest are loving the new substrate. They spend more time on the bottom now sifting and such.

I've been doing 50% daily water changes for the last week now hoping for the best. The fact that one of them lost their barbels motivated me to switch it out.

 

: ( my plan isn't for a substrate change. Should I return them to the store?

You could get fine gravel. In my Oscar tank I have large smooth pebbles that seem pretty smooth. I personally think the cories won't dig in the gravel as much after they learn. If you give them shrimp pellets they won't have to dig but if they eat un eaten flaked food they will dig through the gravel.

 

So I have this Eco-complete in there, with a BUNCH of plants. Could I just remove a bunch of the gravel from the open areas and cover with smoother rock? I'm not sure that I'd be providing a totally abrasion-free environment though.

I wasn't into corys at first, until I watched a youtube video and fell in love with them. I'm so sad- I had no idea that I don't have a good environment for them!

 

So I have this Eco-complete in there, with a BUNCH of plants. Could I just remove a bunch of the gravel from the open areas and cover with smoother rock? I'm not sure that I'd be providing a totally abrasion-free environment though.

I wasn't into corys at first, until I watched a youtube video and fell in love with them. I'm so sad- I had no idea that I don't have a good environment for them!

I feel that the gravel doesn't bother as much as you think. Yes they like sand but if gravel was really bad from them I feel like they would seem a lot more stressed out and mine are nothing but stressed. Its your call, personally I think smoother rocks would be good

 

just to hijack a little, but how fine does the sand need to be for corys? I got pool filter sand that's 16/30 grade what ever that means and some play sand that very fine but I don't like it cuz its too fine.

 

Pool filter sand is perfectly fine with Cory's. Go for it.

 

HI all. I'm looking into getting a few cory cats for my 26 gallon aquarium. However, I also have regular black aquarium gravel and am worried it's too sharp for the cories I'd like to get. I do like the black sand but am not sure about its cleaning requirements. For instance, I don't have a pool filter but have a regular gravel vac - will that work? Does anyone have experience with mixing sand and gravel? Thanks for the input!

 

I also am always wondering about this
I have 3 corys and 2 emerald cats
The emerald cats have long barbels, while the corys are short

I have standard aquarium gravel, no sharp edges. Guys at the LFS say it is fine and they have their home tanks all with gravel and never have any issues with their corys

I also hear both sides of the story and just do not know what to believe

I think my corys are happy...at least they seem to be..they always rummage around looking for food

I just wish I knew if gravel was ok for Corys

 

I ended up giving my corys back to the LFS after I lost 2 of them. The 2 that died had eroded barbels and the 2 living had shortened barbels, so I determined that my particular gravel was not good for them.

 

I would recommend you do the sand when you have Cory's. Like most of you I used to have gravel in my tank. I noticed one of my albinos was missing a barbel, not sure if he was born like that but since I changed to sand the Cory's in my tank have been happy. They even dig around in there.

It's not as hard as it looks but it does take time to do.

 

My cory's also had worn barbells on regular aquarium gravel. Switched to sand and now all their barbells are nice and long. As stated above, they love to rummage around in the sand.

 

Experimenting with both I buy into the side that chooses sand over gravel. Their barbels shortened and fins were also a bit worse for wear. I'm thinking it was the rock gravel.

I've read some well-written opinion articles that claim it doesn't matter, but I go with sand always.

 

Thanks for the info. I'd like to stick with black sand. People have given good reviews for the CaribSea Black Tahitian Moon sand but it's $25 for 20 lbs... that seems a little pricey to me but maybe there's something about it that makes it worth that. Anyone try this or another black sand?

 

PetCo's black sand is still in my 20G...but no bottom dwellers there. It's pretty fine black sand.

 

PetCo's black sand is still in my 20G...but no bottom dwellers there. It's pretty fine black sand.

Same here, I have corys in it and they are doing well with it.

 

I've never did the black sand. I opted for pool filter sand. 50 Lbs for $15.00. I think it looks more natural and brings the color out better than the dark stuff.

But that's my opinion.

 

I have cories with Tahitian moon sand. They've been in my tank about a week so far and seem fine.

TMS has "sparklies" in it which may account for the extra cost.