Dyed gravel bad for bottom dwellers?

I put white gravel from Petco in my new 29 gallon tank.

The tank is cycled, and the 3 swordtails and 2 platys are healthy, and I think, happy.

I am considering cory cats, but a long-time fish store owner said their whiskers will burn off unless I start over and put in natural gravel. And said he would never sell me a frog, on principle.

Have I set my fate against bottom fish by grabbing what I thought of as harmless gravel? (I don't want to start over.)


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PupukahI I holomua.

 

I have 3 five year old cories who have always lived on blue gravel. The only cory I lost from my current tank I had for almost 9 years--it probably wasn't the gravel.

I'm no where near an expert, but I think you should be okay with your current substrate.

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Originally I has petco blue gravel and experienced barbell loss on my cory cats. To be fair, this could have been from overfeeding early on resulting in a very dirty substrate. Since, I have changed to sand and the cory cats barbells are longer and fuller than ever. This also could just be a result of sand being very easy to keep clean because waste pretty much sits on top.

 

Originally I has petco blue gravel and experienced barbell loss on my cory cats. To be fair, this could have been from overfeeding early on resulting in a very dirty substrate. Since, I have changed to sand and the cory cats barbells are longer and fuller than ever. This also could just be a result of sand being very easy to keep clean because waste pretty much sits on top.

I would think it was more likely due to the size of the substrate. Gravel can break the barbels off, while same is smoother and finer and doesn't damage the barbels. I had a pictus cat on gravel and his barbels broke off.

 

I would think it was more likely due to the size of the substrate. Gravel can break the barbels off, while same is smoother and finer and doesn't damage the barbels. I had a pictus cat on gravel and his barbels broke off.

That's a very good point. When I had originally purchased the gravel I thought it would work out fine as it was the colored gravel that almost looks painted, very smooth. The gravel itself was probably 1/4" or more in size so its very possible it was just too large.

 

That's a very good point. When I had originally purchased the gravel I thought it would work out fine as it was the colored gravel that almost looks painted, very smooth. The gravel itself was probably 1/4" or more in size so its very possible it was just too large.

Mine was about the same size. (By the way, that "same" in my last post was supposed to be "sand"..darn autocorrect.)