Substrate with Corydoras?

Hi, I am setting up a new tank, 35 gallon. I'm going to have a school of corydoras and a school of cherry barbs with live plants. I've done some research and I think I'm going to go with Seachem Flourite Black Clay Gravel for the substrate because it never needs to be replaced. (That seems like a huge plus and worth the extra money up front.) I know that corydoras need sand to sift through so my question is whether I can put a layer of the Seachem gravel down and then layer on top with sand?

Or does anyone else have a great substrate set-up that is corydoras friendly that they would recommend?

Thanks!

 

Hi, I am setting up a new tank, 35 gallon. I'm going to have a school of corydoras and a school of cherry barbs with live plants. I've done some research and I think I'm going to go with Seachem Flourite Black Clay Gravel for the substrate because it never needs to be replaced. (That seems like a huge plus and worth the extra money up front.) I know that corydoras need sand to sift through so my question is whether I can put a layer of the Seachem gravel down and then layer on top with sand?

Or does anyone else have a great substrate set-up that is corydoras friendly that they would recommend?

Thanks!

Corys do like a softer substrate, so sand would be a good cap. But make sure when using a sand cap to outline the edges of your tank with the sand so the layering doesn’t show through when just looking at the front/sides of the tank.

 

If you have a lot of time, then you can also go to home-depot, get the play-sand. And after that clean very well, it is a very very good substrate.

 

I have some sterbai on eco-complete and some on caribsea moonlight (very fine sand - think much finer than beach sand); definitely the ones on the moonlight are in better shape but the ones on black substrate are less skittish so next time i should look for fine black sand

 

If you dont plan on a carpeting species you could divide the substrate, sand in front, gravel in the back, since the cories wouldnt really be able to dig in the planted part anyway

 

I always find that sand works its way down under the gravel, so dividing the substrate may work out better in the long run