Betta with Corys

[bunjiweb]

Today i purchased a lovely male betta:

He is living in a 5 gallon tank with a fairly slow running filter and heater with 6 w light above.

What I want to know is would 2 panda or striped corydoryas (sp?) do well with him and not nip at him or anything.

Ben

 

[Gizmo]

Very nice Betta m8 ! its got a lovely colour to it as well....

Giz

 

[Inchworm]

Hi bunjiweb

Your betta is a handsome fellow, indeed!

If your tank is cycled, 2 or 3 small corys, such as pandas would be a good addition. They will get along well with the betta. All corys get along with bettas since they are bottom feeders and there is no conflict over territory whatsoever.

If that is the substrate you will be using, though, it is a bit big for pandas. Do you have anything finer that you could use instead? I was thinking that perhaps you might be able to switch it with gravel from one of your other tanks.

 

[bunjiweb]

it is partly small, partly large gravel. I could change it for all of the smaller stuff, or i have some silver sand stuff which is even smaller again.

Ben

 

[Inchworm]

Hi bunjiweb

The problem with the gravel is that corys have barbells which are sensory organs which they depend on to help them find their food. You might have seen corys standing on their heads to try to burrow down into the substrate to retrieve a morsel of food that has fallen between the gravel. If anything causes them to damage their barbels, they could starve.

Pebbles, such as what you have in the picture, could cause abrasions that would result in such damage. Gravel or sand with sharp edges could do the same.

As a general rule, if a cory could easily move the gravel bits, it will be safe for them.

 

[bunjiweb]

I think i'll just replace it with the finer gravel.

Ben