Bottom Feeder

[Luzi]

After getting rid of my poor little CAEs (which will be happening this week - see the classified section!) I'm going to need some bottom feeders.
The tank:

64L plastic/silk planted (moderate) with rocky caves
Well filtered
Gravel bottom

Tankmates:
5 platies
4 silvertip tetras

I was thinking corys, but i don't know which type so if anyone has any interesting ideas/species please help out

 

[kizno1]

For something a little different what about 4 Upside down catfish/Synodontis nigriventris.

 

[Carlovel1]

The only Corys suitable are small corys. This includes:
Tail Spot Dwarf Corydoras
Pygmy Corydoras
Salt-and-Pepper Corydoras
Or you can go for larger species that don't grow more than 2.5" long. I would recommend Corydoras trilineatus or Julli Corys

 

[Biulu]

The easiest are the paleatus (salt and pepper) or albino (aeneus) cories. Some very nice ones that don't grow too big include sterbais, juliis, agasizzis. Make sure you get a group of 4, as these like to be together.

I have currently 2 agasizzis and you can tell that they are a bit lonely. Hopefully there will be another import round soon so I can up the numbers.

 

[Carlovel1]

Biulu is right, all corys should not be kept in groups less than 4 , for the small corys (pygmys...), I would say 6 minimum

 

[Luzi]

The upside down catfish look great, but my LFS only has the most common fish and i've never seen these

The cories i've seen at LFS are bronze, panda, peppered and albino. No pygimes though - these are my favourite. Do different cory species school? Which species are the albinos?

Do cories eat algae or algae wafers, or would i have to buy catfish pellets?

I was also thinking of a small plec, like a bulldog. I've seen some lovely whiptail cats in store, but i can't find any reliable info on them. There seems to be a lot of whiptail species - which is most common, and can i get one?

A lot of questions - i haven't kept many species

 

[kizno1]

Most LFS will be able to order them in. There worth the extra effort especially if you get a big shoal.

Pandas would work perfectly in a tank that size.

A bulldog or BN would work fine aslong as you have good filtration.

The most common whiptails around here are Royals which get to 8" so wouldnt work to well. Most of the types that will work will be quite hard to find.

 

[Carlovel1]

Panda Corys are fine or if you want, you could go for 5 Otos instead

 

[Biulu]

The albinos are called C. aeneus. I would go for cories instead of otos, as cories are bottom dwellers and otos are all over the tank. I think you will occupy your tank strata better with cories, plus these fish are fun to watch when the roam around.

 

[Luzi]

I have otos in my nano, they're adorable but i have a feeling they'd get picked on by the platies

I'm leaning towards the sterbais, but LFS might not have them in
Will different cory species school? I have a feeling they don't, but seeing as LFS tend to just have a couple of each species i wanted to check

Will cories eat algae? I have algae wafers which all fish (except otos) love, but would i need catfish pellets?

 

[Jamepsss]

would i need catfish pellets?

Yes, they'll eat algae wafers too but my cories get pellets most days.

 

[Biulu]

Cories don't eat algae but are a great clean up crew for left overs of food and other things that arrive at the bottom. I have them together with killies, and since these are not producing a lot of waste, nor leave a lot of food for them, I add these fast sinking pellets. Normally they don't shoal with other cories, although some people have reported that 2 or 3 species have done so in their tank.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hmm, you don't "Need" bottom dwelling fish, you should only have them if you actually want them (a tank will function completely properly without algae eating or food scavenging fish or other critters).

Cories don't eat algae but are a great clean up crew for left overs of food and other things that arrive at the bottom. I have them together with killies, and since these are not producing a lot of waste, nor leave a lot of food for them, I add these fast sinking pellets. Normally they don't shoal with other cories, although some people have reported that 2 or 3 species have done so in their tank.

Just putting a point out here for everyone: True Corys will eat leftover food but they will not eat old food (i.e. past 24hrs old) as old food decays very quickly in warm aquarium water and no fish will eat spoiled food (and you really want to avoid having old rotting fish food in the tank as this sort of stuff can harbour Columnaris, a nasty fish disease). Regardless of however much food the other fish don't eat, you should also feed bottom dwelling fish their own food (a mix of broken algae wafers & protein catfish pellets is good for corys) to ensure they are well fed and that their nutritional needs are properly met (different types of fish have different diets). Also, if you are having a lot of leftover uneaten food from the other fish then you may be possibly overfeeding them. (You may already know this stuff, but IMO its better to assume that people don't know rather than do know when it comes to fishkeeping).