Bottom Interest Without Corys, Plecos, Or Loaches

amcalab

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I want my tank to have some bottom layer interest, but it seems like my only choices are Corys, Plecos, or Loaches. My question is

From a water quality perspective, do I have to have a scavenger fish to clean the gravel?

From an aesthetic perspective, are there any other fish that will spend time down there? How about a school of tetra (other than the less than hardy neon and cardinal)? My tank is only 29 gallon.
 
Do you have fish in it now? If so how many of what kind? If not... what do you plan to get? That will make a difference as to what your choices will be.
:)
 
cool. I wouldn't think those would make too much mess. Between a good filter and vac gravel often. You should be able to keep it clean without any additions to the bottom.
As for suggestions... those were the only ones that come to mind with those fish. Maybe snails... I don't like them, but you may. I know nothing about them. You can check them out though.
:)
 
scavenger fish don't really make a big difference. unless your're overfeeding your current fish will pick up most everything, BUT a neat way to add activity to all levels of the tank (but mostly bottom) would be shrimp. They are scavengers and produce very little waste, as compared to many bottom level fish that are huge waste producers.

ghost shrimp will eat anything, food, algae, dead things, and are big enough that your stock shouldn't really cause them any trouble. Amano shrimp are nice, though they are mainly algae eaters (i don't know if they eat debris at all, actually), but they would also be too big to be eaten by that group. Cherry shrimp are very pretty, but shy and usually very small when bought so quick fish may eat them, or at the very least, worry them into hiding.

My cherries weren't real hiders, but they were still very reserved. My ghost shrimp have tons of personality though. Their pincers are useless against fish but if they are happy and comfortable in the tank they will defend their food, they will even climb/swim up the walls of your tank to grab food off the surface.

If you do get ghost shrimp, try to make sure that's what they really are because there is a type of long armed shrimp that is often sold as ghost shrimp, but unlike ghosties, the long arms aren't harmless. they WILL try to eat your fish. check in the inverts section for more info :)


oh, and ghost shrimp are also often called glass or grass shrimp.
 
I forgot about those. Those are cool. I had some, but sadly my fish ate them. The shrimp I got were small, and my mollies are not. :blush:
 
Probablly going with 3 platy and 8 rasbora.
Sounds good. Have you thought of amano (Algae eating) freshwater shrimp. They dont stay on the bottom all the time but are great scavengers and dont really impact on your stocking levels at all. Theyre also really interesting to watch. You dont need scavenger fish but its just nice to have fish occupying different levels of your tank. Why are you so against catfish. I have a small school of pygmaeus cories in with my harelequin rasboras and theyre great. Really active. It comes down to personal preference really thou so ill leave it up to you.

:good:

doh beaten to it!
 
I love the shrimp idea. Cherrys would look great against my black substrate. Would platys be OK with these little guys?

The Flower Shrimp look cool too. But, they would be the biggest guys in the tank. Would they go after smaller tetra and rasbora?

Also, do I have to count a shrimps size againt my 1 inch per gallon rule of thumb?

Oh. And I don't have a problem with Corys, I'm just not that familiar with them. People say they school and play; but at my LFS, I've only seen them heaped in a pile at the corner of the tanks. Frankly, it seemed kind of gross.

Also, I have an all black substrate and I'm afraid most of the Corys would blend in too much. I like the look of the Nanus Cory - the gold would be an noticeable but substle contrast; but, it seems like they are rare.
 
i don't know about the platies and cherries, but i do know that platies are nosey and cherries are shy so i wouldn't put it past them unless someone else on here says otherwise. If you could get adult cherries you might do okay as they get to a decent size (3/4-1"), but i don't know about juvies.

Flower shrimp won't touch any of your fish because they are filter feeders and have no claws.
 
Amano shrimps will scavenge as well as eating algae. Mine always come out to investigate at feeding time, and have been known to steal food from the platies (serves them right).
 

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