Eco Complete For Corys

[maxh8293]

Hi all,
Just got my first tank (10 gallon), thinking of getting 6 or so pygmy (or similarly sized) corys. The thing is, I'm planning on using live plants, so I went and bought a bag of eco complete because I heard it was great for planting. But now I'm reading a lot of sources that say that eco complete is too sharp for bottom feeders like corys. Anybody have any experience with this? If it is too sharp, could I just remove an inch or so of the eco complete and top it off with some sand and call it a day? Thanks in advance.

P.S. - part two of question: What about kuhli loaches? Same question re: eco complete.

 

[Scates11]

I would be interested in the answer to your question as well....

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,

I use Eco Complete in my Arc tank and would say that it is to sharp for Corrys, you may be able to cap it off with sand but the sand might work its way underneath the Eco Complete over time.

 

[maxh8293]

I know this is a very old thread, but I figured I'd post an update in case anyone comes across it. I ended up going with panda corys on eco complete. All was fine for about 5 months, but now one of the corys has lost a barbel and another's barbels seem to be getting shorter. Planning on switching them to sand. Well, we learn from mistakes, i guess!

 

[Livewire88]

Eco Complete now comes in a fine version, I have been using it for a while now and my Corry's are doing fine, they even dig around in it to find food. No problems with their barbels.

 

[maxh8293]

I'll definitely have to look into that. Thanks.

 

[Robbo89]

Are you still using the 10 gal tank? I'm looking at setting up a 10gal Panda Cory Breeding tank, with a few cherry shrimp in there as I hear they are excellent cleaners of infected eggs. Any advice would be great thanks

 

[maxh8293]

Update - the cory I referenced who lost her barbel has passed on. When I found her she had lost the rest of her barbels as well. I'm guessing the death was from infection of the wound, because I can't imagine she'd die of starvation that quickly (it's only been about a half a week since she first started losing them).

In regards to your question, Robbo, yes, I'm still using the 10 gallon with the panda corys and betta, but when I set up my new 20 long I'm going to transfer the remaining corys and replace with some shrimps, and leave the betta in the 10 gallon. I'm not too familiar with cory breeding specifically, but I feel like between the pandas and the shrimp you might be a little short on bottom space in a 10 gal. Corys do best in groups, and I'd imagine that extends to breeding, so I wouldn't personally recommend just one male and one female by themselves. But I'd love to hear from more experienced cory breeders.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The ratio for breeding cories is 1f:2m.