For the cory's how do I know if my gravel is sharp?

pettygil said:

What fun that is going to be, to empty out my entire tank, and getting rid of all the gravel. I know it's all my fault I should of done my research, before buying the fish. Is there an easy way to get rid of the gravel? Is very fine and thin gravel.

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

@Rocky998 is right, cories do love snuffling their heads through sand, and filter feed when given the opportunity to do so. If you do switch to sand, look for a fine smooth sand. Some larger grains can be sharp edged, and you don't want cories to be trying to filter feed that through their delicate gills.

The other potential issue with gravel isn't that the gravel itself is sharp enough to scratch and damage the barbels. It's that food, poop and other detritus falls down into the gravel and becomes a bed of bacteria, producing mulm, as I'm sure you've seen by now anytime you've gravel vacc-ed the substrate! Mulm itself is harmless, but other, more nasty bacteria can thrive if the gravel isn't cleaned thoroughly enough/often enough, and some corydora keepers and authorities because it may be that bacteria thriving in a gravel substrate is what potentially causes the barbel erosion.

Sand tends to stay cleaner since the detritus doesn't fall down large gaps like in gravel, so the detritus tends to end up in the filter or cleaned from the surface of the substrate manually by the keeper, and with sand you don't have to dig down to the bottom of the tank with the syphon bell, you just swirl the bell end gently an inch or so above the surface of the sand and suck up the muck that way. So while there is still a beneficial bacteria bed in the sand, there is less opportunity for nasty bacteria and pathogens to get established and thrive than there is in a gravel bed.

For those keepers that still use gravel for cories, it's important to keep it clean with weekly substrate cleaning, and live plants are also useful since they make use of the mulm that remains no matter how much someone might try to remove any scrap of dirt. The problems seem to happen most often in tanks that have gravel, fake decor, and maintenance/substrate cleaning hasn't been happening often enough if at all.

Switching out substrate is intimidating, but it's rarely as hard as you think! People here can talk you through simple tricks and methods so you can be prepared in advance, and how to make the process as easy as possible for both you and the fish.

What size is the tank and what's the stocking?

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Just had a scan back over your post history, when did you get the cories? How many did you get, and any chance of a photo or video of them so we can see which species, please?

Would be good to know, along with the current stocking of the tank they're in, I'm assuming they're in the 20g?

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pettygil said:

I got the cory's a few days ago. I got 5 Cory's. The type of fish is 5 blue spotted Cory's. I would take a pic but it's blurry. Yes, the fish are in a 20 gallon, I have 5 blue spotted cory's, 3 red eyed Tetra''s, 8 glow fish.

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pettygil said:

For the cory's how do I know if my gravel is sharp? I picked it up and rubbed against my hand and it did not scratch my hand. So does this mean my gravel is not sharp. The gravel is fine and slips past my fingers while holding the gravel.
I just want to make sure everything is ok for my Cory's. They are quite active and swim in a school. I love Cory's as much as Betta's. Cool fish to watch and enjoy. I was thinking of using sand instead to be on the safe side. What fun that is going to be, to empty out my entire tank, and getting rid of all the gravel. I know it's all my fault I should of done my research, before buying the fish. Is there an easy way to get rid of the gravel? Is very fine and thin gravel.

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Blue spotted cories isn't a species name,

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Aiken Drum said:

Corydororas melanistius

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TNG said:

I wouldn’t empty the tank and remove all the gravel in one go, as doing so could mean removing the beneficial bacteria from the tank (assuming your tank has now cycled).

I’d remove about 50% of the water and scoop out gravel from half the tank, replace it with sand. I’d leave the remaining gravel in the tank for around 3 to 4 weeks to give the beneficial bacteria time to colonise the new sand. Then remove and replace the rest of the gravel. I wouldn’t worry about some gravel remaining in the tank.

The sand should be thoroughly washed or you’d end up with cloudy water.

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Blue spotted cories isn't a species name, so it doesn't really help me identify the species I'm afraid. There are a lot of common names that get used and misused for different fish, so I really need to see them to know what species.

That's important because cories aren't all the same in the requirements they have. If what you think are blue spotted cories are actually something like peppered cories (Corydoras paleatus) then they need cooler water temps than many of the tropical fish we keep, so we'd need to know the temp of your tank, and cross reference temp requirements of your other fish.

This is why it's best to wait before buying new fish and adding them, and to research the species and their care requirements before you buy them and bring them home.

So the next important questions are? Do you plan to get more red eye tetra to give them a bigger school? Or plan to buy any other different fish for the tank?

Will still need photos or video of the cories to be sure of species before knowing their requirements.

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