Eco-complete And Cories?

[Alps]

I'm pretty sure Eco Complete can be used alone as a substrate but I was wondering if it is still compatible with my cories (barbels)?

also, I have a 30'x12' tank bottom and was wondering if one bag of eco-complete is enough.

 

[Alex_]

eco complete is still really small and think it will be fine.

also 30 by 12 is a 15 gallon bottom? they come packed

in a 20 pound bag so that will be plenty.

-Alex

 

[Alps]

around an 18-20 gallon, maybe i got the 30 wrong. Anyone had experience with eco complete and their cories?

 

[garraty]

I have eco-complete in one of my tanks and only had problems with my pandas in that tank. Don't know what the reason was, it may or may not have been the eco-complete. That stuff is pretty sharp. Other corys did not have problems in the same tank though.

Also, my 20 longs are 30x12 and 29 gallon tanks are also 30x12 but taller than my 20 longs.

 

[Alps]

I have eco-complete in one of my tanks and only had problems with my pandas in that tank. Don't know what the reason was, it may or may not have been the eco-complete. That stuff is pretty sharp. Other corys did not have problems in the same tank though.

Also, my 20 longs are 30x12 and 29 gallon tanks are also 30x12 but taller than my 20 longs.

yup its a 20 long iv got, good for rummys and cardinals. What if i used some peagravel or maybe some multicolored tiny river gravel(the multi colored stuff) to go over the eco complete?

hm, it didn't affect your other cories at all?, no missing barbels? what did it do to your pandas?
I have a tank now and the cory is missing a barbel, i shouldn't have gotten him eventhough he is active and everything.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Alps

I haven't used eco-complete myself, but let me just make some general comments about corys.

Their barbels are delicate sensory organs that they use to find their food, and any injury to them can be life threatening. A sharp substrate can damage them, but even more often when they are missing or shortened, it's due to bacterial infection aka, finrot.

If you have a planted tank, please take great care (whatever substrate you use) to avoid the conditions that weaken or stress a cory and lead to this disease. They are overstocking, uneaten food in the tank, temperature fluctuations, low oxygen content in the water, infrequent or inadequate water changes, elevated nitrite or nitrate levels, aggressive tankmates, etc.

Do you have more than one cory, Alps? If not, that's another stress factor for him. Corys are schooling fish and do not thrive when they are kept alone.

 

[garraty]

I don't know what I did to my pandas (OK, I do know) There were multiple things that affected the pandas, being eco-complete was not the only one. The substrate was sharp yes, but also being a planted tank (heavly) there is a log of mulm on the bottom that never gets clean which is bad for corys. Also the temperature of this tank was kept at 80+ degrees which is way too high for pandas.

I did not mean to have pandas in that tank. I moved a plant in there which had eggs I never did see. Well, a couple months later I had four pandas in that tank. I caught them and moved them somewhere better, then I changed the tank and added angels and tetras and raised the temp from 74 to 80-82 degrees, well a couple weeks later I saw one more poor panda, tried several times to catch it. After a few months it's barbels were pretty much gone, and his growth was severely stunted. I then almost tore the whole tank apart to catch him. He (pretty sure) is doing much better now, in a 70 degree tank in the basement with eight more of his kind, barbels look to be growing back too.

Other than the reasons stated above I can think of nothing else that affected the C. panda, being a very heavly planted tank there were no measurable ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. I added nitrate for the plants, kept the level at 10ppm. Using added co2 with a pH controller meant pH never swung more than a tenth of a point. Having aggressive water movement meant plenty of disolved oxygen. (Against popular belief, you can super saturate water with BOTH co2 and o2 at the same time)

So, if you are going to heavly plant a tank it may make it hard on sensitive corys like pandas, I believe mainly it is the mulm on the tank bottom more than the substrate used.

 

[jollysue]

I have only skimmed this thread, so if I repeat something someone else said--sorry.

I have had cories in an eco-complete planted tank for close to a year. I have not lost one or had a problem with their barbells. It has small gravel, but also soil. In addition I had black sand on hand and added that. Just recently I added four pepper cories to the two that were already there since last spring or summer. I have been watching their barbells closely to see if they were getting shorter. All of them have nice long barbells and are the life of the tank. Very happy little crew. I have used eco-complete repeatedly to set up new tanks with matured filters and like it in a planted tank.

I have also used the cichlid eco-complete.

If you are going to add to the eco-complete, don't add gravel, add sand for the cories. The sand will sink to the bottom, but it is better than adding gravel. You might try putting a section of sand at one end for the cories and the eco at the other end. As I said the eco-complete is more soil than gravel, so there are plenty of areas for the cories to plow.

Mine are very busy searching and moving things around to find lost worms.

 

[Alps]

thats the problem with the sand isn't it? it will sink beneath the eco-complete.

I was wondering if i could use either of these gravels to cover the eco-complete?

 

[jollysue]

I wouldn't for a tank you want to make cories happy in. They use their barbells and noses to move things around to get to food that has sunk into the substrate. They will try to move stones. I had some cories with a thin layer of spectra stone and they had their noses all pink and red trying to get under the stones and move boulders.

There is already gravel in the eco-complete, including some small stones. But it has enough soil to work for them. As I said if you want to add something to reduce the cost, add sand.

 

[Alps]

I wouldn't for a tank you want to make cories happy in. They use their barbells and noses to move things around to get to food that has sunk into the substrate. They will try to move stones. I had some cories with a thin layer of spectra stone and they had their noses all pink and red trying to get under the stones and move boulders.

There is already gravel in the eco-complete, including some small stones. But it has enough soil to work for them. As I said if you want to add something to reduce the cost, add sand.

So use sand to fill in and cover the ecocomplete?

- if not this then would another option be to use a bottom layer of pure laterite (keep this layer on bottom using a net of some kind) , then a layer of pure sand above it? so no laterite would move up.

i really appreciate the help

 

[jollysue]

A substrate of sand and Pure Laterite is an option for a planted tank and the thin layer of Laterite needed for a planted tank would not be a problem for the Cories. But really, Alps, the Eco-Complete should be a satisfacory substrate for the Cories. It seems to work well with mine who are happy happy and at the moment doing their happy spawn dance all over the tank. The Cories can't "plow " it as they can in pure sand, but pure sand deep enough to plant would not be appropriate as it holds gases.

None of my Cories have gotten an infection in the 9-12 months or so that I have had this tank up. The only trouble the cories had there was when one of the original peppers got columnaris which I battled in that tank for several months. But due to Inchworm's good sevices, he recovered.

A thin substrate of sand is their favorite, but they can do well with an earthy substrate, which is what the eco-complete is.