Is this a myth or-

[Anonymous Fox]

Is it a myth, fact, or opinon that corydoras can only have sand as a substrate?

i've heard so many people argue on this and now im just confused lol

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Well...it is true that they enjoy snuffling in sand, however since sand is not the easiest substrate to clean....even to those with oodles of years experience it can be a chore.....so I mix sand with micro-gravel and they snuffle in it quite well. The micro-gravel is just like a slightly coarse sand in grain size but without the roughness on their barbels.

My aquarium has natural fine sand underneath a layer of black micro-gravel....its has mixed in places and thats fine and the Cories (Pepper and Bronze) are healthy, have a full set of barbels and seem happy enough to reproduce with a mixed substrate.

 

[anewbie]

Is it a myth, fact, or opinon that corydoras can only have sand as a substrate?

i've heard so many people argue on this and now im just confused lol

For health reasons it is best if the cory substrate is soft and non abrasive.

This link provides some useful information:

The legend of the Cory

Over the forty-plus years Ian Fuller has kept and bred Corydoras, he’s seen many twisted tales emerge. Here he looks at straightening a few of them back out.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

 

[emeraldking]

Well, I do use gravel as a substrate with my cories. But it's not sharp edged, so they can not hurt themselves. They seems to do well all this time. They even reproduce themselves.

 

[GaryE]

Everyone who keeps Corys should read that Ian Fuller article. It's a useful one.

I see Corys as being a lot like Geophagine Cichlids. You can block their natural behaviour and natural feeding methods, and still have them swimming around looking good and eating pellets. I just don't see why anyone who knows better would do that.

What I call gravel and you call sand can be the same thing, and as long as it's fine and rounded, it works. I've decided that when I reset my Cory tanks later this week, I'll use playground sand because the sifting interests me. But if I were to go with a large gravel I'd 'cramp their style', and shift a sharp edged gravel, I could hurt them.

 

[AquaBarb]

I had small smooth gravel once and my cories was fine and healthy but the difference in their behaviour when i changed to sand was remarkable. Ill always use sand in the future when cories are concerned

 

[Colin_T]

In the wild they tend to hang out in areas with sand.

In aquariums they can live for years with gravel as long as it's smooth and doesn't have sharp edges. However, they can't filter feed from gravel and that is something they like to do with sand.

Ideally they should have sand because it's more natural for them. But they can live in tanks with smooth gravel.

 

[Sgooosh]

i prefer sand because they can use their natural filtering methods.
also it's easier for rocks to develop biofilm and if they start swimming on the rocks they might get infections

 

[Rocky998]

Sand should always be used for corydoras... You can also have a gravel/sand mix in the tank as well. Sand us just better all around for bottom dwellers because its soft, so that way when they are rubbing up against it, it doesnt damage them. Sand is tge all around best choice to keep corydoras happy and healthy. All the corydoras in my LFS have gravel bottom tanks and most are missing barbels or have cuts and injuries...