Juviniles Getting Very Big Now

[5teady_2012]

Few pics of my fry

They are about 4-6 weeks old (ish) lol

 

[Cory_Dad]

Nice, but those aren't fry, they're juveniles! IMHO

I've been wrestling with the bare/sand/gravel issue and I see you've settled for sand.

Why did you chose sand, what kind is it and has it worked well for you?

Cheers.

 

[5teady_2012]

HI cory dad....

I chose sand simply because i had some left over from doing my 2ft tank and i think it looks better than gravel, i also think its better for them to find food easier as with gravel they have to rake right in and i think that it may be better on them has sand aint has hard and is nice and soft..

The sand i used is play sand.

I got to a stage now where all my tanks have sand except 2 with undergravel for obvious reasons

The juviniles seem very happy with sand as do the adults in thier tank with sand

Right i better go change thread title lol..

Thanks.

 

[Cory_Dad]

HI cory dad....

I chose sand simply because i had some left over from doing my 2ft tank and i think it looks better than gravel, i also think its better for them to find food easier as with gravel they have to rake right in and i think that it may be better on them has sand aint has hard and is nice and soft..

The sand i used is play sand.

I got to a stage now where all my tanks have sand except 2 with undergravel for obvious reasons

The juviniles seem very happy with sand as do the adults in thier tank with sand

Right i better go change thread title lol..

Thanks.

Well, that was just my opinion, for what it's worth.

But the sand is so white! I haven't seen play sand that white before, mostly err, sand coloured.

I just started a Corydoras only 20 gallon long several weeks ago (still cycling) and I went with the small gravel. I'm still trying to get my head around the sand tank.

Maybe I'll have the guts (can't say b@lls here) to go with sand on the next tank.

Yours really do look fantastic. I'm in juvenile envy....

 

[5teady_2012]

The sand i think looks a lot whiter because of the light in the tank, here is a pic of the adults tank and you will see how it looks normally....

The sand btw is from argos, 15kg bag for £2.49

 

[Cory_Dad]

Beautiful!

I'm not familiar with Argos. I'm in Canada, where are you?

 

[5teady_2012]

Im in the uk, Im sure somewhere near you will sell play sand

 

[Cooper2085]

Iv gone for no sand or gravel in my fry tank. Reason being it will be easier to clean any left over food from it as the tank is near the floor

 

[jollysue]

Sand and silt are the natural substrate for Corys with maybe a rock or two. With gravel, the food slips between and out of reach without the stones being moved. For the adults that means using their barbels to lift rather than rake. For fry, juvie fry, juvies or juvie adults it means danger of bacterial infections--well for the adults too unless you do lots of deep vacuming.

It is a generally accepted proposition that sand is the best substrate for Corys. You will see with experience that the barbels grow longer and more handsome on a sand substrate.

Your youngsters look great, 5teady!

There actually is a formula for determining each stage of growth, but I forget what it is.

 

[Cory_Dad]

That's a beautiful tank set up too, but the sand still looks white to me...

I wasn't looking for sand in the fry tank; that's mostly glass with some 1/2 inch pebbles bunched together for the sponge filter to stand on and to give the kids a place to hide.

No, I wanted it for the adult and juvenile tank but there is such a divide between sand and pea sized gravel people for all manner of reasons.

More reading.....

 

[drewry]

there comeing on nicely now wayne

 

[OldMan47]

As far as sand is concerned, I don't like the fine grained sand I have seen on many posts on lots of forums. That having been said, I don't use gravel because I consider it way too coarse. I'm not sure what you call the stuff I have. It has a grain size of 1 to 2 mm so its much smaller than aquarium gravel but coarser than what most people think of as sand. It gives me some of the benefits of both. It is easy to clean, easy for my cories to move about without causing them damage and it will not trap gasses like the finer sands do. It also does not get sucked up too easily by a gravel vacuum or my filter. The local home improvement center calls it bedding sand meaning it is meant to be used when setting paving blocks in place. It has a variation in particle size from about 1 mm to the largest but rare pieces at as much as 3 mm (less than 1/16 inch to about 1/8 inch). Because it has lots of different particle sizes, it looks more natural than anything at the LFS or the pool supply house. It is very dirty when you first get it because it was never intended to be used anywhere but on top of dirt to hold up paving blocks. That means long and intensive flushing and cleaning before it can be used but I think the end result is well worth it. That's just what I like and why, but to each his own.

Edit: typos - It was a long post.

 

[drewry]

i agree OldMan47
iv tryed sand and its not for me i preafair fine graval i found with sand even if u hover the vac on the sand it seems to go up the pipe regardless

 

[5teady_2012]

i agree OldMan47
iv tryed sand and its not for me i preafair fine graval i found with sand even if u hover the vac on the sand it seems to go up the pipe regardless

I had that problem but what i do now is swirl the pipe above the sand and the dirt spirals upwards straight up the tube, since doing that, i get no sand at all now when water changing

 

[drewry]

i did get b&q play sand wayne and its crap
wish i didnt now thats whats put me off really