My Son Wants A Shark!

[Miles_hot]

Fair point, I wonder how much extra space you works suggest the op allows between the water level and the top of the tank to allow.for the tsunami? An excellent opportunity to keep some species which need access to air as well as water - are their marine frogs or maybe iguana?

 

[Gilli]

Ive had my panda and peppered corys for over 3 years now with no problems with pea gravel. Id like sand but its just not viable as it would just look gross covered in waste with the amount of fish I have plus my 2 poo machine fully grown plecs

 

[fluttermoth]

Dear Gilli,

Please do not take what I am going to say personally! I respect you as a fishkeeper, and I normally agree 100% with the advice you give. I am only disagreeing with your opinion on this one thing, not you!

Of course sand is viable in your tank. Where do you think all the 'gross' poop is going now? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there; it's just sinking in down through the gaps in your gravel to fester.

What looks 'gross' to you shouldn't matter when it's the happiness and welfare of your fish at stake, and all the cory 'experts' I've ever seen or heard, plus almost every cory owner, agrees that they really do need sand to be 'happy', as far as we can judge what 'happiness' means for a fish, which must surely include being able to express their natural behaviour.

You could always just put in one area of sand; I have a mix of gravel and sandy patches in my tanks and it works fine. I think once you've seen cories digging in sand you'll understand what we mean; I used to keep my cories on gravel too, and I honestly thought they were fine; it's only when you see the difference that you realise that a pure gravel substrate gravel just isn't suitable for them.

 

[matt_storey]

Yes, you do realise they are marine though don't you? So you'll nees salt mix and a protein skimmer. And you'd probably need a larger tank long term; I reckon a 150 000 000 gallon would do

I'm thinking about doing a syndicate for the euromillions, if we win fancy buying a town or 2, surround it in glass and keeping a whale?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, you do realise they are marine though don't you? So you'll nees salt mix and a protein skimmer. And you'd probably need a larger tank long term; I reckon a 150 000 000 gallon would do

I'm thinking about doing a syndicate for the euromillions, if we win fancy buying a town or 2, surround it in glass and keeping a whale?

Genius

You can do the water changes

 

[matt_storey]

my idea! your waterchanges!

 

[fluttermoth]

If we just fence off a bit of the Bristol channel, we wouldn't need to do water changes at all; the tides could do it

 

[matt_storey]

aaaaaah now we are getting somewhere

couldn't we just fill it with neons instead?

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, we're back to freshwater now, are we?

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

i have a coulpe of corys,and are geting 6 more this week ,so ill have 1 albino 1 pepperd,2 sterbai,and 4 panda, they are my favourite fish,i have gravel ,which i will change by the weekend into sand,coz i think corys will thrive in sand, any idea what colour sand wud look the best?any1

Try to keep your corys in groups of 6+. That's when they show their true behaviour. Otherwise they might be a touch timid. I had 2 sterbai and 2 pepper and never saw them. I chucked in 4 more sterbai and now they go cruising for food all the time in a line - fantastic! I also have gravel (nice and rounded) but would go for sand if I started again...

 

[matt_storey]

i have a coulpe of corys,and are geting 6 more this week ,so ill have 1 albino 1 pepperd,2 sterbai,and 4 panda, they are my favourite fish,i have gravel ,which i will change by the weekend into sand,coz i think corys will thrive in sand, any idea what colour sand wud look the best?any1

Try to keep your corys in groups of 6+. That's when they show their true behaviour. Otherwise they might be a touch timid. I had 2 sterbai and 2 pepper and never saw them. I chucked in 4 more sterbai and now they go cruising for food all the time in a line - fantastic! I also have gravel (nice and rounded) but would go for sand if I started again...

Do you mind!? Me and Flutter are discussing our investment here!

 

[fluttermoth]

I think we should leave the details until one of our numbers comes up, don't you?!

Stoneagedinosaur; it's very easy to scoop out some gravel, or push it to one side, and add a patch of sand in

 

[raptorrex]

Dear Gilli,

Please do not take what I am going to say personally! I respect you as a fishkeeper, and I normally agree 100% with the advice you give. I am only disagreeing with your opinion on this one thing, not you!

Of course sand is viable in your tank. Where do you think all the 'gross' poop is going now? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there; it's just sinking in down through the gaps in your gravel to fester.

What looks 'gross' to you shouldn't matter when it's the happiness and welfare of your fish at stake, and all the cory 'experts' I've ever seen or heard, plus almost every cory owner, agrees that they really do need sand to be 'happy', as far as we can judge what 'happiness' means for a fish, which must surely include being able to express their natural behaviour.

You could always just put in one area of sand; I have a mix of gravel and sandy patches in my tanks and it works fine. I think once you've seen cories digging in sand you'll understand what we mean; I used to keep my cories on gravel too, and I honestly thought they were fine; it's only when you see the difference that you realise that a pure gravel substrate gravel just isn't suitable for them.

I'd have to say Sand is viable, especially with Cory. so
+1

 

[FishyWishie]

I used to think the same s you, Gilli.

Then I put some cories on a sand substrate and, oh my goodness, what a difference there was in their behaviour. Now every morning, the sand is covered in little 'dimples' where they've been snuffling through it in the night.

I will never, ever keep any corydoras on a purely gravel substrate (most of my tanks a re a snad/gravel mix) again, nor will I ever recommend anyone else to do so.

It's got to be sand for cories far as I'm concerned; it's just not fair to keep them when they can't display their natural behviour patterns, IMHO.

I'd disagree tbh all my tanks use JBL Manada and my corys still snuffle through it the only difference is sand holds the impressions so its much more obvious.

 

[Mammabe1]

Hello,

With all this talk about Corydora fish - I had to go look them up and see what they look like! Perhaps I will add a few to my tank. Tell me - do you know off hand if they would live harmonious with: Mollies, aquatic frogs, clown loach, albino weather loach, plus a few kuhli loaches? (look like blood suckers! haha).

Anyway, let me know....

I have a 75 Gallon tank and my inventory of these fish are:

Mollies: 12
Frogs: 2
Clown Loach: 1
Kuhli Loach: 3
Pleco: 1
Whales: 0

Let me know what you think... thanks!