Rate My Sand

[Richie Hell]

Currently have this sand in one of our Cory tanks. It's silica sand, form Pets at Home, but I'm concerned it's not fine enough. Not had any problems so far, and it's been set up a while, but I can't help but feel a much finer sand would benefit the Corys.

What do you all think?

Pictures:

 

[Coryman]

It is not as fine as I would recommend for Corys, but it looks perfectly OK to use. I would recommend a fortnightly session with a gravel cleaner to make sure all uneaten food particles are removed.

Ian

 

[Barracuda518]

Almost looks like gravel to me

 

[Squid]

I can't imagine that you will have any problems with sand like that, however my corys love the finer sand which you can see in my signature (ignore the panda bear)

Cheers
Squid

 

[Richie Hell]

Thanks.

I'll probably leave it for now, but the other tank has gravel in and I was going to change that when we move house in July, so I'll probably change this one over too.

They have fine sand in my local fish shop and I love watching the Cories sift through it for food.

 

[fishboy619]

i agree it looks more gravel than sand.
to me it looks a little sharp. a cory might have an incident with it.
for me, its fine sand, cories love digging to find food, and its easier on them, it is what they have in the wild.

 

[saphphx]

I can't imagine that you will have any problems with sand like that, however my corys love the finer sand which you can see in my signature (ignore the panda bear)

Cheers
Squid

I love the sig

You can get big bags of play sand at Argos for a few quid. 2 did my 4 foot tank at about an inch and a half deep, probably closer to two inches Its extreamly fine and a bit weird to wash, but at £3 or so for 15kg, its a deal!

 

[mlawson]

i agree it looks more gravel than sand.
to me it looks a little sharp. a cory might have an incident with it.
for me, its fine sand, cories love digging to find food, and its easier on them, it is what they have in the wild.

Sharp gravel will not cause any harm to a corys barbels, although they prefer fine sand.

 

[Barracuda518]

i agree it looks more gravel than sand.
to me it looks a little sharp. a cory might have an incident with it.
for me, its fine sand, cories love digging to find food, and its easier on them, it is what they have in the wild.

Sharp gravel will not cause any harm to a corys barbels, although they prefer fine sand.

I dont agree with that. If the gravel is too large or too sharp, it can easily damage a cories barbels. Cories like to dig and search for food. They like to move the substrate around. If its too sharp, they can damage their barbels trying to move it.

 

[fishboy619]

i stand by what i said, sharp or large gravel can injure the cories barbels and its mouth, as the fish digs looking for food, its mouth and chin/neck area are moving along the substrate and could easily hurt its self of rough gravel. if you ever watch cories on sand, you will see what i mean, they really go for it, digging in the sand, and searching about.
i personally wouldnt put cories on that gravel, sure its an unlikely occurance that the fish will hurt its self, but i rick im not willing to take, the fishes health is more important.

 

[saphphx]

i stand by what i said, sharp or large gravel can injure the cories barbels and its mouth, as the fish digs looking for food, its mouth and chin/neck area are moving along the substrate and could easily hurt its self of rough gravel. if you ever watch cories on sand, you will see what i mean, they really go for it, digging in the sand, and searching about.
i personally wouldnt put cories on that gravel, sure its an unlikely occurance that the fish will hurt its self, but i rick im not willing to take, the fishes health is more important.

Did a head count once and came up one panda short, watched the tank for a while and he poped out of the sand, where he was completely hidden and covered, triumphantly chewing on a blood worm They sometimes REALLY go at it if they want something badly enough. After seeing them on sand I'll never have them on anything else. Comfort and comedy value of watching them go head first into a pile of sand and come out with a prize lol

And I learned the hard way: sharp gravel = no barbels. We had one cory with none left, poor guy. Happily scoots about on sand now though

 

[Lynz781]

I like the sand you have. I too also have silica sand but its much finer. When it comes to choosing the right kind of sand for cories, just imagine whether the particles are small enough to enable them to filter it through their gills.

 

[puppyduck]

Co owner of the fish here.

They filter it through their little gills when they eat fairly well so I guess its ok.

 

[Lynz781]

Really? It's just the pic further up with the similis cory makes the substrate look like small gravel to me.

 

[puppyduck]

Oh he's a cory caudimaculatus. He's very small. And the camera is fairly high res. Its actually about the same as our hermit crab sand. No problems with barbels yet (unlike our other tank with gravel in where two of our corys have lost barbels. Roll on moving day when we can switch to sand!) and when they eat they have little grains flying out from their gills. Will keep an eye out though. Especially since we have very small baby julii's. They're living in a breeding net at the mo tho to protect them. Not from the sand, from our girly bettas.