What kind of bottom-dweller should I get??

[QTOFFER]

After the new year, I'm going to start adding inhabitants to my 58 gal. It's a peaceful community tank that will have three schools of tetras and a school of zebra danios. I may also include a small school of silverdollars or angels at some point.

I am pretty anal about vacuuming the gravel once a week, so I don't anticipate the need for a hardworking janitorial crew. Then again, I don't exactly have a heavy bioload at this point. I want to steer clear of those plecos and cats that grow to be 12 inches long and pretty much play dead all the time.

Does anyone have suggestions and recommendations for interesting and moderately active botom-dwellers? Ugly and unusual are welcome!!

Catfish? Cories? Loaches? Freshwater crustaceans?

What is your preference and why?
Please post some pics if you have them!

 

[lmw80]

Here is my suggestion....A crew of five or so cories...they are soooo fun. They will clean up a lot of the left over stuff on the bottom...but not algae (although they like algae wafers, go figure)

As far as plecos go....I would stay away from common plecos as they are the ones that grow huge and are huge waste producers. Rubber-lipped plecos only get to 4" I believe and bristlenose plecos don't get too big either.

If your tank is planted then you might want to go with a loach instead of a pleco. They will control the snail population, as they suck the snail out of its shell. I am not sure which ones get which size in the loach family. Maybe someone else can help out with smaller loaches....

 

[mgkaelen]

hillstream loach

i LOVE hillstream loaches.... he sticks to my glass/under my rock bridge all the time... check my gallery if you want some pictures =]

 

[tkos]

I love cories. And they do loosely school so are great for community tanks. They stay under 2.5 inches and are constantly on the go. They need good water quality or their barbs fall off but you sound like you have a good cleaning regeime.

 

[BrianNY]

I'd go with the Corys too. They're just plain cool to watch in a group of 4 or 5

 

[lmw80]

QTOFFER, you could go with a small school of cories AND a small loach or pleco. Treat yourself to both! After all, 'tis the season!

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Perhaps a bristlenose pleco would be nice. Those stay fairly small.

 

[davoz]

Is the tank planted?

I suggest for a small and interesting clean up crew a gruop (5-7) corydoras adn for algae either a dwarf pleco like bristlenose, clown or rubber lip (they prefer lots of water current) or a small group (3-5) of otos if its a planted tank. I like corydoras because they are active and colorful and do a great job of cleaning. Same witht he otos.

 

[ferret]

Gotta vote for at least 1 weather/dojo loach. They get to 8 inches but are awesome

 

[myriam]

I would go for the cories, too! They are funny little fish with a lot of character and are fun to watch. And yes, they love those algae wafers.

 

[QTOFFER]

WOW! You guys sure love your cories!

OK, cories it shall be! I'll get a small school (4-5). My lfs always seems to have a wide selection.

Now, I routinely add 1 tablespoon of dissolved aquarium salt whenever I do my weekly 10 gallon water change. I've been told that it contributes to general fish health by lowering osmotic stress (my water is veeeery soft - 3 degrees GH and KH). Makes sense to me and the fish seem happy with it.
Or is this just another example of a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing?

I've heard that loaches do not appreciate any salt and am wondering if the same would hold true for cories.

 

[lmw80]

Cories can definitly benefit from salt. They can however, be sensitive to the recommened amount as my cories were. Keep an eye on them. If they seem to react badly to the 1 tblspn per 10 gallons, cut it down to 1/2 tblspn per 10 gallons, which is what I do, and my cories are much happier now!

 

[Fruitbat]

My experiences with Corydoras differs considerably from lmw80's. I've always found Corydoras cats to be very sensitive to salt and have always avoided putting any salt at all in a tank with Cory cats.

In a number of studies, Corydoras were always the first to die when salt was added to an aquarium in an attempt to treat Ich.

That being said...pretty much all species of Corydoras are great aquarium fish and you can't go wrong with them as your 'cleaning crew'. I usually use loaches now but my daughter has a pair of C. julii in her tank and they're doing very well!

 

[tkos]

If you want to add salt to affect the hardness of your water then don't use freshwater aquarium salt. It is simply NaCl and has little benifit excpet as a medication. Use a marine salt that has buffers and different salts in it. That being said tetras love really soft water as do angels and cories do fine in it as well. I wouldn't bother adding anything, just keep up the good water changes.

Cories do tend to be sensitive to salt and while they can sustain the 1 tsp per 5 gallon ich treatment, everything i have read points to them being intolerant of salt for prolonged periods of time.

 

[lmw80]

I have had my tank on the 1/2 talespoon per 10 gallon salt regimin now for about 3 months. Everyone is thriving, even the cories. I had read about cories being too sensitive as well, but I had also read about them doing fine. There was a post on this site a little while back, which I can't find, but it seemed to conclude that people were split on the salt/no salt deal with cories.

You don't HAVE to use salt in a FW aquarium, but it is a useful preventative measure. If you do decide to use salt, please keep a close eye on them.

 

[BrianNY]

IMO, you're asking for trouble by dosing weekly with salt. I don't like treating my tank with any chemicals (NaCl is a chemical), that I don't absolutely have to. But then I take a holistic approach to most things.

 

[davoz]

IMO I would avoid salt as well. Corydoras come from a variety of habitats in SA but the majority are from soft water. I think the salt thing is just one thats been around sooooo long that lots of people use it especially newbies. I've kept fish for a number of years and have bred all kinds and I've never used salt unless treating ick. Its like carbon everyone says use it, everyone sells it, but do you really need it? Basically it comes down to personal preference and individual experience

 

[Fruitbat]

For further information on using salt long-term in a freshwater aquarium read the latest (Feb. 2004) edition of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. There's a great article on osmotic pressure and the effects of salt on freshwater fish. Basically the author recommends NOT using salt over the long term.

 

[QTOFFER]

UPDATE......

I got three healthy corydoras julii yesterday - the only ones left at my lfs. They are happily swimming around a hollow resin log in my newly-set-up Q-tank (I learned my lesson from my recent bout with ich). I also got some sinking pellets for them which they seem to like. I threw some Biospira on the Q-tank's biowheel and I plan to do water changes (20%) every other day.

Meanwhile, I discontinued the routine use of aquarium salt in my show tank. By the time the cories come out of quarrantine, the remaining salt in the main tank should be almost gone due to the weekly 25% water changes.

Next week, I'm going to get a few oto cats and another trio of cories - perhaps another species.

 

[TankGirl]

When you get your otos be sure there is some algae in the q-tank, or just take special care feeding them, as they are often starved at the LFS (the tanks don't generally have much algae there) and also it is wise to get your otos after they have been at the store for a while, as they often die-off at the store shortly after arriving. Congrats on your cories, I really adore them!