Detris Eaters?

[Gundy]

Just got my planted tank finally setup and everything settled in. Was more work then I thought! I boiled the driftwood for nearly 8 hours and was still getting some tan water but I said the heck with it.

Anyways, Since I planed in a such a small tank ( 10gal ) are there any fish/inverts that will eat decaying leaves and such? Doing a water change in such tight quarters with so many plants looks painful.

I was thinking of some cory cats although not many look very exotic, and I wasn't sure if Red Cherry Shrimp will eat decaying leaves - I am getting some later next week. Right now the only thing I have in the tank are about 4 ADF.

Here are some pictures. Its really not much, I just am attempting it and if it turns out well I will setup a 20gal long. Using Root Tabs, and Flourish Excel + Trace. I am going to work abit more on the roots sticking out once everything settles down.

 

[black hills tj]

What do you mean when you say not very many cories look exotic?

 

[Gundy]

Yeah that was pretty vague.

I mean they aren't very like colorful. In my opinon they don't look neat.. which is just my opinion. Albino cory cats which we have at my LFS wouldn't look like they blend in well.

Upside down catfish catch my eye, but I am not sure what their diet can consist of.

I am a huge fan of catfish though, and plecos are ruled out as they get WAY to big for a 10gal.

 

[gheitman]

There are a lot of exotic looking cories but not all LFS will carry them all them time. Availability can be seasonal for many species. I suggest you get a school of about 8 pygmy cories. They are fun to watch and very active.

 

[Gundy]

The Panda Corys look interesting as well.

Do the upside down catfish eat detris?

 

[black hills tj]

If you want something that will look neat but blend, I'd suggest panda cories, julii cories, or trilneatus(sp?) cories...maybe even skunk cories.

 

[travis simonson]

Malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) are excellent detritus eaters for any planted tank. They burrow beneath the substrate and aren't out very much during daylight hours but at night come out and do a great job of cleaning edible junk from your substrate and elsewhere. They're not very exotic, but in my opinion are one of the best tank cleaners you can get.

Corydoras davidsandsihttp://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=291 are very nice looking Cories if you can find them. They look somewhat similar to pandas and grow to about the same size but are a bit more "exotic" looking.

 

[Sicklid]

AFAIK, Cories all are insectivores scouring the sand for worms and such. I never knew they ate rotting vegetation?

 

[gheitman]

Just got my planted tank finally setup and everything settled in. Was more work then I thought! I boiled the driftwood for nearly 8 hours and was still getting some tan water but I said the heck with it.

Anyways, Since I planed in a such a small tank ( 10gal ) are there any fish/inverts that will eat decaying leaves and such? Doing a water change in such tight quarters with so many plants looks painful.

I was thinking of some cory cats although not many look very exotic, and I wasn't sure if Red Cherry Shrimp will eat decaying leaves - I am getting some later next week. Right now the only thing I have in the tank are about 4 ADF.

Here are some pictures. Its really not much, I just am attempting it and if it turns out well I will setup a 20gal long. Using Root Tabs, and Flourish Excel + Trace. I am going to work abit more on the roots sticking out once everything settles down.

In my enthusiasm for cories I didn't pay as much attention to why you wanted to get them. Cories are bottom feeders but are not the dead plant eaters you are looking for. As was suggested previously, Malaysian Trumpet Snails are good for planted tanks and usually stay out of sight during the day. That doesn't mean you shouldn't get some cories anyway. They are fun to watch and you should have six or more if possible. I suggested pygmy cories because you can still have room for other fish to go with them.

Also, you might want to switch from Flourish Trace to Flourish. Flourish includes some things that Flourish Trace does not (such as iron) and is a better all in one solution.

 

[Zezmo]

Flourish trace, FWIW, provides the trace elements needed by the animals. Flourish Comprehensive provides the trace elements needed by plants.

If I read this right, you want a scavengers to eat your dead leaves so you never have to do water changes? You need a very well balanced tank, and very very few animals to make that possible without leading to unhealthy fish or lots of Algae.

Especially on a 10 gallon, just do the water changes they are easy. Long tweesers are good for removing dead leaves.

 

[WaterPond]

Pomacea bridgesii

They wont eat healthy plants, but will eat dead or dieing plant matter. They also eat algea.

 

[Gundy]

Ok, I wasn't sure if anything would eat detris - but it would make it easier if some did. Doing water changes with so many plants around is going to be a paint. The anacharis is what I am concerned about, when it dies the leaves get everywhere.

 

[Purrbox]

I really think that you're making it much more difficult than it really is. A Lee's Gravel Vac Mini is ideal for this size tank. I use one on my 2.5 gallon, 5.5 gallon, and 10 gallon aquariums and it works great. It drains the tank slowly enough that you have plenty of time to gravel vac the unplanted areas and suck up and dead leaves etc.

 

[Gundy]

Thats the vac I have. It's a pain to have to start it over and over again after it gets clogged with like 2 anacharis leafs.

 

[Purrbox]

If you've got that many dead leaves that it's getting clogged that frequently, then you probably need a separate method for the leaves. I generally don't have to restart mine more than once or twice, and that's usally because I get too close the the water surface in the 2.5 gallon. Have you tried either using a small fishnet (the brineshrimp ones work great) or a long pair of tweesers?

 

[Big Ben]

just for the record. putting driftwood through a dishwasher without detergent gets all the tanins out of driftwood. Takes 20 mins compared to hours of boiling and you don't even have to do a thing.

 

[Gundy]

Great, I just tossed it in the tank after boiling it and haven't had any ill effects! If I had a dishwasher that would be the way to go!

And I resorted to picking up some tweezers and stuff for trimmings, and got rid of the anacharis.

Thanks for the input guys.