Gravel cleaners?

[Gboy66]

Anything small that will clean up pellet fragments and such from my gravel? Snails?

 

[Freshnoob1]

Cory cats are real good. Shrimp, snails, loaches, anything thats got barbels on their mouth. Check these snails out - http://www.garfishindo.com/snail.html

 

[Gboy66]

Any of these would work?

 

[Freshnoob1]

Yup. Cory cats and loaches/anything with barbel mouths are good for the stuf that hasn't broken down mostly. Sbails will get the little stuff that slips through the cracks. Is the aquarium already setup?

 

[absolutangel04]

I keep corys, snails, and kuhli loaches as bottom feeders. Remember though that corys and loaches need to be fed toom, they won't eat degraded old food. They will eat up the flakes that fall to the bottom though. Most catfish in general are pretty good at this.
Do you have a certain tank you are thinking about adding to, or are you just curious in general?

 

[Freshnoob1]

Id recommend sand and geting MTS and cories and a couple shrimps. Youll be set.

 

[mr.waffles1842]

i like shrimp cuz theyre interesting and, imo, way cooler than snails. corys are great, but i like shrimp just cuz.

 

[Gboy66]

Already set up 40 g with eco complete planted btw. Not sure if a peacock eel would eat shrimp? Im thinkin he would

 

[Freshnoob1]

Yeh some of them are really cool did you see that link i posted? Some of those snails are pretty cool lookin.

 

[mr.waffles1842]

Already set up 40 g with eco complete planted btw. Not sure if a peacock eel would eat shrimp? Im thinkin he would

probably. give them some cover, and theyll run away and hide good. my cave for them is to take a 3 inch rock and lean it against other decorations so they can hide, but fish cant get them. thats with a gbr though. make a bunch for your eel if you want.

 

[Gboy66]

Yeh some of them are really cool did you see that link i posted? Some of those snails are pretty cool lookin.

Ya those are cool!! But id want them to live!!

 

[Gboy66]

probably. give them some cover, and theyll run away and hide good. my cave for them is to take a 3 inch rock and lean it against other decorations so they can hide, but fish cant get them. thats with a gbr though. make a bunch for your eel if you want.

Ya...but that eel is FAST! i think it might be expensive lunch

 

[mr.waffles1842]

well, id say its worth a try. My motto is that whatevers best for thefish. if you dont want to risk it, by all means, dont. But ive had some success so far. completely up to you.

 

[Gboy66]

Maybe ill add one ore two and see hiw it goes. The only shrimp i know of are smaller, and bigger ones that would get the job done? Saw some cool small blueish-tinted lobster things at the lfs yesterday, but i doubt those would help

 

[mr.waffles1842]

lol. i prefer amano shrimp, and ghost shrimp. theyre great, but amanos are better.

 

[Gboy66]

Are amanos bigger then ghoasts? Iv had g shrimp, but they all died one by one over a period of like a year. (i had 4)

 

[absolutangel04]

I would definitely not add shrimp to your 40g. Between the eel and featherfin, you would be asking for dead shrimp. No corys either. You are already stretching the capacity of the tank, especially the bottom. Your featherfin will eat stuff on the bottom. If anything, just add a snail.

 

[Gboy66]

I would definitely not add shrimp to your 40g. Between the eel and featherfin, you would be asking for dead shrimp. No corys either. You are already stretching the capacity of the tank, especially the bottom. Your featherfin will eat stuff on the bottom. If anything, just add a snail.

Ya im definatly stretching it!! Haha true no shrimp, snails though? Any suggestions on those. The lfs just got a huuugggee bag of them yesterday, so maybe some of those. Most had gold/yellow shells

 

[absolutangel04]

Mystery snails? 1 or 2 of those would be fine. They eat a little algae, but mostly fallen food. Put in a bit extra for them to make sure they are well-fed.
Pick a snail that looks active and doesn't have any chips/warps on the bottom lip of its shell (by its body). Also, when they pick it up, it will go inside its shell. Make sure the body fills out the shell and isn't sunken it. A sunken in foot means a mystery snail is unhealthy and is losing body mass. Acclimate them like you would any fish. They often have inactive periods, sometimes lasting several days. So be calm, and on't assume he is dead unless he smells bad or his body falls out when you pick him up. I have a total of 5 mystery snails spread out betweet my tanks and I love them.

 

[Gboy66]

Awesome! I think ill get 2? They sound perfect