# Are Corydorus suitable for a planted tank?



## Marc1t (5 Jun 2015)

Daft question I know but recently read a thread about Clown Loach being unsuitable due to there destructive 
nature wondered if the same applies it's the cory's.
At the moment I have about 20 cardinals & im looking for some bottom feeders to hoover up the food left on the bottom of my tank.
Will they dig up my plants & stir up the aqua soil?


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## alanchown (5 Jun 2015)

I have no problems with my Corydoras and Aquasoil. My Dwarf Hairgrass seems to have taken a bit of a hit, but suspect that's my Ancistrus that is ploughing that up.


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## AndyOx (5 Jun 2015)

Hi there, I've got about 15 cory's in my planted tank. The only issue I find is if the cats start spawning just after planting something..,, then all that charging around can leave you replanting but other than that no issues. Despite watching my cory's plant their face in the sand right up to their eyes!! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## zozo (5 Jun 2015)

Botia's if they aren't piled up with to many in a to small tank they are pretty good to keep and not realy that distructive in nature at all. Their typical natural character if they have room to avoid eachother is no problem.. The agresive or distructive behaivor is moslty frustrated behaivor to impose the oppenent and trying set boundaries. Of course they can get quite large and are strong fish which because of that can be unsuitable for a delicate scape in a small tank with a thick layer of light weight powder type soil. IMHO any tank under 250 litre isn't suitable for any Botias and will eventualy also become to small for clown botia if you manage to keep 'm alive for years. 

Fish if you believe it or not have personality as well, they are school fish but live in small packs in our aquariums (we tend to call it a small school, but it's far from a school compaired to their natural gathering numbers). Some species have it or show it more then others and some individuals can be Alfa other Beta in character and form a hierarchy. It's a matter of chance having a pack of botias in your tank where there never is a fight or frustration going on.

Cory's are so sweet and tame in character, they rather get sick and die of stress than act agressive and distructive.


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## HarrietHippo (10 Jun 2015)

Cories are fantastic for a planted tank and a delight to watch. I have a dozen or so and are the most amusing fish to watch as they snuffle about together. I wouldn't call them destructive; they don't do any damage to plants, but they can uproot freshly planted stem plants (i.e. no roots) if you have loose soil for the first couple of days.  I usually just replant the few affected stems the next day and its fine. Well worth the price of admission in my view.


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## xim (10 Jun 2015)

Shrimps are far more effective to clean everywhere in a tank: substrate, plants, hardscape, etc.
Cories are lovely. Although if I could go back, I wouldn't have them. They need large amount of
food, add more waste than being a cleaner.


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