Cory Cat Question

[Olympia]

I've been considering cories for my new tank.. Everyone always says they need very clean substrate? What does that mean? My hornwort is always losing spines.. Would this hurt cories? :s

[GwenInNM]

Originally Posted by Olympia

I've been considering cories for my new tank.. Everyone always says they need very clean substrate? What does that mean? My hornwort is always losing spines.. Would this hurt cories? :s

All fish need a clean tank, but cories do well with a soft substate, as they like to bury and move along on it. Sand is nice, but a small pebble bottom would work. I had no luck with Hornwort, and it immediately lost all it's "leaves". They will not hurt the fish.

[Olympia]

Yes well I'm cycling it and it has a fine sand bottom. :) so it should be good. Everyone says hornwort is impossible to kill.. But here I am killing mine. :D

[jeaninel]

By clean substrate they mean keep the sand well vacuumed of poop and debris. This will keep the possibility of them getting their barbels infected to a minimum.

[Olympia]

Wait, so the hornwort leaves would be a problem?
I'll do my best to vacuum them all!

[Bombalurina]

They'll only be a problem if they start to decay. Mine don't cause any dramas, but then, it doesn't shed a lot.

[kfryman]

Olympia, do you have a plant bulb? That could be the problem as plants will do much better in plant specific lights rather than normal lights.

[Olympia]

Well I read it's common for hornwort to melt down.
And I am looking into getting a bulb at home depot.. The fish store ones are overpriced and OFL said they are the same thing. I don't really know what to look for for my 17gal though D:
I figured a hornwort would survive until I got it since they are indestructible.

[kfryman]

My hornwort is super messy! I have a plant bulb as well. I should start getting my plant lights from home improvement stores. They are so much more expensive!

I plan on upgrading lights to T5, so I guess I will look at Home Depot first, then Ace, then Lowes. I hope I can find something at one place lol.

Are you new to live plants or intermediate?

[Olympia]

I have had an anubias and java fern with nothing but a small LED light for months, and they (even the java fern) have grown a lot :D My java fern has the little "seed" things on it, but none have sprouted.
I got another "hard to kill" plant, wisteria, that melted down over two months and there is nothing left. I read that people grew them in "dark rooms" and they were fine.. so I don't know what I did there.
My hornwort is doing okayish.. I have 3 bunches.. one is great, one is okay, one is not so swell. I also planted a little sprig and it seems to be growing. The not so swell one still has a green stem so I have hope :p