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Hey guys,
I was wondering what the perfect habitat for schwartz corys (or any others would be). Do they prefer live plants or fake ones? Any ideas would help! also what do you guys think of an all cory tank, i am still serioulsy considering converting my 10 gallon into an all cory tank (prefereably pandas!) another thing, what the best way to change substrate?
Thanks guys
Sam

Oh, live plants would be great! All fish technically prefer live plants, as they look more natural than fake ones (for obvious reasons), and help to keep the water clean. However, many species of fish will uproot, eat, or just plain destroy live plants, because that is just the way they are. Happily, cories will leave live plants alone. They love tanks with dense planting towards the back and sides, and some kind of large decoration (a cave or piece of driftwood, for example) to hide in or around when stressed. Cories do appreciate plenty of open swimming space in the center of the tank though, so keep that in mind.

An all cory tank sounds like a great idea, I hope you go through with that! Cories are delightful little fish. Out of curiosity, why are you changing your substrate? The type of sand/gravel doesn't seem to matter much to cories.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Hey books!
I'm changing the substrate because i think that gravel i have in the ten now is too sharp. Until recently i had guppy fry in there who dont mind the gravel! Do you think i should leave it, or would it be better to change it? Also, what type of plants would you recommend for the tank?
Thanks!
Sam

Nah, that thing about cories getting their barbels torn up by sharp gravel appears to be just a myth. Nitrates are far more dangerous to cory barbels, as high nitrate levels often lead to the infection and shortening of the barbels. I have some cories in a tank with "sharp" gravel, and their barbels are in full growth.

What kind of plants do you want? Some of the shorter Amazon swords would work well for the back of the tank, and you could have some kind of "grass" (I forget the names, maybe mondo grass) for the middle or front. The types of plants you can keep also depends on your lighting. Some plants need more lighting (typically measuring in watts per gallon, wpg) than others. How many watts per gallon do you have?

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Ummm, im not really sure how many watts i have? It's not very bright, i think the bulb is only a 20 watt? But the tank also get quite a bit of sunlight during the day, I was looking at the Swords, but i thought all of them got huge? My lfs has lots of live plants, but they all seem to have snails on them, so i have been rather wary about buying them? I was under the idea that snails are bad? is this right? I'll look up the grasses!
Thanks
Books
Sam

You should be able to support Wendtiis in there. They are one of the few low light plants that look really good.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.