Which is a better clean up crew?

[traco]

I've got my seven juveniles in a bare bottom 65 gallon tank. I wanted to know which would be a better clean up crew, cories or a BN pleco? I've got 2 cories that can go in there, no sand or substrate fine for them (I know they like to burrow along through the substrate searching for food)? And I know plecos create a lot of waste themselves.

Thanks.

[White Worm]

The cories are great little cleaners of the left overs. I have 4 sterbai in my planted angel tank and they are excellent little scavengers. I also have BN plecos in there and they mainly keep the algae away. I would go with cory for food clean up.

[billeagan]

Cories are a schooling fish you will want 4-6 minimum.

[fishmama]

Why not both? I find that they serve very different functions...cories great for cleaning up bits of food, but you really need a BN to help keep algae off of stuff. I say 1 albino BN and 6 sterbai cories ;-)

[traco]

Oh, I'd love sterbais but they cost $20.00 - $25.00 at the LFS. I notice that my albino cories stick together in the 90 gallon, there are 6 of them and the 2 other cories, different type, stay just by themselves. That is why I thought I'd move those two to the juvenile discus tank.

[White Worm]

Wow, I got my sterbai for about $7.50 a piece. It might be cheaper for Marie to go buy you some and ship them to you. Mine were kinda small when I got them but they have become pretty big and healthy. They do love to hang out together. I have 6 BN plecos in there growing. I will wait till they get older and larger before they go into the discus tank.

[Darren's Discus]

I use both cory's and bn they seem to work well together as they do different jobs in the tank.


cheers

[Ryan]

My plecos eat algae, slime off the glass, and leftover food But I do think I want a small group of cories in my 150 gallon once I have it set up.

[Polar_Bear]

Barb,
Contact Bill Eagan, you will get a much better price on C. sterbai from him and he can ship to you.

[Troy Williams]

I have 2 Plecos in my 65g grow out tank + 2 mystery snails. I also use a uv sterilizer just in case. The Plecos do a realy good job for me.

Troy

[Kindredspirit]

I also use a uv sterilizer just in case.
Troy

Okay Troy.... I give ~ what does a UV Sterilizer do?


Marie ~

[traco]

Okay Troy.... I give ~ what does a UV Sterilizer do?


Marie ~

Kills any bugs coming back into the tank, sterlizies the water, I believe? Others will correct me if I am wrong.

And thanks all for your input. I'll put the pleco and the two cories in today and yes, they are healthy. I've had them in my 90 gallon for a year now.

[Camden]

Kills any bugs coming back into the tank, sterlizies the water, I believe? Others will correct me if I am wrong.

And thanks all for your input. I'll put the pleco and the two cories in today and yes, they are healthy. I've had them in my 90 gallon for a year now.

Makes my water look shiny and clear, which of course comes from what you said I had a Pleco one time that wouldn't leave the Sterlizer. I think he liked the electrical current heh.

[White Worm]

Okay Troy.... I give ~ what does a UV Sterilizer do?


Marie ~

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/g...ral_pagesid=21

[Ed13]

Catfish in general is what really peaked my interest in the hobby. Before them a couple of years ago I was merely a community tank or monsterfish keeper(CA and SA cichlids etc)
They are what introduced me to more than weekly water changes(not discus), thanks to them I discovered that barebottom tanks (my claim to fame is that I went to bare tanks before I found discus or this site ) are easier to maintain and actually gives more footprint fo algae to grow in pleco tanks.
Catfish themselves are what got me interested with discus. Many asian Loricariidae keepers would show me pics of their plecos and many times a discus swimming in the bakground of barebottom tanks. Then I found this site after a heated debate of wether fish like parrots and Pidgeon Blood discus belong in this hobby or are freaks of nature!

In other words I have a soft spot for catfish and would not set up a show tank without a representation of them, wether it be a planted tank or a Discus show tank!
I like to think that corys and pleco are a little more interesting than merely scavengers, even though I'm going with 99% of my future fish as discus!
I say keep them both and enjoy the behavior they'll show you!

BTW, like Bill said cory relly enjoy the company of their own, very much like discus. In the wild you can spot a shoal of corydoras of 12 to 100's of individuals when all of them swim to the surface an gulp air at the same time