# Bottem feeder fish



## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

Can someone give or make me a list of bottem feeder fish to put in my tank and how many.

Links would be great too!


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Cories (8 or so), shrimp (as much as you want), raphael catfish, loaches, ect.


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## Guest (Dec 20, 2007)

Most any Corydoras/Cories will work in your tank. They are shoaling (like to be in groups) so 6+ is recommended. Some of the more common Cory species are:
Bronze cories - _Corydoras aeneus_
Panda cories
Peppered cories - _Corydoras paleatus_
Spotted/3-line/False Julii cories - _Corydoras trilineatus_.

You could get a pleco or 2 instead.....but make sure you know what you are getting and the max size it reaches.

Clown plecos stay small. As do Peckoltia plecs. A couple others are Rubbernose/Bulldog plec and a Bristlenose.

Some loaches would be fine. Again, know what their max size is before buying some because alot of them need a tank larger than a 38g. These would be a good alternative to the cories if you like them better. They also like groups, so you'll want to get atleast 4-5 of them. Some species are:
Kuhli loaches
Kubotai/Polkadot loaches
Zebra loaches
Dwarf Chain Loaches

If you don't get any fish large enough to eat shrimp, they would be another good alternative. Fish like Rams, Apistos, and any other Dwarf cichlids, plus most fish that get larger than them will eat shrimp.

Here are some pretty common shrimp species: Red Cherry Shrimp, Amano shrimp, and Ghost shrimp. You could combine shrimp and cories IMO. The Cories might eat any shrimplets that the Cherry shrimp have, but the adults should be safe. Loaches that are big enough will probably eat adult shrimp.

Rapheal catfish are cool, but they will eat small fish when full grown. Any small tetras or danios you have wouldn't be safe IMO. Also, they hide alot of the time, so don't expect to see much of them.

Stay away from Columbian sharks, Bala sharks, and Irridescent sharks as these all get huge and are not suited for aquariums (even large ones IMO).


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## Knight~Ryder (Dec 2, 2007)

If I get the Peckoltia plecos, your saying I only need 1 or 2? Also with the food I feed my other fish, will the same flakes be okay with this pleco?


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## Arcfusion (Jan 4, 2008)

Knight~Ryder said:


> If I get the Peckoltia plecos, your saying I only need 1 or 2? Also with the food I feed my other fish, will the same flakes be okay with this pleco?


Well I feed my BristleNose Pleco HBH Veggie Wafers, they are made especialy for Plecos, but mine seems to eat a combanation of: the flake food I feed my other fish, the wafers and the tiny bit of algae in my tank.


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## guppyart (Jan 22, 2005)

cucumber and zuchini also work for feeding thin slices to plecos.

bristlenose go crazy over the stuff in my experience


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2008)

Knight~Ryder said:


> If I get the Peckoltia plecos, your saying I only need 1 or 2? Also with the food I feed my other fish, will the same flakes be okay with this pleco?


I totally missed this post. Peckoltia are omnivorous, but planetcatfish.com says they have a tendency towards meaty foods, so you'd want to get some shrimp or bottom feeder pellets or wafers. You could try veggies every now and then, but not all plecos eat them. And these don't eat algae, but might eat an algae wafer sometimes along with the meaty foods. Most plecs won't eat flakes unless you have alot of leftover on the bottom. I'd try the shrimp pellets or bottom feeder wafers first. I think there are some carnivore wafers out there, maybe Hikari brand......I can't remember, but if you see something like that, it would be fine.

If you decide on a Bristlenose plec, well they tend to prefer algae and algae wafers. They might eat some shrimp or bottom feeder wafers sometimes though. Like any fish, its good to offer a variety of food.


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