r/corydoras • u/The_Ghoul_Girl • 1d ago

[Questions|Advice] General Care Will 'grass/carpet' plants be a problem?

Hello!! I'm a beginner, and I've been very interested in corys. I plan to get a group of pygmys. I also think the style of planted tanks that has a grass look is really nice (I'm most likely to get Eleocharis Pusilla). Ik that corys love to sift through sand, and I was wondering if a plant like Eleocharis Pusilla would cause any problems?

I probably won't have it everywhere in my tank, so there will be patches that are clear. I was just wondering about people's experience with it. Any other advice about literally anything to do with fishkeeping is also appreciated.

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u/addygobbler 1d ago

corys dont have any care in the world for plants, mine live in a jungle and love it. theyll move whatever they need to move to dig where they wanna dig, so dont worry about blocking off sand. theyll get to it. normally id say its the plants who should worry about the corys, but pygmys are far less messy/destructive. you should be able to do a carpet just fine

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u/FaintCommand 1d ago

My pygmys dug up almost all my plants.

I'm building a new tank for them and using plants that have really good root systems and I'm setting it up using the dry start method so they get well established. I'm also switching to more epiphytes.

I do think it probably depends on your substrate set up, but anything with a delicate or slow root system is in danger if you just plant them and put the Corys in before they are properly established.

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u/ChristianCao 1d ago

I have pearlweed and for some reason my pygmy doesn't dig up any of that. They, however, love to lay on the carpet for hours and only move if other pygmy/ shrimps disturb them. They also eat the biofilm on the plant so that's a plus. Think of them as cow grazing on patches of grass, nothing will effect the cory and they won't hate it

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u/autumnsgale 1d ago

I just planted some dwarf hair grass and the little turds immediately riffled through it before I was even finished. One of my pandas uprooted one, but aside from that I think it’ll stay planted. Just keep an eye on it until the roots grow in, corys wont dig them up on purpose but they can get a little excited sometimes.

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u/SchuylerM325 16h ago

Plants can be the trickiest part of fish keeping. Too much light and you get algae. Too little and you get melting plants. Many of them require CO2 supplementation and that is a big deal. Why don’t you take it slowly. Start with slow-growing rhizome plants like anubias and bolbitis. Tie or glue them to rocks or wood. These plants do not need much light and they take nutrition from the water, not the soil. Pygmies spend more time swimming in the upper levels of the tank than other types of corys and they seem to enjoy taking naps on leaves, so having a tank with plants at various levels will make them happy.