# Are pygmy cory's effective scavengers?



## Cheetah2 (Nov 24, 2015)

Will they reduce the need to vacuum through the substrate?
Do they multiply? As the plants increase, cleaning is quite disruptive and I'm looking for options.


I'd like a bottom cleaner and the idea of shrimp and snails doesn't appeal to me. It seems as if both grow quickly in numbers.


Thanks.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Snails and shrimp are a better option. They multiply, yes, but they can remove some of the detritus. To a certain extent, though, you want that stuff. The plants use it. 
Pygmy cories are actually midwater fish, and should never be kept as scavengers for anything other than dropped food.


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## thegirlundertherainbow (Aug 12, 2004)

Depends which specifically you're talking about. C.Pygmaeus, no. They're so tiny and gentle that even with fine sand they won't do much to disturb it at all.
Would help to know what type of substrate you have also.


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## Cheetah2 (Nov 24, 2015)

My substrate is Flourite. I'd like to keep it free of debris with as little maintenance as possible.
Is there a specific reason why I see so many people putting shrimp and snails together? 
Are mini crayfish any more difficult than shrimp?

It sounds as if C Pygmaeus is not really a functional option. I read that they are bottom dwellers though (and eat left over food).


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## Hooked on fish (Dec 15, 2015)

Crayfish may eat your fish
They aren't usually very "community"
Shrimp clean plants and substrate well and snails clean the glass and other hard surfaces.
They also tend to like different forms of food and algae (although I have nerites and ghost shrimp and I think they eat anything except BBA)

What is the debris made of?

If it is food/poop... feed less and most catfish/shrimp can help with food stuck in substrates.
if it's plant matter... snails, pleco, siamese algae eater (maybe) could help.
But, in the end, all of that is plant food.

I don't vacuum mine until it gets bad enough it starts to float about.


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

If the problem is that they could multiple too much, amano shrimp and nerite snails and great cleaners and can't reproduce in freshwater.


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## Hooked on fish (Dec 15, 2015)

Yep,

Just wish someone would have told me that the nerites would still lay a bazillion eggs that have to be sandblasted off the driftwood.

As for the shrimp multiplying.... I have cichlids in most of my tanks... so it's a race to see if they can multiply faster than they can get eaten.
I have plenty of spaces for the fry to hide but once they start free swimming... it's circle of life time.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

The only thing that will reduce vacuuming is pointing a powerhead that blows up all the food and poop to get sucked in the filter.


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## Coursair (Apr 16, 2011)

Corydoras habrosus stay about an inch. They do search my sand for food. Nobody eats poop. 

I don't vacuum my tank hardly at all. I have lots is plants. I have Shrimp and snails and Cories. I feed sinking food for the Cories and Shrimp. 

http://youtu.be/JrLx1mKDObY


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Don't need to vaccum through the substrate, just the surface if your able.
I have not vaccumed any of my tank's in over a year.
I could not be very effective at it if I wanted to,too many plant's.
Reduced feeding's is a good way to cut down on detritus,and snail's and shrimp are excellent at foraging over the surface and perhaps first few centimeter's of the substrate.
They also contribute minimally to bioload.
Let's face it,when we add more fish,,the natural response is to add more food for the fishes , which does little to decrease that which accumulates at the substrate, and can often result in more waste not less in the tank/filter.
What goes in the fishes,must come out.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Set up all the water movement (filter, powerhead, other) to make the water flow in one direction, especially across the bottom of the tank. 
This will 'blow' most of the debris into one area, hopefully the filter intake, but at least into one spot where you can vacuum it more easily than trying to work through the dense plants. 

Ditto the above suggestions of 'less fish food = less debris', though not entirely. I have several plant-only tanks, and the debris still piles up. They need cleaning as much as the tanks with fish.


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## thegirlundertherainbow (Aug 12, 2004)

Pygmaeus are one of my favorite fish, but they are so tiny I really wouldn't consider them a good choice for wanting something to "scavenge". I get them because I like having them but I would not say they do much of a "cleanup" job. I think they are just to small and their mouths too tiny. They do eat some stuff that goes to the bottom for sure.. but say small baby shrimp that die mine won't even touch.


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## gbb0330 (Nov 21, 2015)

mine spend a lot of time on the bottom, looking for food, i have 7.

but yeah, they are tiny and they don't eat fish poop. I can't think of any fish that does.

nothing wrong with snails and shrimp, they are part of the ecosystem.


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