Re: Flourite as a substrate for Corydoras catfish?

["Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

One of my tanks is 100% flourite and the three cories that have been in
there for abut 8 months now seem to be doing fine. At first I didn't notice
any of their barbels being damaged but lately they have apparently lost a
couple of the tips (they are shorter now). I don't know if that is due to
the flourite or something else however. In another tank I used flourite and
then covered it with coated gravel. What's the rule, smaller grains end up
on the bottom over time or the other way around? I've been thinking of
placing some gravel in my main tank over the flourite but I'm scared that if
I don't like it I'll have to pick it out pebble by pebble.

Anyone tried throwing the flourite in a tumbler?  ;-)

Giancarlo Podio

----- Original Message -----
  a.. To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
  b.. Subject: Flourite as a substrate for Corydoras catfish?
  c.. From: Cheryl Trine <ctrine at andrews_edu>
  d.. Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:50:31 -0400

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All the advice I have read about keeping Cory cats indicates that the
gravel substrate should be rounded so that they won't wear their barbels
down to nubs.  After I washed my flourite with bare hands, they felt
rather rough and scraped up, so I am wondering if this is an appropriate
substrate for a planted tank with cory catfish.

If flourite shouldn't be used, what would be a good alternative?  Could
I cover the flourite with about an inch of rounded gravel or sand?
Would this just get mixed when vacuuming the surface, and bring the
flourite to the top?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheri