Best Bottom Feeders for this Setup?
 

Hello everyone, I currently have a 29 gallon planted tank with:

1 Common Pleco
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 Zebra Danio
4 Neon Tetras
4 Black Neon Tetras
4 Bloodfin Tetras

My pleco is starting to get a bit big (it's about 6 inches at least now!) so I'm going to be getting rid of it soon and I'm looking for a new "bottom feeder" type fish. I was thinking cories but I heard they like to have groups of at least 6, is this true?
What bottom feeders would be best for this tank?

I'm open to any suggestions! Thanks!

Cories should be fine. It is true that the must be kept in schools of 6, but if your tank is planted, I wouldn't worry about overstocking. If anything, less than 6 would getkind of lost in the tank. Alternately, you could look into loaches (asia's answer to cories) but they sometimes get big, as well as grouchy. Since you currently (excluding the pleco) have mid and upper level fish, however, you should be able to swing some loaches. They are never crabby unless someone comes snooping around the tank floor lol.

Corries would be a good fit...but like you said, that common pleco will outgrow that tank very rapidly...they can get huuuge......you could go with 6 corries

you should also consider upping the number of your tetras to six of each group as they are a shoaling fish as well...

I have black neons and bloodfins, they are awesome!

I think I'll go with corys, thanks!

Do cory's have to be the same type?

For example could I mix panda and peppered, or should I just try to get 6 of one type?

With 6 you could have 3 of one species and 3 of another. In my experience, cories get along well with each other but they do have a preference for their own species when given the opportunity. In my 90g currently I have 3 C. panda, 3 C. similis and 9 C. pygmaeus. While they chum around together, about 90% of the time the pandas are together in one group, the similis are together in another group, and the pygmies are scattered around but 2-3 of them usually together. Similar happens in my 115g where I have 3 of some and 5 of other species; "together" usually means the same species.

Just one comment on the pandas, for some reason they are not one of the "easy" corydoras. If your tank is established (been running a while) and stable with respect to water parameters and quality, they should be fine.

I also agree with an earlier post, add 1-2 more of each of the tetras; a group of 6 of each species works better (from the fish's perspective that is :-)).

Byron.

Tetra like to be in groups of at least 10 minimum. My Black neon tetra were happy at 6, I lost 2, then added 5 Neon tetra. They actually swim together to my surprise. They are much happier as a group of 9.

I will be expanding both groups to a total of 10 each. So they will be much happier when I get to that point. Its going to take some time.

Thanks for all the help, one more question though.

Do I really have enough room in my tank to have 6 of each tetras and 6 cories?

In my view, yes, provided you are regular with your weekly partial water change of 30-40% (characins respond very well to the pwc). And you say it is planted; planted aquaria can hold more (small) fish than un-planted thanks to the incredible filtration the plants perform. Thinking of my planted 33g (close to your 29) when I had 40 such fish, there were no issues.

Byron.