Cories and... leeches?
Posted: 16 Jul 2017, 19:38
I have over 40 tanks in my house. Only four of them have cories in them though. One of them houses Hastatus, which aren't quite so much "sand surfers" when it comes to feeding, like my other cories are.
That tank also seems to have a leech problem. VERY tiny ones though. I'm not completely sure how they got in there, except maybe one hitched a ride on a net from my "native" tank. And with Hastatus not being good "sand surfers" they wouldn't be eating them much at all.
The real problem is that I also try to raise pink ramshorn snails in that tank. But they seem to die off in rather large numbers - with the leeches covering them. I ALSO house breeding plecos in that tank (it's a bottom-feeder-only kinda tank) and I'm expecting eggs any day now, but don't want leeches eating them either.
Do other cory species tend to eat leeches? I know cories are pretty good with eating "meaty" type foods, and these things are small enough to EASILY fit in their tiny mouths. They are small enough for the Hastatus to eat, if they'd just graze through the sand more. But if another type, such as aeneus, would eat them more readily, then I'll put some in there. Whatever keeps them off of the snails works for me.
(And yes I know salt kills them too, and I've added some - which the Hastatus seem to tolerate pretty well. But probably not enough to get rid of them as there are SO MANY, and they are all hiding down IN the sand.)
That tank also seems to have a leech problem. VERY tiny ones though. I'm not completely sure how they got in there, except maybe one hitched a ride on a net from my "native" tank. And with Hastatus not being good "sand surfers" they wouldn't be eating them much at all.
The real problem is that I also try to raise pink ramshorn snails in that tank. But they seem to die off in rather large numbers - with the leeches covering them. I ALSO house breeding plecos in that tank (it's a bottom-feeder-only kinda tank) and I'm expecting eggs any day now, but don't want leeches eating them either.
Do other cory species tend to eat leeches? I know cories are pretty good with eating "meaty" type foods, and these things are small enough to EASILY fit in their tiny mouths. They are small enough for the Hastatus to eat, if they'd just graze through the sand more. But if another type, such as aeneus, would eat them more readily, then I'll put some in there. Whatever keeps them off of the snails works for me.
(And yes I know salt kills them too, and I've added some - which the Hastatus seem to tolerate pretty well. But probably not enough to get rid of them as there are SO MANY, and they are all hiding down IN the sand.)