# Catfish and Onyx Sand



## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

I am in the process of setting up a new home for my peppered cory catfish and was going to use Seachem's Onyx Sand. After doing some research, I read a horror story where a aquarium fish owner claimed that his catfish would lose their barbells due to sharp edges on the onyx sand particles. Anyone have similar experience. What did people have success with. I read that silica sand from petstores made specially for snakes and lizards is a better option but I don't want to purchase some of Tahitian Moon Sand or PoolFilter sand can work as I have some lying around.

Thanks


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## gheitman (Aug 18, 2007)

I haven't noticed any problems with my pygmy cories in a tank using Onxy Sand. It is definitely important to keep water quality high as that reduces the cories' susceptibility to barbel damage. One other thing to be aware of is that Onxy Sand buffers the tank's pH slightly higher (.2-.4).


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

gheitman said:


> I haven't noticed any problems with my pygmy cories in a tank using Onxy Sand. It is definitely important to keep water quality high as that reduces the cories' susceptibility to barbel damage. One other thing to be aware of is that Onxy Sand buffers the tank's pH slightly higher (.2-.4).


Thanks G  The only reason I was going to use the Onyx Sand was because I wanted to experiment with the non C02 Barr approach, in which he recommends Onyx Sand for best results and I wanted to replicate the set up exactly.

I have a 2.5 gallon and 5 gallon in one of the Bedrooms that I will tear down and replace with 5 gallon set up as exactly as per Barr's low tech non-c02 recommendation, with Onyx sand. Just to be safe, I will not put in any catfish in that one. I may use it to breed dwarf aquatic frogs only.

With the 3 gallon that I am going to put the cory cat fish in I will use Tahitian Moon Sand instead of Onyx just to be safe. I have had the catfish survive in a 2.5 gallon tank and fish bowl for 9 years, so I know he must be healthy. The change may stress him out and increase his susceptabilty to a bacterial infection and barbell damage. And if there is even a remote possiblity that the Onyx Sand could make the problem worse, I would rather not take that chance.

*Interesting the guy posted in this link claims:
"Pool filter sand is my favourite - it has a very regular particle size and doesn't harm the barbels of my catfish. The only Corydoras sp. with great looking barbels in my house are on catfish who live in tanks with pool filter sand."
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/prof...substrate.html

*


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

I dont know that the sand has sharp enough edges to actually harm the barbells of the cories unless they try to do a Kuhli approach and bury themselves.


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