Corridors: Care and Maintenance

Catfish corridors are hardworking helpers who actively clean the bottom of the aquarium of food debris. It is necessary to keep these fish in flocks of 4-6 pieces. The recommended volume should be at least 30 liters per pair of fish.

Corridor aquarium

Like most catfish, corridors prefer to live in the bottom layer of the aquarium. Fish lead a twilight lifestyle and are rather shy, therefore, it is necessary to provide them with a large number of shelters, which can be stones, natural driftwood, artificial grottoes. During daylight hours, the corridors prefer to hide away from the eyes of the aquarist.

In nature, corridors often live in rather muddy water. As a result, they have a number of adaptations – sensitive antennae near the mouth and intestinal respiration. However, with aquarium keeping, catfish will feel most comfortable in clean and well-aerated water, so it is important to take care of installing a suitable filter and compressor. The lack of air in the aquarium can be easily identified by the behavior of the corridors – they often begin to float to the surface of the water to swallow the next portion of air.

Despite the hard work of these little workers, it is necessary to regularly look after the aquarium – change the water, clean the soil and glass, rinse the filter sponges.

Water parameters

Corridors are unpretentious fish species. Due to their natural endurance, they adapt to completely different conditions of detention. The optimal water parameters for catfish are as follows: T = 22-25 ° C, pH = 6.0-7.5, GH = 4-18. Corridors do not like abrupt changes in water parameters, so it is necessary to ensure that the environment is as stable as possible.

High concentrations of nitrogenous compounds are dangerous for catfish: they lead to the death of their sensitive antennae. It is important to regularly test the water for basic water parameters and change up to 20% of the aquarium volume weekly. If you use tap water for the change, it is recommended to prepare it with Tetra AquaSafe before pouring it into the container. The fact is that the water taken from the tap may contain chlorine or its derivatives (chlorination is often carried out at treatment plants), as well as heavy metals, with which the water is saturated when flowing through old water pipes. Tetra AquaSafe instantly makes the water safe for fish and additionally enriches it with vitamins and colloids that protect the mucous membranes of aquatic life.

Shine

Corridors prefer to be active at night. Therefore, you should not install too bright lighting in the aquarium. Otherwise, it is necessary to provide the fish with a large number of shelters where they can stay in the dark. Lamps with a special night mode (blue backlight) are perfect for observing catfish. This light will not scare the fish and will allow you to enjoy the nightlife of your aquarium.

Priming

The choice of soil for corridors must be approached carefully. You can not use a substrate with sharp edges – about them catfish can damage their perioral antennae. Large pebbles will not work either. This will prevent the corridors from digging in the ground in search of food, moreover, food can fall into space between large stones, which the catfish cannot reach – and this is already an unnecessary accumulation of organic matter in the aquarium. Coarse sand or small rounded pebbles are ideal.

Plants

The use of live plants in the design of the aquarium with corridors will be extremely useful. The dense thickets will be a great hiding place for fish, where they can easily hide if something scares them. Live plants have a good effect on the environment. For corridors, plants are not of gastronomic interest, so you can safely plant any popular species: Vallisneria, Ambulia, Cryptocorynes, Echinodorus, ferns, and others. To dim the lighting a little, floating plants are suitable – hornwort, riccia, pistia.

Feeding the corridors

Like any bottom dwellers, corridors prefer food that quickly sink to the bottom. Special sinking tablets for catfish will be optimal. They contain the entire range of nutrients and vitamins, sink well, and retain their shape for a long time, remaining available to fish. Popular live and frozen foods are not recommended as they will not provide pets with the necessary elements and can become a source of infection in the aquarium.

Good choices for feeding corridors are:

1. Tetra Cory ShrimpWafers are solid, sinking wafers designed to meet the specific nutritional needs of the corridors. The high content of shrimp, rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids, promotes healthy catfish growth.
2. Tetra Tablets TabiMin is the staple food for all bottom fish species. The tablets quickly sink to the bottom, where they slowly soften and release the feed. Perfect for targeted feeding of shy fish. Contains shrimp for increased palatability.
3. Tetra Wafer Mix is ​​a high quality balanced food for bottom fish and crustaceans. Fully satisfies the food needs of the corridors. Additionally enriched with shrimp and algae for healthy fish growth.

It is best to feed the corridors after turning off the lights.

Compatibility

Corridors are some of the best candidates for a community aquarium. Catfish have not been seen to behave aggressively towards other species. These catfish get along well with viviparous Cecilia (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), tetras, neons, scalars, barbs, danios, and killifish.

Unsuitable neighbors will be large predatory cichlids (akars, astronomies, etc.), which can easily swallow small catfish. Often, other benthic species, for example, Botsi or Girinoheilus, conflict with the corridors. The exception is ancistrus, which get along well with corridor catfish.