Would a ramshorn snail or a small cory catfish be a better tank mate for my guppies?

Question

I am interested in creating a community tank, and I would like some opinions on bottom dwellers for a warm (78-80) 6 gal tank. To help clean up the extra food that falls to the bottom of the tank.

I have 2 female guppies I recently lost the male.

I am not looking for an algae eater, my guppies linger at the top of the tank, and dont scavange for food on the bottom like a cory or a snail.

Answer 1

Both cories and snails need to be fed, they also both add to the stock of the tank and since your tank is only 6 gallons adding either will limit how many guppies you will be able to have. If you plan on only keeping the 2 females then a ramshorn snail would be fine but if you plan on getting another male you will be over run with guppies that even the snail will be too much. Since cories like to be in schools I wouldn't add them at all.

Oh and another thing, ramshorns don't constantly have babies, they need both a male and a female to reproduce and since they lay eggs if you don't want any babies you can just remove the clutch from the water and let it dry out. They also have to be a certain age to mate, they are usually around an inch big by then. I have around 50-60 columbian ramshorn snails.

Answer 2

Cories need to be in groups of 6 or more, and that is too many for a 6 gallon tank because the footprint of the tank is so small. You could not even put 2 in there.

The snail will do a much better cleaning job anyway.

Answer 3

I would suggest a snail because cory catfish are not just algae eaters, they do require their own food such as shrimp pellets or frozen foods. Snails will eat anything along the bottom or sides of the tank and wont really affect the fish to gallon ratio. The only bad thing about snails is that the have babies constantley, so 1 snail is going to lead to 20.

If you have aquarium salt in your tank you can not add a snail though. They will die

Answer 4

snails need calcium. Too much for the fish to handle in that space. I'd recommend a small cory. Pygmies would be best if you can find them. That way you could fit a school in. Also ghost shrimp are great for small spaces.

Answer 5

They would both be good choices. You could even put in both. Just remember that even though corys are bottom dwellers, they still need to be fed, unlike the snail that will feed on what is already in your tank.

Answer 6

6 gal is very small, it would depend how many guppies you have as to wether you add a fish or a snail. A good rule of thumb is 1 gallon of water to 1 inch of full grown fish;

Answer 7

both would work