Green Terror specific tank need help with "sand"

[RayStar]

Planning on setting up a Green Terror tank. I have a fair amount of experience in freshwater tanks. Just thought it would be interesting to raise and bred some GTs. Did Discuss years ago and the water parameters look about the same but this time I'll be using tap water (soft water here in ATL, GA) instead of RO. [Trying to avoid the expense and effort of RO this time out.]

I'm trying to figure out the substrate requirements. I see comments about the Green Terror needing sand. CaribSea offers a black sand (Midnight, gain size 1.0 – 4.0mm) and implies it is ok for cichlids. That's a lot bigger then what I would normally consider a "sand". For example, they offer a sand called Moonlight sand, grain size 0.25 – 0.75mm. Moonlight is what I think most folks would consider to be in line with a true "sand" from a marine aquarium standpoint. I'm wondering if I can use the Midnight sand without risking harm to the Green Terrors? Is it small enough? Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[Colin_T]

Green terror cichlids don't need sand and are happy moving small sized gravel around to excavate pits and rearrange the tank.

They are highly aggressive when mature and breeding and most shops don't buy them. So make sure you have someone who is willing to take the babies otherwise you can end up with thousands.

 

[emeraldking]

I've kept those in the past. I was glad that someone from Germany picked all of them up at some point. They even attacked eachother at some point. No single store and wholesaler in my country wanted to have those fish. When I had so many of them, I put all of them outside in a large tub. That German guy loved them. I told him that he could get them for free if he would give the effort to get them out of there by himself. And so he did... A win-win situation!

Btw, welcome to TFF...

 

[Magnum Man]

I raised Green Terrors, back when I had tanks 20 years ago ( not breeding )... if you are wanting a black sand, I just put a couple bags of this in my newly set up up Southy American Tank, it was well washed, a little coarser that the fine grain sand I used before, so more stable in the tank, easier to clean up, & the baby Cory's we just put in that tank seem to love it...

https://www.amazon.com/Imagitarium-Black-Aquarium-Sand-LBS/dp/B076FVMK2T?pd_rd_w=pjtTq&content-id=amzn1.sym.62bf6161-8bd0-4857-85d6-e30435da42bd&pf_rd_p=62bf6161-8bd0-4857-85d6-e30435da42bd&pf_rd_r=ZPPQ4H3VK219D3ZA2M5Y&pd_rd_wg=tWOPd&pd_rd_r=0c1241f7-e0c9-4ccf-bea5-94651e5b0985&pd_rd_i=B076FVMK2T&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_22_t&th=1

 

[jaylach]

Many years ago I had green terrors along with blue and yellow acara, convicts, jack dempsey, pleco, rope fish and corys. I was told by several people that they would end up killing each other but that isn't true with a large enough tank and the fish are introduced very young. They just set up their own territory and leave each other alone.

Anyway there is a lot of discussion as to sand or gravel especially with diggers and/or bottom dwellers. In my opinion gravel is fine for even plecos and corys BUT it depends on the gravel. It isn't the size of the gravel/sand that harms the barbels on a pleco or cory but, rather, the sharp edges on most gravel. This is the same with digging cichlids. I actually went to a local, very clean, river with a pebble bed and harvested my substrate there. You can also get bags of gravel that have been 'tumbled' with sand to remove any edges which results in pretty close to the river substrate I used but tends to cost a bit more.

I actually have never used sand as a substrate even though I like the look. The problem for me is that I'm an advocate for under gravel filtration and sand is just not viable for that.

 

[RayStar]

Green terror cichlids don't need sand and are happy moving small sized gravel around to excavate pits and rearrange the tank.

They are highly aggressive when mature and breeding and most shops don't buy them. So make sure you have someone who is willing to take the babies otherwise you can end up with thousands.

Thanks for your reply. Clears up the conflicting info I was seeing online.

 

[RayStar]

Many years ago I had green terrors along with blue and yellow acara, convicts, jack dempsey, pleco, rope fish and corys. I was told by several people that they would end up killing each other but that isn't true with a large enough tank and the fish are introduced very young. They just set up their own territory and leave each other alone.

Anyway there is a lot of discussion as to sand or gravel especially with diggers and/or bottom dwellers. In my opinion gravel is fine for even plecos and corys BUT it depends on the gravel. It isn't the size of the gravel/sand that harms the barbels on a pleco or cory but, rather, the sharp edges on most gravel. This is the same with digging cichlids. I actually went to a local, very clean, river with a pebble bed and harvested my substrate there. You can also get bags of gravel that have been 'tumbled' with sand to remove any edges which results in pretty close to the river substrate I used but tends to cost a bit more.

I actually have never used sand as a substrate even though I like the look. The problem for me is that I'm an advocate for under gravel filtration and sand is just not viable for that.

Thanks. I'm hoping the CaribSea product is going to be smooth enough to avoid injury to the fish. After all, they say it is ok for cichlids.