2 Questions!

[griddlebone]

I'm redoing the substrate in my3 smaller tanks from gravel to sand since i made the mistake of using white gravel and it looks pretty nasty after a while, and because i used calcium sand in the tank that didnt have gravel and it raised the ph and im afraid its affecting my boy, and its a pain in the rear end to keep ph lower. How much sand should i use in each tank? each is a 5 gallon.

second question, i recently moved one of my boys from a quarentine tank because he was sick( and cause his new tank wasnt ready!) but ever since i moved him, hes been chasing is refection around. he didnt ever notice it in the quarentine tank. its been over 24 hours and he wont stop. what should I do?

thanks much!

 

[Honeythorn]

A couple of inches of sand should be fine, though if you have live plants you may want to add some more for a deeper substrate to root into.

As for him chasing himself, get some cheap silk plants or even spare live plants if you have them, and arrange them all round the edges to block as much of the view of the glass as you can. There's not much you can do apart from that.

What do you have in the tank? A new coconut cave or some other hidey hole or ornament if you use them, might help distract him from the glass.

 

[Night61]

hmm with calcium rich sand you could probably get a snail or two in there for entertainment

 

[newfishy]

like honeythorn said plants along most of the glass, dark paper taped to three sides will cut down on the reflection, but if worse comes to worse you could let just a little algea grow on the sides. where I live the water is so hard it scuzes the glass up right away unless I keep after it, that would work too.

 

[griddlebone]

yea, i have black paper on the sides and he still sees his refection but luckily food is distracting enough to make him forget his shadow for the time. then he goes right back to chasing it. I might get a snail for the tank with the shrimp eater.

 

[loraxchick]

he'll probably calm down after a while. he'll figure out that he can't "get to" that "other" guy. its like putting two males in a divided tank...they flare for a few days, seemingly non-stop, but eventually they give up. plants are certainly a good idea also. plant them along the glass.