Ancistrus and Sandstone

[Aqua67]

It’s an overcast and rainy day here, perfect for sitting in front of one of my tanks to observe happy fish doing their thing. I tossed in some food and just sat and watched. Laughed a little. Just enjoyed the show. I’m sure everyone here can relate.

I was looking for the 3 nerite snails and spotted two of them, doing their job. The SAE I moved from my acara tank to the angelfish tank was doing its job, eating much debris and I was admiring the good job she was doing.

Then I noticed my baby ancistrus which has had a dark green tummy every time I see it. This little fish came with the tank when I bought it in March 2022. Rainbow sandstone pieces came with the tank. Many items came with the tank, and many which I will never use. But anyhow, today it occurred to me as I watched this little ancistrus clean off the sandstone of any beginnings of green algae….I wonder if that sandstone collects in the ancistrus‘ tummy, or if it passes through. I’m pretty sure it would not be digested. Might it impact the ancistrus’ stomach and cause a problem? I don’t see sandstone-colored contents of the tummy, but I do see that the tummy is green and algae is being consumed.

Before anyone assumes there is no driftwood for my ancistrus, settle down, there is plenty of driftwood in there. <smile>

So that is my question…Does anyone keep ancistrus with sandstone also in the tank? If so, have you noticed any problems? Can anyone speak from their experience?

I’m going to keep my eye on things and if it appears the sandstone is being sanded down or is developing little scooped out areas, then I might just remove it. I’m leaning towards keeping it in the tank for now as it is part of an underground double cave area I made for my shy kuhli loaches.

Thanks.

 

[Aqua67]

My little ancistrus passed away, I am sad to say. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the sandstone or not, but I have taken the sandstone out of the tank and it will never go back into any of my tanks again.

 

[GaryE]

I once bought a tank with sandstone decorative rocks, and they gradually crumbled into the substrate. I doubt the sand grains would have harmed the Ancistrus, but I won't use sandstone again either. It's basalt and granite from here on in.

I'm sorry about that loss. You write with an eye for your fish that is refreshing to see. I missed this post in August.

 

[Uberhoust]

Personally, I doubt the sandstone had anything to do with what happened to the Ancistrus, but sandstone is really difficult material to assess. To be called sandstone all you need is a rock made of sand size particles and some material to cement them together. The sand is usually mostly a mix of siliceous type particles because they typically survive the transition from rocks to sand without being otherwise destroyed, but there are sandstones made with particles that are not silica, quartz, based. The cementing material runs from calcareous to silica based, each mix with different chemical properties. Each different type of sandstone behaves different within an aquarium, shale is similar except based on a smaller particle size. Rocks that have gone through metamorphism are usually more predictable, slate and gneiss are typically more stable within a water environment than sandstone or shale.