Choose My Substrate!!

[Becca]

~sigh~ Everybody always hatin' on the snails, i don't get it. They won't "take over" the tank. Their population will grow to match the food supply in the tank. Want less snails? Feed less and keep up with the water changes. Snails can be very beneficial, particularly the Malaysian trumpets since they keep the substrate aerated by burrowing around in it. They eat algae and keep it cleaned off the decorations and plants and whatnot, and eat excess food so it doesn't rot. They contribute a little poop but it's worth it for the clean do they do for you. The MTS burrows in the substrate, during the day you'll be lucky to see one, they come out at night. Like a crew of janitors! Snails make your little ecosystem more complete, i love them. I've kept them for years and they have never "taken over" a tank although they have population booms if there is an algae bloom. If they are on the front glass and bugging you, just wipe the algea off the glass and they will go elsewhere.

~John Lennon mode~ Alllll iiiii am saaaayiiiiing.... is give snails a chaaaance!

Luxum, that line in your post cracked me up.

You know what..I'll give them a shot, what the hey. I mean - seriously, how am I really going to know what I like / don't like unless I try them. I didn't like Plecos at first, but for all the good they do cleaning algea, I love them...and then I just got attached to the personality and looks of my Common.

I hate snakes, so I vowed never to have an eel. And I have one. He's beautiful (I just wish he'd come out more.)

So, what the heck. Let's try some snails. When I stock the tank, I'll toss some in. But first, I have a couple of questions:

1) How big do they get - do they count against my stocking levels?
2) Are my cichlids going to attempt to eat them? I hope not..
3) When you said my eel will "hunt" them, did you mean he'll eat them?
4) Since we're on the topic of snails being eaten, can I eat them?

I'll let you know how I make out!

 

[luxum]

1) How big do they get - do they count against my stocking levels?
2) Are my cichlids going to attempt to eat them? I hope not..
3) When you said my eel will "hunt" them, did you mean he'll eat them?
4) Since we're on the topic of snails being eaten, can I eat them?

1) Depends on the snail. If you get MTS (my favorite!) then a full grown one is about an inch to the tip of the shell. Most of them are smaller than that. I don't consider them for stocking purposes since they are small and contribute very little biolad. For the big apple snails you should count those as a 2 inch fish ime. I don't like those as much, they get too big, and need to be fed veggies. The MTS are very distinctive, they have a shell shaped like an ice cream cone or a cornucopia and most LFS will give them to you for free if they have them if you ask nicely.

2) I'm not sure. Some fish eat snails, but few of them can breach the shell of an MTS, they are tough. If they do manage to eat a few, hey it's free live food lol.

3) I don't know anything about eels! But if he is hunting snails he'll eat them if he can. Don't worry though, once you have an established population, it's like Doritos - eat all ya want, we'll make more!

4) Uhh... do you feel lucky?

 

[Teelie]

Black sand. I think that would look awesome with your cichlids, and your eel.

Once you go sand, you never go back.

Comet (and Doggfather...)

I was actually thinking sand a while ago, but my LFS recommended AGAINST it saying that it was hard to clean and your water started getting cloudy after a few months.

What are your opinions, if you have sand?

I was told that too but as everyone here loves to point out, time after time, LFS' don't know everything and I've had sand in my tanks for almost 6 months now without a single clouding.

It's easier to clean as all the stuff stays on top of the sand, especially if it's a heavy grain sand that won't suck up. I use Pool Filter Sand because it's generally heavier grain meant to be submerged on water.

 

[Becca]

Thanks luxum for the tips. I'll grab some when I stock my tank. They sound like a real "treat" (HAHAHAHAHA GET IT...ok, I'm just in a lame mood today. )

Teelie, as always, your advice is much appreciated. I've decided on using black sand, here's a link to the type I'm getting: Check Out My Sand!. If the black just too much, we're going to mix some pool filter sand in with it.

 

[vantgE]

Definately sand becca, for the best mbuna aquarium you want sand they love to dig and it is fun to watch, for my tank I used mostly playsand but, added a special african cichlid gravel to it that was very fine for gravel, they enjoy digging through the sand and some of them enjoy collecting the fine cichlid gravel. I added small pebbles that i found for them to dig around with about ten. so good luck. It is better to stick you buffer into the filter, it works better that way and tht is where the majority of mine is
Mbuna won't eat snails, and silica sand is also great but is much less fine
I agree black sand although unatuyral looking will work perfect with the coloration of your fish

 

[utahfish]

last i checked chiclids like gravel. they like picking the rocks up and moving them around. tahitian moon sand is great stuff but a rip off. it's twenty $ for 20 lbs when you can get 100 lbs of filtre sand for 5$ or 50lbs of play sand for 2$ anyway go to the chiclid forum they will probaly tell you more.

 

[vantgE]

No, they do the same with sand move it around, and at least africans prefer to do this with the sand

 

[MrMashashin]

ide go with small gravel. It's no sand but its extremely easy to clean and looks good in white and brown

 

[Teelie]

Back with more.

From what I've seen of natural cichlid environments, at least some, most of their river and lake bottoms are sandy with rocks, pebbles and gravel sized bits in it.

If I was doing a Cichlid set up, I'd do primary sand and add some pebbles or rocks but not a bag of gravel to the mix. River rocks or maybe a small back of rock gravel probably would do the trick.

 

[fish_r_great]

Go with HOT pink sand if you can find any!!!!! Actually just kidding Black Sand!!!

 

[Jen]

I just changed my tank over to sand, and I love the look of it. I don't have any dis/advantages yet, as it's only been running for a week, but I'm so happy I made the switch

 

[Becca]

Well, here are the totals:

1. 34 Votes at 61.82% - Sand
2. 14 Votes at 25.45% - Gravel: Small
3. 04 Votes at 07.27% - Gravel: Medium
4. 03 Votes at 05.45% - Gravel: Small
5. 00 Votes at 00.00% - Gravel: Large

It looks like sand won. I went with black, I really think that's going to look very sharp and help make my cichlids and eel stand out a lot more. Thanks guys!!