Play Sand In Betta Tank?

[Livewire88]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about changing the gravel in my Betta bowl to sand, my question is will the Betta like it?

I have a fake lilly leaf at the bottom of the tank which he likes to rest under, if I have sand on the bottom I think he will disturb it when ever he comes rushing out from under the lilly and I am worried he might not like it??

 

[Louiseness]

Should be fine. Actually, a few people here have said that their bettas with sand have better-looking fins than those on gravel.

 

[sausagewinkle]

Sand can be better for some bettas (confusing) as the gravel can sometimes tear their fins.
I used to have gravel and changed my males and females onto sand, they were all ok with the change and had no complaints from them

 

[Livewire88]

Thats good to know, I was just worried he would kick loads of sand up whenever he rushes out from under the lilly,

I assume if any sand gets in his mouth he would spit it out and not swallow it?

 

[sausagewinkle]

I think you would be ok

 

[bettanoob]

i got some aquarium sand for my tank my betta love being lazy on it and it looks a lot nicer than gravel in my eyes

 

[Fatknee]

I think I might try sand for my boys too,sounds like a great option

 

[bettanoob]

my local pet shop has a huge selection of coloured aquarium sand that will also show off your betta as you can opt for complimentry colours ect its around £4 per bag of 2.5kg

 

[sausagewinkle]

I must admit, I prefer gravel. Even though I changed them all to sand

 

[bettanoob]

haha only thing i dont like about the sand is small amounts of it ''blow'' around the tank and it seems to coat everything but they all like playing in it lol

 

[LeiLana80]

I once had a "beach" themed aquarium (sand, palm trees, bamboo fence, alligator, etc) and my main complaint was that my filter blew that sand all over everywhere, and where the water poured into the tank, I always had a divot. Even if I'd shift the sand back to being level, by the end of the night it was just a hole again.
Now this was a 12 gallon tank, so maybe a larger tank (or a tank with a baffle, something I knew nothing about until recently) would be fine.
Even with the trouble I had, I still think it looked lovely. But I personally wouldn't ever do sand again- at least not without a baffle... that probably would have fixed my problems
Anyway... that's my two cents. Good luck!

 

[bettanoob]

i had that problem first with my filter being far to powerfull but some strategic placing of the nozzle( pointing it up instead of straight) to take out the force of the stream and some strategically placed plants ect the problem was resolved i think most of my sand that is being moved is from my peppered coryadoras as they sift it and often take a mouthfull an swim off or burry in it to disturb the sand