Sand, Gravel Or Bare Bottom?

[Chad]

Aesthetics is a large part of it for me as is the habitat of my livestock. I use the substrate that I think looks best and fits the needs of my sand dwellers and sand sifters. A marine goby can't filter gravel through it's gills and I'm not so sure how it would do with mud.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's my feeling too...  I think this picture says it all.
 
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You'll want to click on the pic to really see how it works.

 

[Chad]

Beautiful. That's how it works. They intake the sand and eat the tiny organisms living in it while expelling the sand. Great behavior. Leaves piles of sand all over my tank.

 

[Maehlice]

Beautiful. That's how it works. They intake the sand and eat the tiny organisms living in it while expelling the sand. Great behavior. Leaves piles of sand all over my tank.

 
Is this behaviour common to all fish or just certain species?  If common to all fish, I might have to change my opinion of sand and incorporate it into my substrate somehow.

 

[Chad]

Not all fish for sure but many, perhaps even most, bottom dwellers. Also in my case I have snails and other creatures that live in the sand that are a vital part of my reef tank's ecosystem.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's common to a lot of fish, but not all.
 
Prime substrate sifters are; nearly all cichlids, all corydoras (even the pygmy cories do it sometimes), most loaches and plecs

 

[Chad]

Goby, dottybacks, jawfish, and some blenny also do it.

 

[Maehlice]

It's common to a lot of fish, but not all.
 
Prime substrate sifters are; nearly all cichlids, all corydoras (even the pygmy cories do it sometimes), most loaches and plecs

 
Well damn that's half my tank right there.  I guess I'll soon be adding sand somewhere in there.  Thanks!

 

[fluttermoth]

You're welcome
 
I used to keep cories on gravel and, apart from having problems with their barbels on it, they are so much happier on sand. I personally, will never keep cories or cichlids on anything other than sand again.

 

[Fishmanic]

a great sand sifter is a Geophagus---I had one years ago and he would constantly sifting through the substrate, even though it was gravel at the time.   They get pretty big so you'd need a large tank 10-12 inches.   It's a very entertaining fish to watch and has great coloring.

 

[Metka]

I voted for Sand. Ever since switching out my horrid bright blue neon gravel for the sand, the whole tank looks much nicer. More natural and the fish absolutely love it.
 
The only downside (if it is a downside?) is that the larger fish, and my male Bristlenose just like to spend all their day rearranging the sand. It used to be nice and flat, with a couple inches all the way across the bottom. Now, the entire left hand side is just one big underwater sand dune... 
 
Oh well, whatever keeps them happy!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's funny.  My BN just dug out a huge cave under one of my rocks... made a 3 inch pile of substrate next to it.  THen, I looked and he wasn't even hanging out in that spot - he was in a different one.

 

[Chad]

I actually like this digging as it creates natural forms in the substrate that even with my best effort I'm not able to replicate.

 

[Midas]

I voted for Sand. Ever since switching out my horrid bright blue neon gravel for the sand, the whole tank looks much nicer. More natural and the fish absolutely love it.
 
The only downside (if it is a downside?) is that the larger fish, and my male Bristlenose just like to spend all their day rearranging the sand. It used to be nice and flat, with a couple inches all the way across the bottom. Now, the entire left hand side is just one big underwater sand dune... 
 
Oh well, whatever keeps them happy!

 
So that's what I am worried about with sand, my big Midas Cichlid did this with the beach rocks and sometimes created a "dune" over the filter intake.  If it were sand it would no doubt get into the filer.  I love the way sand looks but for my fish its unfortunately not a good choice.