Sand Or Just Fine Gravel?

[Man of fish]

Do kuhli loaches need sand or just fine gravel? I'm starting to really debate about a switch to sand, but not sure if it would really be a benefit because I'm not sure if I could get kuhlis or corys with some of the fish I want anyways.

 

[onidrase]

My Khulis sift the sand through their gills and pick up small scraps in order to get their food, since they don't really like the catfish pellets and the others tend to pick up everything else. They also bury themselves a lot, similar to how eels would.

IMO, they should be kept on sand. But it's possible to keep cories and khulis on gravel. They just act better with sand. All bottom feeders do.

Besides, sand is cheap as heck, (if not the same price as gravel) and better for aquascaping, and it doesn't look tacky as hell like gravel does.

 

[Man of fish]

I'm pondering it because I like a natural look and playsand is cheap but not sure if I'll love it or not. It would also take a while but I'm sure id be fine just slap some gravel my filter and heater in my qt and rescape. I'm sure my deco could use some soaking too. I know most fish prefer it but...
If I were to do it I'm not sure if I could do anything particularly different though.

 

[onidrase]

I'm pondering it because I like a natural look and playsand is cheap but not sure if I'll love it or not. It would also take a while but I'm sure id be fine just slap some gravel my filter and heater in my qt and rescape. I'm sure my deco could use some soaking too. I know most fish prefer it but...
If I were to do it I'm not sure if I could do anything particularly different though.

It took me only like an hour to change from sand to gravel, just washed out the play sand, stuck the fish in a bucket for a little while, took out the decor, fished the gravel out with a net, and poured in the sand.

Gravel is kinda gross, honestly. If you ask me, the amount of beneficial bacteria in the gravel is trivial. The food and waste falls through the gravel which causes more harm than good. It's harder for cichlids to dig in, it can cause infections to catfish if kept unclean, and can cause scrapes and lacerations on species that like to bury themselves which may lead to infections due to all the bacteria in the gravel.

 

[Man of fish]

Well if you put it that way maybe I'll change in march or April before I get the new fish I'm also pondering.

 

[FishFanatic04]

The sand sounds like a big fuss, but I just did a whole 75g with about 120 lbs of sand. It took me 2 afternoons of rinsing but I have a 4 month old baby and a two year old wild child, so it could be faster if you actually have time.

I just put about an inch in a bucket at a time {two buckets going at once} I filled the bucket with good pressure which stirred the sand...let it settle while the other one started filling, then poured it out and switched....I didn't bother letting it settle too long, all those small bits would just take forever to settle after water changes. I did it a bunch of times per bucket...once it was settling and the water looked clear, I did about 5 more rinses just to be sure.

Put on the radio...get rinsing...I bet you'll love it! Oh and the gravel I dug out was GROSS. I was happy to throw it out.