sand

[schizo_fish]

Im thinking about putting a sand substrate in my tank, but was also planning on keeping Otto's. would they mind the sand? as i know they are bottom feeders and may prefer a larger grain substrate.

 

[rvm]

My otos seem to like it. Sand looks great too!!

 

[Kacey]

most fish love sand!
I find that even fish from ponds and lakes preffere sand over gravel I only choose gravel in a Tank with bottom feeders like Catfish or pleks or Newts and other such fish....
If you dont have any sucking fish like already listed or clown loaches or any other kind I think it doesnt matter which you choose however Gravel is easier to manage when changing/fully cleaning tank which I do atleast once every six months because I use an under Gravel Cleaner system and end up with too much dirt and stuff but should you have bottom feeders like eels and stuff its usually best not to fully clean the tank because they preffere/ likely to attemp to jump out of the tank without algae and bacteria in the tank.

 

[clutterydrawer]

i don't find that ottos are bottom feeders as such - it seems to me they spend more time on plant leaves, on decor, ot on pebble. should be fine. jsut make sure they've got something algae-covered to eat off, like a smooth pebble.

 

[schizo_fish]

this is what i'm planning on doing. Click Here
Would this be suitable if i was to get any bottom feeders?

 

[yhbae]

I think I saw this somewhere before...

How are you planning to divide between gravels and sand?

 

[astroboy]

I'd be a PITA cuz the sand and gravel will inevitably mix. Either when cleaning the tank or by other fish.

 

[yhbae]

I am definitely looking into having a mixture of sand and pool filter sand in my future Tang community tank but I'm not sure how to do this either.

The only idea I can think of is to place some stones where the two substrates meet, optionally placing java ferns on top of each of these stones.

But apparently, N Multies are nortorious sand movers so if I don't attach serious amount of java ferns on them, they will find a way to dump sand to "the other side"...

 

[schizo_fish]

does anyone have an opinion on whether or not my setup would be suitable for otto's or other bottom feeders?
My Setup

 

[schizo_fish]

also, will bottom feeders tend to stay on the gravelled area? and avoid the sand?

 

[Matty]

I think that it would be really hard to keep the sand and the gravel seperate and when mixed, it can look terrible (or it can look really good, depending on the situation, but i've seen it look bad more often than good.) I think the otos will flock wherever they have algae.

 

[caterpillar5]

IMO mixing sand and gravel would be very messy when you have to clean.

 

[yhbae]

does anyone have an opinion on whether or not my setup would be suitable for otto's or other bottom feeders?
My Setup

Bottom dwellers will like sand as much as any gravel based substrates. You needn't worry about them!

 

[yhbae]

IMO mixing sand and gravel would be very messy when you have to clean.

I'm not too concerned about this as cleaning sand involved disturbing almost nothing. I am more concerned about fishes relocating sand within the tank, especially the shellies such as N Multies.

 

[schizo_fish]

I think that it would be really hard to keep the sand and the gravel seperate and when mixed, it can look terrible (or it can look really good, depending on the situation, but i've seen it look bad more often than good.) I think the otos will flock wherever they have algae.

if the sand was to pass onto the gravelled area it wouldn't be too hard to just use a syphon and suck the sand off then replace it on the sand area. and if the gravel was to get over the other side id just pick it out myself.