Switch From Gravel To Sand For Clown Loaches?

[FishAreFriendsNotFood]

Bit of bad preparation on my part. I've bought 2 clown loaches to see if they can sort my snail infestation after trying all other recommended methods. I didn't do any research on the loaches (bad practice I know) and realised after putting them in, the gravel strata in my tank may be too large (about 3-5mm) for the loach's to root around in. Do I need to change to sand for them to be able to filter through for food or is the gravel still small enough? If I need to change to sand can I just remove the gravel and replace it without removing everything (mainly the fish) from the tank?

Cheers

Steve

 

[bunjiweb]

That does sound too large for them really. You should either change to a fine gravel (2-3mm maximum), quartz gravel (1-2mm) or sand (the messiest).

I would personally use quartz gravel as it is the finest gravel you can find whilst being very easy to clean.

They will be fine for the moment, although if you havent cleaned your filter recently i would take 2/3rds of the gravel out and put finer stuff on top. You can replace it all together but remember that by doing this you risk loosing alot of bacteria.

Ben