Which River Rock Is Better? [POLL]

Which rocks?


  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
Gold nuggets might come in handy, if they are the rocks lying around in your river...

You could use them to buy the many tanks you clearly need (said the man with an entire fishroom). I get that nurge to upgrade or update or downgrade or mess up while improving tanks. You just can't sustain it with only one tank!

Tomorrow when the weather improves I'll take a walk along the local beach looking for weathered and rounded grey rocks.
Yes, some gold nuggets would be great 😂... Luckily, a bag of stones from Lowes is pretty cheap. The most expensive thing for my renovation will be the plants...
 
Never caught them and moved them before... So I cant do it "again".


When did I meds it up in the first place?

It may have stressed them but they were missing for 5 days at the time so me and ithers were worried. If my memory is alright I'm pretty sure others on here even said to search for them because they were missing for so long...



Like I said the lights are all off... And plus, when was it told "many times"... I remember you saying it once and only once but that was for stress reasons not algae so again with the "agains" lol...

If I was impatient and did things my way all my fish would be died... I wont lie about that. If I was impatient I would have not cycled my tank for 100 days and started a journal and do a ton of research. I could have just gotten bored with the cycle and get some fish... But I didn't... In fact people on here said for me just to get fish but I waited another week or so to make sure the tank was good.

Sometimes people with years of advice have recommended me to do something but I didn't do it BECAUSE I literally just couldnt do it... And guess what? Everything was fine. I'm not saying that to be rude or anything but I am saying it just to say that sometimes you dont have to go by the book. Sometimes things can and will work out... And this is one of these things I KNOW will work out
Really, you have no idea about fish and their needs, you have gotten lucky. Good on you!!
 
Sometimes Rocky you show a degree of maturity and a potential to learn things from others here.

But then you start using laughing emoji or "lol" and all that maturity flies out the window and people like myself and others here who have tried to gently steer you onto the right path and to try and get you to settle down, not rush into bad decisions etc start to wonder why should we bother to try and help you.

You got the wrong fish, you were given the wrong advice wherever you got them from. They are not a beginner fish, they are moderate at best. You have not researched their behaviour at all nor have you researched their habitat requirements. If you had done so then maybe you would have known not to have them and not to go chasing about after them when they go into their safe spots.

You should not attack people for being critical when you repeat mistakes time and time again. And the laughing is totally inappropriate. These fish are, like all fish, are a deadly serious pastime that needs care and time and commitment. You also need to be mature enough to admit when you messed things up.

You have mentioned adding more fish when you were told by several others in your previous threads not to do so.

It is getting to the stage where you start new threads on the same subject when you do not get the responses you want, and every time someone says something you do not want to hear you either start a new thread or on occasions you run to the moderators.

You need to decide whether you want the help or you don't. All we care about here is the health and welfare of those fish.

Now you may find I am a little harsher than most here.....well I make no apologies. I am someone who refuses to sugarcoat anything, I speak as I find and I do not suffer fools. I am too old to change and I do not see why I should change just cos you can't or won't accept advice or criticism.
 
on occasions you run to the moderators
I do not remember this please elaborate.
But then you start using laughing emoji or "lol" and all that maturity flies out the window
I never laugh at advice given so I would love to see an example of me doing this. Anytime I say "lol" its cause someone said something funny or I said something funny so I put it at the end so others know what I said was a joke or sarcastic...

You got the wrong fish, you were given the wrong advice wherever you got them from. They are not a beginner fish, they are moderate at best. You have not researched their behaviour at all nor have you researched their habitat requirements. If you had done so then maybe you would have known not to have them and not to go chasing about after them when they go into their safe spots.
I watched a lot if vids and asked questions in here as well as tried looking into theur natural habitat. Ive tried really hard to search for what the rivers and streams are like in Papau New Guinea, New Zealand, and Australia but there is little to no information what so ever on these rivers and what they are like. Peacock gudgeons are actually really easy fish. A few members who have kept them told me so and that they knew I'd do well... I am still learning and one of the mistakes I made was choice of decor. Whether these rocks are natural or not doesnt matter, its the fact that they try to explore to the point where they could get stuck as they grow larger or maybe worse, get badly cut and die. I would rather change out these rocks before I have other fish in cause I'm not gonna take all 11 fish out and put them in a confined bucket. The two gudgeons will be placed into my black bucket so that way its darker and I will also make sure they have a few of the older rocks to hide in. I have a plan on how to deal with the situation and how I want everything in the tank to be. I wouldnt aimlessly go into a big project unless I knew what I was doing and I know exactly how I want it all to be so it will go quickly with scaping. After I scape the tank I'm going to leave the tank lights off for a day or two so they don't get too freaked out. And I can guarantee that this scape will last more than a year unless something major happens... Cause all I want from this scape is that the rickks to be changed and more plants. I may even add a poece of Malaysian driftwood... But thats just more money aaaand thats something I don't have a lot of soooo....

You have mentioned adding more fish when you were told by several others in your previous threads not to do so.
Yah, I'm adding fish. A schooling fish that a lot of others have said I could. But this will be way down the road. Probably 6 months or more after the scape... It will be 9 lambchop rasboras. I will research their habitats as well but at the moment all I have been focused on the fish I have right now... I am taking their advice. What they said was: "Enjoy the fish you have now". So Yup, I am. I havent really even thought about those other fish I want. Just these guys... Also my parents would get kinda mad if it was just these two fish cause they also put in money and I promised that there would be more than one type of fish... I also HAVE read up on their temperment and I did know that they would be semi-aggressive towards their own but not the body slamming... Never heard of them doing that... I also did read that they are really peaceful with other species. Like one member keeps them with threadfin rainbow fish and the gudgeons even join in and shoal with them... Its pretty cool!

Now you may find I am a little harsher than most here.....well I make no apologies. I am someone who refuses to sugarcoat anything, I speak as I find and I do not suffer fools. I am too old to change and I do not see why I should change just cos you can't or won't accept advice or criticism.
I accept advice and criticism but I do also do my own research and I listen to what the majority is... What you are saying does not match with a lot of things I have read on other forums and other fish sites or members that have kept these fish... Have you even kept these fish???

You say you dont sugar coat well then I'm not going to sugar coat my thoughts on you and some of the other members... I feel like you guys sometimes use your "experience" as a way to boss other people around on what to do... There is more than one way to do anything really and some of you guys have accepted what you all did for many years as a doctrine to live by... There thats my non sugar coated opinion
 
So I'm rescaping my aquarium and I'm wondering which is better in your guys' opinion, the multicolored beach/river stones or just the grey river rocks... Just in case it matters I will have a mix of black sand and the normal pool filter sand as well as a black background...
I make sure that all of the river stones that I keep in my tanks are the same color. Most of mine are a very lime green stone that I source from the beach at my home in Mexico. The beach is part of a wide rivermouth/floodplain.
 
I make sure that all of the river stones that I keep in my tanks are the same color. Most of mine are a very lime green stone that I source from the beach at my home in Mexico. The beach is part of a wide rivermouth/floodplain.
Thank you. I think I will just go with the grey rock then. And also the "multicolored" rocks are actually very dull and kinda match. Their mix of light greys, browns, light yellows, and sometimes a dull red. Its some sort of inert beach rock...
 
I'd stay away from limestone or lacey rock, both raise pH. and Lacey rock is sharp. I don't do the dragon stone, just looks too jagged. I do driftwood, cobble aka river rock, at the rock yard either quartz from the colorado pile, or pretty colors from the New Mexico. Both are hard stones that don't leach. But once I get a tank arranged I don't change much. I'd rather plant new flower beds
 
I'd stay away from limestone or lacey rock, both raise pH. and Lacey rock is sharp. I don't do the dragon stone, just looks too jagged. I do driftwood, cobble aka river rock, at the rock yard either quartz from the colorado pile, or pretty colors from the New Mexico. Both are hard stones that don't leach. But once I get a tank arranged I don't change much. I'd rather plant new flower beds
Yah, that's what I'm afraid about... As my gudgeons grow, they will try to fit into jagged crevices and then get cut.. Better to change it while I still can...
 
@itiwhetu and @wasmewasntit I am not quite fully understanding the stance against @Rocky998 rescaping. I absolutely respect your experience, and am not at all meaning to be contradicting. I am trying to understand better. I totally get that it’s stressful for the fish. I also get that it’s not good to fidget unnecessarily, especially if the fish are breeding and displaying healthy natural behaviors. Why change it if it’s working? I totally see that. At the same time, the tank is supposed to be… a joy. It seems like Rocky is so concerned about the rocks cutting his fish that it’s taking some of the joy. Are the rocks a real issue? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we would never know. But I think that Rocky really does care about his fish and he’s doing his best for them. Sometimes the heart of what someone is saying gets lost in the translation from thought to text, I really don’t get the sense that he is blowing anyone’s input off.

Is the addition of plants part of the concern for the rescaping, or is it JUST the swapping of the rocks that your are concerned about?
 
@itiwhetu and @wasmewasntit I am not quite fully understanding the stance against @Rocky998 rescaping. I absolutely respect your experience, and am not at all meaning to be contradicting. I am trying to understand better. I totally get that it’s stressful for the fish. I also get that it’s not good to fidget unnecessarily, especially if the fish are breeding and displaying healthy natural behaviors. Why change it if it’s working? I totally see that. At the same time, the tank is supposed to be… a joy. It seems like Rocky is so concerned about the rocks cutting his fish that it’s taking some of the joy. Are the rocks a real issue? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe we would never know. But I think that Rocky really does care about his fish and he’s doing his best for them. Sometimes the heart of what someone is saying gets lost in the translation from thought to text, I really don’t get the sense that he is blowing anyone’s input off.

Is the addition of plants part of the concern for the rescaping, or is it JUST the swapping of the rocks that your are concerned about?
Thank you... Thank you for understanding!
 
The other thing is that if Rocky had a little more experience than 4 months he would know that fish very rarely get into spaces they can't get out of, fish are actually rather clever.
 
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This will be the very last time I fiddle... And I actually havn't "fiddled" with the setup since I went searching for the gudgeons when I got concerned... This is to change the rocks for safety reasons and also asthetics... I recently did a 50% water change and had to trim back the roots on the ferns and remove a few bad leaves which did change up the look a bit from when I took photos for the TOTM... But I have been keeping the lights off to get rid of all the algae and get the java ferns back to being themselves... The fish are extremely healthy right now but I really really want to change up the rocks before getting shrimps, snails, and the rasboras... Less fish in the tank while changing the scape would be wayyy better than 11 fish in an aquarium and changing up a scape... Once I'm done i think you will see what I did is actually really good. I'm getting 3 large anubias plants, 3 tiger lotus, and 5 more java ferns... I already know where I want to place everything so it'll be fairly quick... The fish will be placed in a black bucket with some of the dragon rocks and a few baby java ferns as I do the re-scape... Fish are always swimming to new areas in the wild and I feel bad for getting them these rocks now so I want them to have a new place to explore and a safer one... I know you have more experience but I am asking you to trust me on this one...
I did a complete do-over of my 120ltr tank to properly aquascape it rather than the messy jumble it was in. I took the fish out and put them in a plastic tub. When I finished several hours later there were two dead fish on the floor. They had jumped out of the tub.
I should have covered the tub, but who would have thought about potential escapees?
Anyway, it proves the point that messing about does place them in situations they can't handle.
 
@OliveFish05

I only care about the health and welfare of the fish, not Rocky's feelings.

The health and welfare of the fish are the of the utmost importance and he has documented in various threads, most of which were merged due to being repetitive, that he has been ferreting about looking for fish that just wanted peace and quiet.

Yes, the fish went AWOL for a few days, but had he researched them before buying properly, he would have known that is how they behave and he would not have dived in, picking rocks up and messing with the scaping trying to find them and stressing them out and potentially causing harm to them through stress, having hands in the aquarium with potential toxins and basic faffing about with their territory.

And now he is wanting a rescape, so again the fish will suffer stress if he catches them, stress when stood in a dark bucket for possibly hours whilst he does his vanity project...and it is a vanity project cos he wants the scaping to look more attractive to him, nicer to look at...he isn't really doing it for the fish, all he is doing is upettting their territory so that they have to relearn that there are no predators around every rock and plant and that they are safe and secure.

As I said, sometimes he has flashes of maturity....but at other times you just want to padlock the aquarium hood to stop him meddling with it.

An aquarium is not there to look pretty to you, it is not a lounge/bedroom ornament....the fish health and welfare comes first and last and if that means a scape that might not be 100% pleasing to the human eye then so be it. We as fishkeepers are fish guardians, we are responsible to give our fish the best that we can...not make a room ornament that is perfectly scaped. As for the rocks maybe causing an issue, no they aren't, if they were an issue that fish would have been dead, but it wasn't, it felt safe it was normal behaviour to snuggle into the tightest of spaces...as he himself even admitted once he had actually researched their behaviour properly. Fish are actually more intelligent that many think they are.
 

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