a repeated Q:best background and bottom substrate for FH?

[2songbirds]

I'm upgrading (finally) my gorgeous pretty girl from her "exile" tank tmrw. I currently have her in a (small) tank with natural sand and a dark purple background (construction paper as I got tired of looking at the wall and wires).

She looks SO washed out!! She was real nice looking when I had her with black background and green gravel....but

absolutely stunning when she was with a black back ground and bare bottom or better yet...black background and black gravel. It really brought out her colors.

I never saw her "playing" with the gravel or sand, no moving around. I have an oscar who does that, before laying eggs....and have seen previous cichlids do it, but never my pretty girl.

Now, I do want to have some kind of bottom substrate as I have a huge piece of driftwood that was meant for my 265g, but has to be kept a bare bottom (2'++catfish). So, I need something to cover up the slate and such that's attached to it to weigh it down....

I was thinking about using black or dark blue sand...

anybody out there crazy enough like me to try anything other than brights with their FH and have success???

 

[H]-[H]

I've seen some people use black substrate for their flowerhorn & it does bring out the colour in some fish..
Never personally tried though.. too much work for me lol

 

[2songbirds]

ok, got my bad bad pretty girl fh in her very own new permenant home..a 75g. I wanted a black trim/stand as when she was in the 54g and 265g, which are also black, she looked really good in it.

After a lil' debating, and experimenting, put on black background. Wow...she looks real good. I have a bare bottom for now, till I decide on the sand color. Leaning against natural sand as it seemed to wash her out in her previous temp home, altho I have an abundance of it left over.

I'd rather just leave bare bottom, but want to put in a large driftwood in her tank soon.

Now, black or blue sand....or try the natural sand again. can always take it back out.

 

[bud]

This are my favorites.

 

[lordplagueis]

go for the natural look

 

[2songbirds]

I put in the natural sand a lil bit ago. She doesn't look as good as she did when she had green gravel (accident btw) last year, or the year before...When you walked in the living room, you saw her. She was that brilliant, in the 54g

So, on tuesday, I'm gonna be getting me a small bag of the dark blue sand, a small one, and seeing how that looks. After I take out all the other sand

I might just let it grow on me for awhile tho...But, I'm thinking I need something to contrast against her colors

Now, the that tank looks soooo empty. I KNOW fh are best kept by themselves, as I learned the hard way, but I have so many other inhabitants that I could 'try' with her. Maybe give her a toy fish...