Bare bottom fish tank for ATF

[ekkhoo]

Ok, finally got my aquarium settle. Now I've seen people criticised others for having bare bottom fish tank reason being it's unnatural and stressful for the fishes.

My tank is already with black color background.

Now I am thinking of 4 alternatives for my tank bottom:-

1) Sand
2) Black wallpaper
3) Dark Blue wallpaper
4) Bare bottom


Which is the best? For both to the well being of my ATF and Aesthetic view.

Thank you so much!

 

[predatorkeeper87]

its a personal preference choice. Barebottom looks horrible to me so all my tanks have sand substrate. bare bottom tanks are easier to clean, but honestly having sand at the bottom doesn't make life much harder when cleaning the tank anyhow.

 

[Quason778]

I agree with predatorkeeper87 it's definitely personal preference. I have a 180g with sand and I also have a 75g and 125g that are bare. The tank with the sand isn't any more difficult to clean than the tanks that are barebottom. In the end it's all in what you're looking for. I have 3 Armatus, GATF, Jardini, and Redhook Silver dollars in the 125g barebottom and it doesn't seem to bother them, but that's just my experience.

 

[ekkhoo]

Thank you very much for the input! How about having a wallpaper at the bottom? Which color (black, dark blue) will intensify the color of fish, mainly for vittatus/tanzaniae and kelberi peacock bass.

 

[I31]

I got bare bottom on all my tanks, and no "ornaments". They get used to it after a while.

 

[sunnysjourney]

my bigger ATF has been in both (black) sand bed and also bare bottom. And I haven't noticed any difference in his behavior.

 

[reddead38]

Black substrate intensifies red coloring. Makes silver closer to tan or gold depending on the fish

 

[ekkhoo]

Black substrate intensifies red coloring. Makes silver closer to tan or gold depending on the fish

I've decided in the end going for sapphire blue for bottom. Hope it blend well with the black background and the fishes. Will take a picture of it when it's done. Thanks!

 

[MrBlueDream]

I've tried barebottom once and while it can look nice in the right setting, it require more cleaning to keep that look. With sand or small gravel, you can go longer between cleaning because the debris is camouflaged within the sand and the sand also holds benificial bacteria.
Plus I like plants in my tank.