bare bottom tank bad?

[TheFanatic]

Every fish I have ever kept, has hated bare bottom tanks. They never seem to do near as well as they would if they were in a tank with substrate to cover the glass. They always hide or are very spookish in a bare bottom tank. They also don't look near as healthy as they would in a tank with substrate. That's just from my experience. Plus bare bottom tanks are ugly.

I have to say I agree with everything here. I just don't know if a fish seeing it's reflection is a big deal.

There is something about a bare bottom tank that is not right in my eyes, both aesthetically, and in terms of the behavior of the fish.

I'm just not so sure that reducing the chance of a reflection will resolve it...

As for the fish not being able to see the reflection, I beg do differ. Depends on the lighting. If you look out the window during the day do you see your reflection? No. But look out that window at night when the light is on inside and guess what? You see a reflection.

That being said, I believe these guys see their reflection on the sides at certain times, and no one is talking about painting all the sides of the tank, so why worry about the bottom, other than it's just not attractive....

 

[jcardona1]

Every fish I have ever kept, has hated bare bottom tanks. They never seem to do near as well as they would if they were in a tank with substrate to cover the glass. They always hide or are very spookish in a bare bottom tank. They also don't look near as healthy as they would in a tank with substrate. That's just from my experience. Plus bare bottom tanks are ugly.

here's a vid of my 210g w/o substrate. im no biologist but id say the fish seem happy and healthly. and about the looks of it, this subject has been beaten to death many times; its all very subjective. i personally hate sand/gravel in tanks and would not use on anything larger than a 50g.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142736

 

[FSM]

I hate the look of bare bottom tanks. I think they really take away from the look of the fish. I doubt it is very bad for the fish, although I would get annoyed if I was stuck in a room with a giant mirror as a floor.

 

[Akin]

I like the look of the tank with the river rocks in it. Just put a bit more to fill in the gaps and that should solve your problem. Very nice tank.