its more of a hospital/quarantine tank, but they will stay there until it is needed for such things. gravel would just be more room to harbor uneaten food and poop in this lil tank, although i do have gravel in all my other tanks but they are much larger.
Clown loaches in Barebottom tanks?
- Thread starter Deaths Sting
- Start date
Deaths Sting;3776739; said:
If I had to choose it would be scenario two cause the substrate might provide some comfort of a natural environment much like a hiding space would in a barebottom tank and who knows they might try and bury themselves.
However with no other hiding places you'll prolly find the loaches crowding behind the filter intake or heater anyways. It might work better with a higher density of fish to distract from the bareness much like polypterus piles in bare tanks as they hide amongst each other.
I suppose you could condition loaches to a bare tank when they're small otherwise you might have to deal with unstable loaches. Even a simple piece of drift wood in a bare tank seems to work well enough for clown loaches they hide under it while resting and then come out to explore when active instead of maybe stressing.
My experience has been that cl´s like to hole up with each other at night. That means that they enjoy a close proximity to structure while sleeping. I´d expect that a substrate would improve their feelings of security while sleeping. that´s the main reason why I´d choose Substrate.
A second reason would be that foraging through substrate may be good for the digestion of the fish due to digestive juice production. Each time people chew they produce stomach acid as well as digestive enzymes. This may also be true of cl´s
A third reason relates to colour. A study on flatfish in intensive culture conditions for instance, found that the colour of the tank ie blue vs mottled brown, affected growth rate. The mottled brown tank had better growth. This may or may not be true for cl´s but I believe that the more ´natural´ the surroundings are the better. Do any of you live in a house with just a concrete floor and if so do you sometimes wish you had nice tiles, wooden decking or carpet under your feet?
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A second reason would be that foraging through substrate may be good for the digestion of the fish due to digestive juice production. Each time people chew they produce stomach acid as well as digestive enzymes. This may also be true of cl´s
A third reason relates to colour. A study on flatfish in intensive culture conditions for instance, found that the colour of the tank ie blue vs mottled brown, affected growth rate. The mottled brown tank had better growth. This may or may not be true for cl´s but I believe that the more ´natural´ the surroundings are the better. Do any of you live in a house with just a concrete floor and if so do you sometimes wish you had nice tiles, wooden decking or carpet under your feet?
j<><
Sand looks awesome and bare bottom should only be there if breeding or heavily stocked i think. Bare bottom looks so boring. Personally i would go with sand.
i would pick senario 2. All things the same, the substrate would provide some refuge.
I have a small gravel and sand mix in my tank. The loaches are constantly on the move foraging in the substrate. I have a huge assortment of wood, rocks, plants and PVC fittings for cover, but they rarely get used. The loaches do however seem to like the shade under some Hornwort when they do decide to take a break, which is short and not very often. It is also in open water.
I think they best for loaches is to provide cover and structure so the fish know it is there. They may choose to not use it, but provide peace of mind for them knowing there is refuge.
I recently had some family from out of town that commented on my loaches. They had comments like "How do you get the colors so vibrant" and "why do/did my loaches hide all the time." When I asked about aquascaping, they said "55 gals. with multi-colored gravel, and fake plants and castles as decor." They also talked about stock which had some other fairly aggressive bottom dwellers.
I strongly believe that mimicked natural environments bring out the best attributes in all fish.
To make a long story short, I like substrate.
I have a small gravel and sand mix in my tank. The loaches are constantly on the move foraging in the substrate. I have a huge assortment of wood, rocks, plants and PVC fittings for cover, but they rarely get used. The loaches do however seem to like the shade under some Hornwort when they do decide to take a break, which is short and not very often. It is also in open water.
I think they best for loaches is to provide cover and structure so the fish know it is there. They may choose to not use it, but provide peace of mind for them knowing there is refuge.
I recently had some family from out of town that commented on my loaches. They had comments like "How do you get the colors so vibrant" and "why do/did my loaches hide all the time." When I asked about aquascaping, they said "55 gals. with multi-colored gravel, and fake plants and castles as decor." They also talked about stock which had some other fairly aggressive bottom dwellers.
I strongly believe that mimicked natural environments bring out the best attributes in all fish.
To make a long story short, I like substrate.
My loaches are in a barebottom but there are some large objects on the tank floor that have a lot of texture for them to comb over.
steelshade;3778891; said:
do u agree that they need hiding spaces or that keeping them in a large shoal is good enough?
also, what kind of objects do u speak of?
I'd go w/ scenario 2, why?
1. Since they would have no hiding places, the sand might help them to feel a little more secure, something to lay on/burrow into a bit
2. Loaches like to dig, kinda like dogs I guess, I dunno - but they seem to like it... so I have a colony of small snails in my 30g, every few months I pull as many as I can get out of there and dump them into the 125g w/ the loaches. During the day they dig them out of the sand, little loach treats, plus its live food so its really good for them!
3. IMO, barebottom tanks are kind of, boring. If they are being used for quarantine or breeding then I could understand but main tanks w/ no substrate? I dunno - to each his own, I just prefer the substrate.
1. Since they would have no hiding places, the sand might help them to feel a little more secure, something to lay on/burrow into a bit
2. Loaches like to dig, kinda like dogs I guess, I dunno - but they seem to like it... so I have a colony of small snails in my 30g, every few months I pull as many as I can get out of there and dump them into the 125g w/ the loaches. During the day they dig them out of the sand, little loach treats, plus its live food so its really good for them!
3. IMO, barebottom tanks are kind of, boring. If they are being used for quarantine or breeding then I could understand but main tanks w/ no substrate? I dunno - to each his own, I just prefer the substrate.
