I was thinking about taking the substrate out of my cichlid tank; also in there is my 19" african giraffe cat.. I see it sifting through it all the time like a geo, but does it really need it? He gets his food when I feed, but does the substrate really matter for it?
Giraffe cat on barebottom?
- Thread starter sick_lid
- Start date
t think your biggest problem will be with fish waste. gravel adds more good bacteria and all that poo that is normaly hiding in your gravel waiting to be vacuumed out, will now be clogging your filters
toehead11183;3331885; said:
My thoughts exactly. Since catfish are such eating machine, they become pooping machines. I'd be concerned that you are removing a lot of your biological filtration. Why do you want to go bare bottom?
I just wanted the particular substrate for my geo tank. I removed all but about an eight of an inch.. The way I have my driftwood, and where my fx5 sprays, the "poo" gathers in the back middle. Never tried it, just wanted to do something different to see what I like before I move.
And I try and gravel vac waste every other day.
And I try and gravel vac waste every other day.
I have a almost barebottom tank with my giraffe in and hes been fine since i got him when he was tiny.
sick_lid;3332656; said:
Just keep a very close eye on the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, which may suddenly start spiking and the pH which may start dropping. You might find youself doing a lot of big water changes for a while (like 2-4 times a week at first depending on how much bio load you have in there) until the rest of you system can hopefully catch up. If you're cool with that, then youll be okay.
This info comes from personal experience when I had a 120 gal tank break. Sudden drop in bio filtration= a lot of time changing water every 1-2 days, but everyone lived.Unless you are breeding something or have discus I would keep the gravel. You only need enough to cover the bottum.
You don't need anything in the bottom of your Giraffe cat tank. Mine has lived in 3 different tanks and only one had anything on the bottom. and he was only in that for a short time. Yes they will sift the sub. but bare IMO looks cleaner. and is easier to maintain. I'll take a pic if I get some time but I've got pics of most of my tanks that I've ever ran floating around here somewhere. My old 585 NEVER had anything in it. and it housed a 30"+ niger cat. so you dont' need it unless you want it.
bigfishsmallpond;3425629; said:
Cause I want to do what's best for my fish, having geos barebottom is not.