intestinal blockage due to substrate

[equidae9854]

What do u guys all use for substrate for your monster cats? I know that sand is better for them, but I'm not a big fan of the look of sand, nor am I a big fan of the thought of having to care for it to keep it from smelling like sulfur and from turning black from the waste...

Do you think that stones that are 2" in diameter would still be risky for them (in the long run) in terms of swallowing them? Or are smaller pebbles/gravel better for them in terms of them being able to cough them out or pass them through? I figured there'd be a greater chance of them picking up a mouthful of the smaller, lighter stuff, compared to the larger stones with more mass...

My lima and shovelnose cats are about 8-10" now in a 180 gal.

Thanks guys!

 

[justin]

I use large rock with my cats from home depot. I just put some large pieces of granite for them to lay on then filled in the gaps with the large gravel. Also catfish naturally eat some rocks if there is high water flow. Lots of them like to just rest on the bottom and in the wild in a large river with high flow they swallow something bulky to keep them in place. It doesn't affect them for the most part unless they swallow something like a jagged piece of broken clay or ceramic from a pot.

 

[equidae9854]

I use large rock with my cats from home depot. I just put some large pieces of granite for them to lay on then filled in the gaps with the large gravel. Also catfish naturally eat some rocks if there is high water flow. Lots of them like to just rest on the bottom and in the wild in a large river with high flow they swallow something bulky to keep them in place. It doesn't affect them for the most part unless they swallow something like a jagged piece of broken clay or ceramic from a pot.

wow, thanks justin. that's really interesting... just curious, how do they pass the rock out of their system? does it just dissolve? or does it actually make it out the south end? or spit it back out?

 

[justin]

Some can be passed through or regergitated however most of the time they just hold in their stomach as they grow. It does not affect their eating and such. It is normal where ther is high flow. If you are worried about it try and keep most flow top and mid level. As long as they are not working to stay in one spot or are not getting pushed around by current they should be ok. I amreferring to larger catfish that like to rest on the bottom. Really active cats such as channel cats don't do it near as much. If you see your catfish gulping alot of rocks then you might have a problem, but I don't see them doing any less damage than sand being digested. I just am scared of sand being sucked into my pumps and filters. That is why I use rocks. Also rocks harbor anaerobic bacteria which help reduce nitrate.

 

[equidae9854]

I just am scared of sand being sucked into my pumps and filters. That is why I use rocks.

That's exactly why i was hesitant... I'm a bit of a ding dong, so knowing me, I'd prolly forget to shut the filter off and swirl around the sand or something... not to mention that the catfish themselves would stir it up a lot...