RTC Substrate Conundrum

[Midnite76]

Hi Everyone

I have never used sand as a substrate before but am thinking of doing so, so that I can add a ray to my 8x3x3. However I will also have my RTC in there as well.

A) Will my Red Tail be ok with the sand substrate? I'm pretty sure he will given their normal habitat. Does anyone disagree?
B) Will Red Tail create too much waste to make cleaning the substrate too difficult?
C) Can a ray and RTC live in the same tank together, both being bottom dwellers?

Any advice or experiences would be most welcome

Thanks

 

[tscharf]

as long as the rtc isnt to much bigger they should be ok, but make sure the disc is close to the size of the RTC ive heard of RTC rolling em up and eating em like a taco. i kept my rtc on sand and it was fine. the waste most of the time sits on top so its easy to vacum off. in addition if your careful and use a gravel vac you should be able to vacum down deep in the sand as well. i use a python with gravel vac and poke it down in the sand slowly and pull it back out slowly and let the sand settle out of the tube before pushing it back down in. i also occasionally stir the sand with a long rod i have to make sure theres no dead spots in the sand since i dont have naything that stirs some parts up. however being that the rtc is so strong remeber youll prolly end up with some spots where you can see the bottom of your tank. and if your using a canister you will, i repeat will have sand in your filter, because RTC kick it up alot. try and keep the intake of ur filter 3-4inches off the sand. other than that i love sand with my RTC, its a nice look, most of the waste sits on top and if swallowed unlike gravel its easy for the RTC to pass

 

[JC09]

sand is nice because all of the waste stays on the top and can easily be vacuumed off. he will be fine on sand and as stated above, as long as they are around the same size you'll be fine

 

[Midnite76]

Thanks for the advice all.

I think I will go for the sand, as I am getting to like the look also.
Will post some pics once up and running

Cheers

 

[taksan]

A) Will my Red Tail be ok with the sand substrate? I'm pretty sure he will given their normal habitat. Does anyone disagree?

Yes

B) Will Red Tail create too much waste to make cleaning the substrate too difficult?

No

C) Can a ray and RTC live in the same tank together, both being bottom dwellers?

No