substrate brings out cichla color

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bassinmike85

bassinmike85

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jul 10, 2010
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California
ok me and arrtyfish have been comparing xingu growouts..what i have noticed about my xingus is..when i had just bare glass bottom their colors werent showing much..after i added sand some rocks and a plant their spangling is starting to pop..who else believes substrate plays a part in getting the best colors out of your cichla?

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I agree. Ive had convicts and currently a dovii in an empty tank. I believe color came out with aquascaping.

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I'm leaning more towards water parameter and diet controlling color. Check out High City Rida's growout thread. Several of us have substrate and yet we have different color and spangling. Indirectly, I do agree with you that substrate may aid in water parameter which in turn improve color.
 
When I switched my orino's from my 100gal grow out that is painted black(even the bottom) to my 560gal that has sand colored tile they really started showing spangling that they did not have before.
So yeah, I think substrate does play a part in it.


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I do agree with this but I feel diet and water parameters play a larger role. I don't really see much of a difference with my changes over the years. Only real change has been water quality. With subtraite I felt it was poor. But I also understand that with no substrait you must have a good filtration set up to make up for the loss of BB that would be present in the column of a tank with substrait. Also with out substraite you can not miss a beat you must be or else we can see the corner were the waste collect's. With substrait you have build up over time which can cause a crash as well if the BB isn't controlled with regular husbandry of your Aquarium(s).

For me I feel like there is a happy medium for you and the fish. Not to much just enough to envoke a natural feel for you and the fish.
 
:iagree:
High 5 bro.
 
Yes I too belive that black sand or graval or rocks are best suited for cichla. Mimicking the Black Water condition's I feel is the ultimate goal.
 
im running black gravel and i noticed pretty soon after i picked mine up they were getting more colourful, also have real good water paremeters just no driftwood :(
 
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