Substrateless tank

[Morticia]

I have my Fahaka in a tank with no substrate in it. Is this ok? I wanted to be sure that I can grab any feces that contains worms and I was having a bit of trouble doing that with gravel and I'd assume I'd have similar troubles with sand. I still have weighted plants and a few caves to hide in to keep him secure. This should be ok for now right!

 

[Arthur]

I always tried to provide my puffer with sand to bury it's self in, and some where to hide. It always seemed to be a mix of where it was on what it would do.

The most recent example was it would bury it's self in sand daily. I bought a 6" wye, and it just hides out in there most of the time now.

I don't think sand creates enough difficulty in cleaning to not have it in a tank for a fahaka

 

[Morticia]

It isn't cleaning it's finding and removing worms as soon as he drops his feces. While I'm combating parasites eventually I will put darker sand in there, but with the drippings being dark and the worms mostly clear it started to present a challenge and a ring around the rosey of sorts. Since putting him in the substrateless tank the amount of worms have decreased. Hopefully next month he will be clean of parasites.

 

[hart24601]

I keep my fahaka with no substrate and don't plan on adding any to either of my display tanks. I am sure there are people that can keep a tank with substrate just as clean as one without... I am not one of those people. I can speculate all day about what might be the benefits to the fish with substrate, but I do know without a doubt what the benefits are to having a cleaner tank.

I don't really think either way is right or wrong, but just personally I have never had substrate that I could keep ultra clean (like stir every inch of it up and no detritus comes out) - but that is just me.

 

[Morticia]

He finally started dropping pellets instead of stringy after scaring me by seeming ill. Since I was going to drain most of the water from the tank to get rid of the meds since I'm assuming they were what was making him ill I decided to add sand. He is much better now and seems much happier with his sand. I haven't seen him spend this much time out in the open ever. I think the sand may help him feel a bit more camouflaged so he feels safer being out. I don't know just speculation, but today he has spent 2/3s of his day out swimming and normally he would spend about a quarter of his time out and the rest hiding in one of his caves. I'm glad I did it, because he seems happier, but I'm concerned about cleaning.

 

[Fat Homer]

Strictly from a personal point of view, i've always prefered some kind of substrate in all my tanks, but especially puffer tanks, since i've heard they can sometimes spook themselves when they see their own reflection thinking there is another puffer around....

 

[hart24601]

Strictly from a personal point of view, i've always prefered some kind of substrate in all my tanks, but especially puffer tanks, since i've heard they can sometimes spook themselves when they see their own reflection thinking there is another puffer around....

Wouldn't that mostly be reflections from the walls of the tank? I am not sure that with the angle of their eyes on the side of the head to the bottom they would even get a reflection on the bottom unless they were turned sideways. I guess my bare bottom tanks have either starboard, painted black or white so maybe that is it, but I have had some fish fight their reflection on the walls, but never on the bottom.

 

[Morticia]

I noticed with a bare bottom he was having a bit of trouble hunting because of the reflection, but that was about it. His personality stayed the same more on the subdued side. However, once I added the sand his personality really came out. He is more active, more inclined to interact with me, he's finally exploring all the regions of his tank, and surfing which is pretty cool. But I would watch him go for shrimp or snails and miss if they were on the bottom, but mine was just a standard glass bottom so he was getting a full reflection from it.

 

[Fat Homer]

Wouldn't that mostly be reflections from the walls of the tank? I am not sure that with the angle of their eyes on the side of the head to the bottom they would even get a reflection on the bottom unless they were turned sideways. I guess my bare bottom tanks have either starboard, painted black or white so maybe that is it, but I have had some fish fight their reflection on the walls, but never on the bottom.

Maybe if they are brought up in barebottom its better? My girl used to freak herself out at times if she saw her own reflection at the bottom of the tank after blowing a bunch of sand out the way...

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

I've got a baby Fahaka that has only been kept on bare bottom. He's pretty shy but he does plenty of exploring. Since I'm starting to feel pretty confident as far as his health is concerned I think I'll be adding sand for him tonight. I'll let you guys know if I notice a change in his activity levels or personality.