What substrate do you find loaches appreciate?

[RDTigger]

• Sand (what type)
• mixture of sand and slightly larger particles
• other

If you any pics to share that would be awesome...

I am thinking of caribsea's tahition moon sand(black) Instant Aquarium substrate

 

[JakeH]

My Loaches LOVE my black sand! Same stuff, Tahitian Moon Black. They like to sift it for snails & leftovers. Be careful with decor, though. They will burrow under stuff & there are several stories on this board of large driftwood shifting & crushing loaches. Mine have collapsed my rockpiles, but thats about it.

 

[RDTigger]

My Loaches LOVE my black sand! Same stuff, Tahitian Moon Black. They like to sift it for snails & leftovers. Be careful with decor, though. They will burrow under stuff & there are several stories on this board of large driftwood shifting & crushing loaches. Mine have collapsed my rockpiles, but thats about it.

That's xactly what I was hoping to hear... I want to create a simple scape with driftwood and plastic plants. At 29g I am limited for now.

What type of loaches do you have in your tank? I am familiar with Clowns, but they pose a size issue in my tank.

 

[abarilot]

My favorite small loaches are Kuhli loaches! You have to have a group of them and then they just just fun to watch! I dont have the black sand but mine seem to do fine with regular pool filter sand!

 

[JakeH]

I have Botia Kobutai (Polkadot loach). I wanted clowns, but I dont have a big enough tank. I love mine & want a bigger tank for more of them. Check the stickies, but I think Kobutai, Clowns & Kuhlis all do best in groups of 5 or more. Botia Striata are pretty cool, too...

 

[ewurm]

My loaches appreciate other loaches as substrate, but the ones below those like sand

 

[Lupin]

Sand is better than gravel. Gravel tends to be coarse.

 

[FSM]

I use sand in all my tanks.

TMS is ridiculously overpriced. If you want black sand, get some 3M colorquartz; it's normally used in pools and flooring, but I had no trouble finding a distributor near me. One 50 lb bag was $20.

 

[haynchinook334]

My loaches appreciate other loaches as substrate, but the ones below those like sand

Sand is what use.

 

[RDTigger]

I use sand in all my tanks.

TMS is ridiculously overpriced. If you want black sand, get some 3M colorquartz; it's normally used in pools and flooring, but I had no trouble finding a distributor near me. One 50 lb bag was $20.

agreed.. I was looking at CaribSeas TMS because of "Instant Aquarium". I also found it locally at a $1/lb today while I was out. This is my first attempt at cycling..... It all looks good..