J
jamous91
Guest
would it be best after these whiptail fry die to take everything out the tank clean it and replace sand with pea gravel
Just keep on top of the water quality mate. Stir the sand and do water changes a 3 times a week its only a small tank anyway so it wont take long.
J
jamous91
Guest
J
jamous91
Guest
It will still hold toxins if you dont stir it or syphon it. Just make the extra effort and you should be fine.
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
You only need a thin layer of sand, it shouldn't turn black, if it does you are in trouble. I always keep a few MTS in all the tanks, they turn the sand over and pick off any bits of organic matter.
Good advice, ideally you would like to leave the sand undisturbed, but you need to keep on stirring in your case, water quality is really easy to lose in small tanks. For relatively difficult fry like Whip-tails, you may be better off with an established tank with a substrate some algae and mulm. I always keep a spare sponge filter in all the tanks, a have a few potted Amazon Swords (and some spare floaters) so I can put the spare filter and plants into any tank where I need to keep the water quality high. Other people can manage the bare bottom, scrupulously clean route, but I'm not sure I can.
Pea gravel is less suitable for fry for a whole range of reasons.
cheers Darrel
I have used several substrate in my breeding and grow up tanks.
Gravel holds more pooh than sand. I worked with fine gravel and coarse gravel, coarse being the worst. I removed all the gravel and replaced it again with sand. Use only a thin layer of sand, 1 cm is more than enough. You can also chose to put some corydoras in there aswell. They will keep your sandy substrate clean and eat all the left overs from feeding.
Gravel holds more pooh than sand. I worked with fine gravel and coarse gravel, coarse being the worst. I removed all the gravel and replaced it again with sand. Use only a thin layer of sand, 1 cm is more than enough. You can also chose to put some corydoras in there aswell. They will keep your sandy substrate clean and eat all the left overs from feeding.
J
jamous91
Guest
Id swap the sand and buy some decent sand.. Use silica sand and only a small amount. Spend some money and give them some attention.
whatever gravel you use, you still have to vacuum and clean it. I only have silica sand and corys in each tank with MTS as well. If you like plants, pot them and use these, easy also to move from tank to tank or use floating plants to absorbe nutrients. I only have 1cm of silica sand base. cheers jk :thumbup:
