With sand, gravel or bare tanks?

[zebra046]

I once talked to guy who went to Xingu River and collected some zebras cories the only thing he see's under water is rocks, peebles, clear water and algae on the rocks the way they catch the zebra is to chase it under a rock and start removing the surrounding rocks and place a large net over it, If I remember it correctly he only caught one fish the whole day and his other comment was you have to be a strong swimmer or hold on to the rocks or else the water will swep you away while catching fish.

So If we are talking about natural setup wouldnt a Tanganyikan tank be a perfect zebra tank rocks and peebles sort of a Goby tank, Eretmodus, Spathodus and Tanganyicodus Sp. strong waves just soft water just be sure that the decor is stable or else you end up with a few flat fish I know this so well it happend to me twice one with slate another one with a power head and you just dont kill one fish they squish them in groups st#pid fish they hudle in a group.

A thriving planted tank dont have to have sand you can plant them in pots or tie them on a drift wood and the best plant are the once that are floating anyways http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/duckweed.htm
if you walk on the beach sand will swirl as you move along, it doesnt mean that they need the sand for courtship even sand building fish like Cyathopharynx Sp. or a little shell dwelling Neolamprologus multifaciatus will breed in a BB tank as long as you provide a place for them to deposit there eggs like a PVC pipe, in the past I used to use marbles to breed zebra danios it will help collect the eggs so the fish wont eat them.

wirajendi it really depends on what your intentions are for the fish, if it is only breeding them I highly recommend BB and when you have enough fry then you can do what ever you feel like it Like placing them in a 5 gallon bare bottom tank just like this one


A Bare Bottom 5 Gallon Eclipse in-between 2 black leather couches, the impeller of the power head broke and is now with out a power head and the pair still spawned


Female that just Spawned in a 5 gallon Bare Bottom tank even though it is bare this girl still looks good with a blue tinge on her when you view her on a good angle


eggs in the males cave in a 5 Gallon Bare Bottom tank


Good Luck

[Frontyking]

Very interesting read zebra046. Thanks for that.

Nick.

[wirajendi]

Hi zebra046,

Thanks for your advice and pictures!!

As of now, I'm keeping the fish mainly for breeding purposes, later if I have more zebs maybe I'll invest some money for tanks complete with decorations.

Conclusion:

1. people prefers bb tank if it's only for breeding purposes

2. there is no correlation between substrate and productivity.

Am I right?

Thank's for the suggestion


Robin Wirajendi

[wirajendi]

I have a 6.5 feet x 2.2 x 1.6 tank, would it be to big for 10 zebras?

What would be the ideal number for such tanks?

[McEve]

Conclusion:

1. people prefers bb tank if it's only for breeding purposes

2. there is no correlation between substrate and productivity.

Some people prefer BB tanks for breeding. I have three breeding groups in three tanks, all with sand and quite heavily planted.

[zebra046]

wirajendi wrote:

Conclusion:

1. people prefers bb tank if it's only for breeding purposes

2. there is no correlation between substrate and productivity.

I just prefer a BB tank, when you have multiple tanks and less time to devote to all of them this is a safe solution and I can easily check on them if there is any abnormality, and no stuck fish. but I do have a breeding pair in a 60 gallon planted display tank with cardinals and apistos.

this is an old photo of the male in the display tank who just comes out to eat.


Good luck

[McEve]

I'm convinced. Having been the strongest advocate for sand as substrate, I yield

After having tried a tank with, well not BB, but with tile floor, I can definately already see the benefits, and are in the process of converting all my tanks to tile/slate floor. I will keep a handful of sand in there, just to let them show off a bit with the sand spraying. But part from that, no more sand substrate for me.

I thought I had the sand under control, swarming with Malaysian Trumpet snails, but a few days ago I found two little ones sitting dead upon a darker spot in the sand, the babies choose the wrong resting place, one where an anearobic pocket had formed. They simply suffocated. I could smell rotting eggs when I syphoned the sand out.

The slate bottomed tank proves so easy to keep clean I can't believe it. And the fish seem to thrive with it too.

So, still not 100% for BB, for estethic reasons But tile/slate floor - 100% in favour.

[lrry93]

I am sold on the slate bottom as well as you guys have already figured out!

[Andyt.]

Now I have no idea what to do with the 100lbs of sand I purchased with the intent of setting up a zebra breedery...

Hmmm. Guess I'll not be buying kitty litter for a while. Hope the cat doesn't mind.

[McEve]

I am sold on the slate bottom as well as you guys have already figured out!

And you're the one that introduced the idea - Thanks! Great idea!

I've had tiles as background for quite a while, but it never occured to me to put it on the bottom as well... Don't know why I never thought of it..

[wirajendi]

very interesting info McEve!! I have to try the slate/tile set up and remove all the sand substrate.

Do you have picture with the slate/tile set up?

[McEve]

here's a couple





And one can be seen here:

webcam

[wirajendi]

Thank you for the pictures McEve! It's really awesome. Please help me with one more question, How do you attach the ceramic tile to the aquarium?

[McEve]

With Silicone

[nesolb]

I tried a similar set up with old roofing tiles but it didn't quite turn out how I wanted so I ended up with a BB tank.

You're tank looks great though McEve.