Question: Views on substrate

[scrunge]

Hi. Im new to here but have read a lot of the posts and the whole page on substrate. But i wondered what anyones particular experience is on it? I mean like sand v pebbles? I have large pebbles and my chinese firebelly quite likes them. He likes twisting and turning them around to make surd he has all his food. But i keep wondering should i have used sand. Oh by the way, my cfb charlie will have a tank mate soon and theres a pic of him on my profile.

 

[Chinadog]

Welcome to the site, As long as the substrate is either too large to swallow or too small to do any harm it's down to personal choice really. The pebbles you have are fine as long as you don't let uneaten food or dirt build up underneath them. I use playsand or bare bottoms in my set ups, it's fairly easy to clean sandy bottoms with a siphon hose or battery gravel cleaner.

 

[littlebignafe]

I find sand easier to use as you can see any waste better without having to search for it, however some is always sucked up when cleaning occurs.

I have seen a hobby aquarium bottom which consisted of a piece of sheet plastic board covered in a non-toxic sealant and cleaned sand sprinkled on top (Aunt Jude) and this meant you got the great sand look but without loosing any in cleaning. Just food for thought.