Stiring up the sand

whiteymoza · Post by **whiteymoza** » 02 Mar 2006, 19:14

Is there anything out there that will really stir and sift through the sand such as mayan trumpet snails?

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 02 Mar 2006, 19:34

Corydoras

whiteymoza · Post by **whiteymoza** » 02 Mar 2006, 23:04

well Like my signature says ive got 6 corydoras and 3banjo cats in there.. Ive taken most of the sand out now I think I over did it to start with it was 2ins deep in some places

DeepFriedIctalurus · Post by **DeepFriedIctalurus** » 08 Mar 2006, 03:35

I like small spiny eels myself, since my corys rarely seem to dig further than 1/2" into the sand. Of course this is in my tanks that don't contain Malaysian trumpet snails.. ;)

beer_baron1 · Post by **beer_baron1** » 08 Mar 2006, 04:00

I honestly recomend a stick. At the very least it will keep the sand 'nice and soft' for your fish, and if you give it a good stir regularly you won't have to worry about that rotten egg smell that can build up in your sandy substrate should things get stale.

It is a little fun to tell your friends that there are critters lurking and breading beneath the sand that will never be seen though...

beer_baron1 · Post by **beer_baron1** » 08 Mar 2006, 04:12

Oh, and unless your fish are big diggers, more than an inch (a half an inch even) of sand can cause more problems then it is probably worth. That is mearly my opinion of-course...

The top-most layer can provide a home to beneficial bacteria, but unless you stir the sand up [almost] daily, I think anything deeper is just looking for trouble. (I won't even mention pump failure... I still prefer sand)

Am I wrong? I'm sure most of the readers of this forum are better informed than I...

TalenT · Post by **TalenT** » 08 Mar 2006, 18:31

My favourites: Geophagus sp. and Satanoperca sp.