Digging Fish

[lukestanislaus]

hi a friend of mine is planning on switching to sand for his moderately planted 4ft tank, he wants some fish that will stir up the sand to a reasonable degree so it doesn't look too flat and keeps some character, as well as providing some turnover so it doesn't get stagnant

the problem is his fish are very peaceful, his current stocking consists of various species of tetras and harlequin rasboras as well as some corys, he wants a reasonably peaceful fish that will churn the sand a little... i suggested maybe kuhlie loaches but he doesnt like the look of them.. i was thinking maybe some smaller species of cichlids but i couldnt think of anything specific

any ideas for fish that would do this?

also any advice on switching to sand would be awesome too

 

[-germ-]

A group of Parotocinclus jumbo; pitbull plecos

 

[murphyk32]

im not sure how much they do it but ive heard loaches, specially kuhli, will do a lot of digging,, but like i said thats only what i have heard

 

[lukestanislaus]

yeah for some reason he doesnt like loaches, dunno why

that plec looks really cool, how many would you need? are they easy to come by?
are there any other species of plec that are comparably small? less than 8-10cms?

does anyone know if dwarf loaches dig much?

any good snail options? keeping in mind we dont want them getting out of control

 

[murphyk32]

Well im not a snail wiz so no but for keeping them in control, just keep ur eyes open (acctually make it a habbit to take a look) and check for any eggs (my snails had little red ball like things in a pile on the hood of my tank, not in the water) and if you dont want them then just wipe them away... I have never done this tho.. had snail lay eggs twice, once they all fell in water and got eatin and second time they hatched and i had sooo many snails... ended up getting rid of all but 4 babies and the original... now i have 5 equal sized snails that are great, doesnt take long neither