Dirt For Fish

[Waterbox]

I put a small worm from my yard into my aquarium for my fish to eat today, and a small piece off dirt fell off of my hand into the tank. One of my rams put it in its mouth and kept spitting it out but she seemed to like it. As an experiment, I put a larger clump of soil into the aquarium to see what happens and my fish loved it. My male Cherry Barb really liked it, and he would put his face into it, then burrow his whole body through it then spit dirt out when he emerged. The Rams also kept filtering it in and out of their mouths. Being as the Rams are classified as Mikrogeophagus, I figured this wouldn't hurt them, but I just want to make sure. Would it be ok for me to give them some dirt to eat every once in a while? I also rinsed the dirt off beforehand, and I have no chemicals or fertilizers or anything like that in the soil.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I'm nut sure. Make sure it doesn't tetrriorate into the water and muck up the quality.

 

[WILDER]

Don't add things to do the tank like worms and soil if you been using chemicals in the garden.

 

[invader]

If you like to see fish dig through "dirt," you should get sand substrate.

 

[ox5477]

Alot of fish will naturally root around in the sbustrate for little insects, or baby organisms. Plus with cichlids it is part of their mating ritual that they will dig out a pit in the ground to guard their eggs and fry in if a rocky crevice or cave isn't already present

 

[thefirethief]

What substrate do you have already? If you use it straight from the garden be aware that even if you dont use chemicals, it may still have pollutants in it from rainfall. Soil can be used and is ideal for some planted tank set ups. It will alter the water chemistry leaching tannins to some degree if it contains peat and due to the decomposition of organic matter, will produce CO2. If the fish love it it might be worth buying a fresh bag of soil that you know is safe.

Mark

 

[Waterbox]

Thanks guys

Yeah I already use sand as the substrate, I just put a little soil in to see what would happen. I have been reading about soil substrates and I think I will try one if I re-do my tank or get another, sounds cool. For right now I am doing half my tank in leaf litter. Looks sweet.

 

[AmberC]

There is this stuff called soilmaster that you should look into. I know a lot of people that use it for their planted discus tanks. Would be much safer than taking dirt from your front yard where there is the possibility of contaminents.

Also.. they dont eat the dirt. I promise.

Amber