Sand Stirrers Fw

[MermaidMel]

Kuhli loach and what else? No snails please. And nothing that would eat my shrimp!X

 

[kniesh]

I know you said no snails but Malaysian Trumpet Snails are ur best bet for sand turnover and you ver rarely see them as they effectively just live under there. If you really are against Snails you might want to try some Corries. A group of Corries depending on the size of tank will keep the sand turned over to a certain degree as they are constantly digging in it an digging.

Corries would also be fine with ur shrimp.

 

[Shrimper]

Depending on what shrimp you have I don't know how shrimp friendly Khuli loaches would be, i've never heard of them being kept with dwarf shrimp and most tank mate recomendations i've seen say all Loaches in general are bad shrimp tank mates because they love to eat snails and shrimp.

If they do turn out OK I would be intrested in getting some because they look so cool but not at the expense of my shrimp!

 

[tbright]

Horse-faced loach are always burrowing around and popping their heads out of sand/gravel so worth a look. I've never had any aggression problems aswell though they grow to about 6inches if I recall. Lovely little things imo.

 

[rdd1952]

I had kuhlis with amano shrimp with no problems. I know that the trumpet snails are good for keeping the sand loose but I hate those things. I had such a major infestation a year or so ago, I had to take the tank down and change the substrate to get rid of them.

One of the best thing to keep the sand loose though is plants. The roots will keep the sand from compacting.

 

[MermaidMel]

I've kept Kuhli's with shrimp before and they were fine. I realllllly don't want MTS as I've heard of the infestations and I've never heard of horse-faced loach before but I looked them up online and omg they are damn cute, just wondering if I can get any in the UK now

 

[tbright]

Well luckily for me they were in my local lfs about 6months back, never seen them since mind you and I don't think many people here have them so I guess you could have trouble finding them. If you do find a couple and get them it's the best sight seeing their little heads pop out the substrate, bless em.

 

[Esfa]

plants! You know you want to.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Why would you need anything for that?

 

[MermaidMel]

Why would you need anything for that?

You mean to stir the sand?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Well, yes, that was the question.

 

[MermaidMel]

Well, yes, that was the question.

Keep it overturned as you would do with soil I suppose, keep it fresh and stop anything bad forming in packed sand like gasses and just to give a look of keeping alive and lived in.

 

[MermaidMel]

OK so I found horsefaced loaches in Wildwoods today and bought 3
And they been in the tank about 8hrs and not one of them has burrowed into the sand yet
Admittedly they had no substrate in their LFS tank, perhaps they just need to get used to it... or is that a really dumb assumption?

 

[andywg]

Keep it overturned as you would do with soil I suppose, keep it fresh and stop anything bad forming in packed sand like gasses and just to give a look of keeping alive and lived in.

Nothing that cuases problems forms in sand. There is the potential for hydrogen sulphoxide (IIRC) to form, but the moment this comes into contact with oxygen it denatures and is no risk to the tank in any way whatsoever.

 

[tbright]

Mine had gravel at the lfs which is why it took them 10min to catch them but still they stayed on the top of my substrate for about a week and when i read about them where people were saying they hide away for most of the day i was a bit dubious so give it a while for them to settle. Also, if they are younger loaches then it is said they spend more time out and about and as they get older hide away more and become more nocturnal if i remember correctly.

And also I hope you have a lid on your tank as when i've done gravel vacs with water changes if they're not buried they scoot up the side of the tank from my experience.