Substrate?!?

[amatuer]

Hi guys,

I've just bought a new tank 75l (ish) - i'm thinking about having half the tank in the existing gravel i have and the other half as sand - has anyone done this before and were they successful or did it all just merge together?

I currently have:
3 white cloud mountain minnows
2 neon tetras
2 rummy nose tetras
2 peppered cories
4 guppies

The reason for the decision is i am thinking about adding a red-tailed shark and 2/3 yoyo/clown/zebra loaches to my new tank when it is established.

(N.b. i am also going to increase the tetra population so they can shoal better)

Look forward to hearing your thoughts guys
Cheers
Matt

 

[Esfa]

it'll just all merge together, eventually. unless you put something down the middle to stop them mixing... but that wouldnt look great. lol

 

[Dave Spencer]

Look on planted tank websites. There are hundreds of tanks like this. There are also plenty on the planted section of this forum.

I do it all the time.

Dave.

 

[rabbut]

Substrate mixing can be done easily You need some for of divider to stop them mixing, but this is easily done using a bit of plastic, cut the the height of the substrate deapth and then being wedged between the substrates.

Stocking. That tank is heavily stocked as it is, so I wouldn't advise adding to the stocking. To get better numbers for the tetras, I'd advise you to do it by removing another species. The loaches you wish to add are also sholing fish thus need a group of 6, and clown loach can get to a foot in length, so aren't suited to a tank of your size. Kullis are doable, if you reduce the ammount of fish in the tank, and I'm not formilliar with zebora loach. RTBS will bully any other loaches in the tank, so you will have to choose between the two I'm afraid. RTBS realy want a tank of 75g+, as most individuals are tertorial thus requiring the space to stop excessive bullying of other fish

HTH
Rabbut