Types of gravel

[Lauren B.]

Is the coarseness of gravel just a personal choice, or does it make any differences in the aquarium? Do the fish really care, or will it effect them adversely? I've really had my eye on this pretty purple gravel that is very fine in texture (not so small it's like sand...not like what hermit crabs live in, but a much smaller grain than what appears to be the most popular). I'd prefer a larger grain because it seems like it would be easier to setup, remove, and clean, but they're limited to blue, green, natural (or white-ish), red, and maybe party-colored when it comes to the larger gravel. All the cool fun colors seem to exist only in the very fine textures. Since my tank will be rather small, I would kind of like to fun it up with a lot of color since there's limited space for fish.

Lauren B. :1luvu:

[genitor]

The coarseness of the gravel used is pretty much personal choice. If it's too big food may fall through it where the fish can't get it and waste may build up so it may be harder to keep clean. If sand is used the main concern is that the intake for your filter is at an appropriate distance above it so that the filter does not suck up the sand, as this can damage the filter's impeller. Also the gravel must not have sharp edges especially if you have fish that burrow in the substrate as this can damage their barbels.

[jeffs99dime]

in a planted tank the substrate can make a difference depending on how it compacts. also, some fish do better with different sized substrate, depending on the species.

[kufan]

I think that size doesn't really matter, unless you have bottom feeders. Then it does matter a little bit because some prefer sandy/pea size substrate because they like to burrow down into the substrate, i.e. peacock eels, weather loaches.

KU

[Severus]

My clown loaches love the smaller gravel. They dig holes in it and are constantly picking around. If you have any kind of bottom feeder smaller gravel is recommended

[Lady Hobbs]

I put some slate in my loach tank and apparently they like smooth stuff as they all lay on this slate altho my gravel is fine. They skid their faces back and forth on it. I don't know if they're scratching or sharpening their barbs or what they're doing but they sure love laying on it all day. Corey's prefer smoother stones to gravel. The course stuff is rough on their tummies.