Best substrate for apistos...

[drudnick]

I am moving, so I will be taking down my tank, and would like to switch from the regular gravel I got to something alittle better suited for apistos. Can anyone recommend a particular name and brand to use. Not a planted tank.

Thanks

 

[mk_ultra]

i like using peat moss

 

[valice]

I would go for fine sand.
You can get something either from ADA or Europet.
I currently using the one from Europet.

You get to see the sand "sieving" activity of Apistogrammas.

 

[Graham]

I use plain old brown silica play sand. For $3.50 per 50 lb bag and no issues with its use, you can't beat it. Whatever you use, I suggest something the fish can masticate easily - take a mouthful of and sift. Many types do this regularly enough that I'd be afraid of having that "not too small, not too big" size that might get stuck in their gullet if they try to sift. I've seen them "choke" on pebbles that aren't all that big.

 

[Apistomaster]

I agree wih Graham's suggestion. The play sand is just right and Apistos do better for me in tanks with even just a sprinkling of this sand. It allows them to pursue their normal sand sifting feeding behavior and I believe the results in raising fry over even a thin layer is better than bare bottom.

I never use coarse gravel. It collects detritus and the small fry become trapped among the interstices between the grains.

Something else that I have found helpful is to scatter about a liter of the ceramic tube biofilter media across the bottom in my fry grow out tanks so there are more miniature caves than fry. This seems to really moderate aggression. I have a hypothesis that the males grow faster than females and are more aggressive and eventually this can result in attrition of the females even if they are much too small for me to sex. This has been a factor I believe in acheiving a better balance of the sexes at maturity than if these little refuges are not made available.