Substrate for Kuhli Loaches

[Annah]

Hi all.

I'm setting up a tank for a group of Kuhli loaches and trying to find a suitable sandy substrate, as I understand they tend to burrow into the sand, so require something thats not sharp.

I've read a few posts here advising to use Dalton's propagating sand, but I'm having trouble sourcing it locally. We don't have a Bunnings, and the Warehouse doesn't appear to stock it. Haven't yet tried Mitre 10 Mega, but it didn't appear to be on their website when I looked.

I did however, find some terranium sand at the LFS, which I liked the look of. Just wondering if anyone has used this terranium sand in an aqarium and did it work ok?

[Annah]

Can anyone tell me what sort of sand might be in this photo? It looks like the terranium sand I was talking about..

[Sophia]

very hard to know what sort of sand it is, other than it looks like sand from a beach rather than a river. I've used East Coast Play sand, West Coast black sand for my loaches and corydora (not kuhlis) and all have been fine. Some buy 'Play sand' and some are lucky to live near a river to get river sand. I'd say that river sand is likely to be sharper if it's made of ground up stone, rather than silica.

If you can't find any, see if there is a landscaping supply shop, up here we have a chain of stores that all sell a range of different sands for about $10 per 20kg or so. Some will give you a sample, and if you go after it's been raining you can see what colour the sand is when wet.

[Annah]

Thanks Sophia

I already have some gravel in the tank from a previous set up, I'm just not sure that its fine enough for the loaches. This is it here:

http://web.stagram.com/p/243183492263651925_144426865

Doesn't look too sharp?

[Artem]

River/sea sand would tend to be less sharp because its been ground up over a long time so the edges should be smooth.

What you want to avoid is man-made sand which is usually done by smashing rocks into sand which results in sharp edges. Anything else of a fine enough grain size will be fine.

[dreams]

In my experience, I have seen Khuli loaches burrow into small sized pebbles around 2 -4mm, hence i believe most pebble type stones will work if that is what you want.

If you don't want them to always be burrowing and hiding, then you can either have a bare tank - like they do in pet shops, or you can use fine sand, such as seachem's black sand - they wont burrow into that stuff :slfg: not because that stuff is sharp, rather i think it is just a bit too dense and heavy for them.

[Sophia]

You can't really tell what is sharp or not without magnifying it. I think that any of the things mentioned here will be ok. You could always try what you think is best without setting the tank up properly and seeing what they do, then decide whether to keep it or try something else.

[Annah]

River/sea sand would tend to be less sharp because its been ground up over a long time so the edges should be smooth.

What you want to avoid is man-made sand which is usually done by smashing rocks into sand which results in sharp edges. Anything else of a fine enough grain size will be fine.

Ok well I don't know if this is man made or what. I got it from LFS in an unlabeled bag. Its fine in my other tank that has tetras, and platys in it, but then again they don't burrow!

In my experience, I have seen Khuli loaches burrow into small sized pebbles around 2 -4mm, hence i believe most pebble type stones will work if that is what you want.

If you don't want them to always be burrowing and hiding, then you can either have a bare tank - like they do in pet shops, or you can use fine sand, such as seachem's black sand - they wont burrow into that stuff :slfg: not because that stuff is sharp, rather i think it is just a bit too dense and heavy for them.

I want them to be able to do what they do, and if that is burrow into the substrate, then so be it. I do want to see them sometimes though!

You can't really tell what is sharp or not without magnifying it. I think that any of the things mentioned here will be ok. You could always try what you think is best without setting the tank up properly and seeing what they do, then decide whether to keep it or try something else.

Well when I look at it closely it looks like there aren't any real sharp edges and it doesn't feel sharp. Maybe I will just give it a try and see how we go.