[Alexraptor]

Just wanted to tell u all that a bare bottom aquarium using that as a permanent home(other than quarantine and birth)
is a bad thing.
reasons:
Fishes can get Stressed.
Some fishes dig in the gravel and eat particles there.

feel free to add more reasons ppl

 

[Innes]

difficult to cycle, looks poor, cant plant plants very well, stresses fish too much, you can see all of the crap in the tank.......

IMO - only good for shows - and still would be better with gravel

 

[dracofish]

I have bare bottoms in all my tanks. The fish are not stressed, the tanks are always perfect as far as water quality goes, and they are extremely easy to maintain. With the amount of tanks I have, ease of maintenance is a must. Besides, almost every one of my tanks has a Stingray in it, and with a bare bottom I don't have to worry about their bellys getting irritated.

Have any of you actually kept a bare bottom tank for an extended period of time? Don't knock till ya try it!

 

[Alexraptor]

erm the point of keeping a aquarium partially is to have fishes and to recreate part of their natural enviroment.

 

[thomisdead]

I had a bare bottom while I was changing gravel. That was a mistake. I thought my Red Belly was gonna kill himself while he was attacking his reflection.

 

[Innes]

Have any of you actually kept a bare bottom tank for an extended period of time? Don't knock till ya try it!

I had a small one with goldfish and an axolotl - I didn't like it one bit

 

[dracofish]

erm the point of keeping a aquarium partially is to have fishes and to recreate part of their natural enviroment.

That's quite a condtradiction right there. Many people are guilty of keeping fish from various locales together. Do you plan on recreating all the different environments in one tank? Also, the key word is TANK. You will never be able to recreate that fish's natural environment, unless you plan on rereleasing it into the wild.

The point of keeping an aquarium is to keep the fish healthy and happy, for your enjoyment. I enjoy my fish, not the tank they are in. I don't need flashy plants and decorations because my fish stand out on their own.

If you've seen pictures of my fish you can tell that they are quite healthy and have no problems living in a tank with a bare bottom.

 

[Innes]

I think that their is some confusion here.

by barebottom tank I am meaning one with no gravel or other substraight - not just without plants and caves.

 

[piranha45]

I keep gravel because the tank/fish look prettier with it, IMO

There are lots of experienced aquarists out there including dracofish who don't use it, though.

 

[dracofish]

by barebottom tank I am meaning one with no gravel or other substraight - not just without plants and caves.

Yup, and I'm one of them...no substrate whatsoever, although I keep some PVC tubes for my fish that like to hide such as the Black Ghost.

As far as a bare bottomed tank not cycling well...if you have adequate filtration there should be no problem. Most of your bacteria live in the filter, not the gravel. If your filtration is inadequate, then of course your tank will "mini cycle" when you remove the substrate.

 

[TimmyTeam]

whats the fun in that...just seeing them sit in a tank u dont even get to see how the would behav normally with hiding spots...and plats and rocks look really nice,IMO the funnest part about a tank is setting it up and making it look nice.

 

[dracofish]

This tank is impressive enough without decorations...

And this is what a closeup of the inhabitants looks like. I'd say they're plenty happy:

And apparently none of you have ever kept a Stingray. They need lots of open places...and that means going light on decorations!

 

[dracofish]

Oh, and here's yet another bare bottomed tank with a couple Stingrays, a P. leopoldi and P. orbignyi.

This is the only one of my tanks that doesn't have a painted blackground. That will change soon enough. The inhabitants look plenty happy to me, especially that Black Ghost in the corner that's grown 6" in the past 5 months.

Oh, and notice that the bottom looks clean and is free of debris, contrary to what someone said earlier. Bare bottomed tanks stay cleaner because nothing has a chance to settle. It all gets sucked up by the filters.

 

[Alexraptor]

no offence but gravel and sand makes most fish happier and calm.
not even at my local fish store to they have bare bottom tanks.
also remember that some fishes feed of bacteria and organisms that live in the gravel.
Ok your fish might not be stressed but that dosent mean that the rest of fishes around the world arent.
ive seen fish panic and die in such tanks(a friend of mine)
they advise sometimes against too light gravel. well just imagine how a bare bottom is. it reflects even more light.
and lol stingrays dont normally see the bottom lol.
but they do like to dig around and hide themselves

 

[piranha45]

no offence but gravel and sand makes most fish happier and calm.

also remember that some fishes feed of bacteria and organisms that live in the gravel.

Ok your fish might not be stressed but that dosent mean that the rest of fishes around the world arent.
ive seen fish panic and die in such tanks(a friend of mine)

they advise sometimes against too light gravel. well just imagine how a bare bottom is. it reflects even more light.

and lol stingrays dont normally see the bottom lol.
but they do like to dig around and hide themselves

As she is demonstrating to you, fish can obviously acclimatize themselves to no substrate

So what if fish sometimes eat stuff on the gravel? So long as you put food in their tank, the fish are more than welcome to eat stuff from wherever they please rofl.

Just because your friend had no luck with keeping fish in a substrate-free environment doesn't mean other people can't, as Draco is showing.

uh, so what if it reflects more light? It doesnt look like Draco's fish are going blind from it lol

As you apparently didn't notice, Draco said gravel damages a ray's skin.

I really think you are being pretty close-minded about this

 

[dracofish]

they advise sometimes against too light gravel. well just imagine how a bare bottom is. it reflects even more light.
and lol stingrays dont normally see the bottom lol.
but they do like to dig around and hide themselves

LOL, it doesn't reflect light if you have your bottom painted black! LOL

My Stingrays never hid even when I had them in tanks with substrate.

 

[dracofish]

As you apparently didn't notice, Draco said gravel damages a ray's skin.

It doesn't necessarily irritate their undersides, but it can. I don't like to take the risk.

 

[bobme]

i just want my fish to feel more at home, even though they are stuck in a damn glass / plastic box

 

[Alexraptor]

lol usally u keep sand with rays as substrate.
sand and a few roots and not to many plants(they will dig em up lol)

 

[piranha45]

http://kingsoftheaquarium.com/freshstingray.htm

Another important consideration that goes along with water quality is substrate. The best type to use would be sand, because Rays have delicate undersides and will bury themselves in it. This is part of their natural behavior. The downside is that sand will clog quickly and cause ammonia problems. Medium sized, smooth gravel won't clog as easily, but the Rays wont' be able to bury themselves in it. If gravel is used, only enough to cover the bottom of the tank should be added. The easiest, of course, is no subrstrate at all. The only problem with this is that the Rays won't get traction and will "skid" around a little

also, if you look at his photos, about half the pics have rays with no substrate