Khuli Loaches and Flourite???

[Fishstix3000]

I have a regular run of the mill black gravel tank. I want to get a herd of khuli loaches. I want to switch to a better substrate for the khulis, so I checked out my LFS and they only had black flourite, no black sand. It looks awfully sharp for the khulis. I checked out old threads and couldn't find a clear answer.

Will khulis be happy in flourite? Will they be injured? Does anyone have experience with khulis in flourite?

Would they be better in the gravel I already have?

Is sand a better substrate all around than flourite?

I have some really easy plants. They don't necessarily need flourite to do well.

I also have cory cats and a pleco on the bottom. Guppies and Platies up top. And a few mystery/apple snails.

Thanks for any input!!

 

[H3D]

I use eco complete in my kuhli loach tank.

 

[fishorama]

Pool filter sand for me & my kuhlis. What plants do you think 'need' flourite?

 

[Fishstix3000]

Uh, I don't know what plants "need" flourite. I just know that it self proclaims to be great for planted tanks.

Is Eco Complete similar in texture to flourite?

 

[H3D]

Is Eco Complete similar in texture to flourite?

No. It is more like a gravel sand mix.

 

[Fishstix3000]

So, does flourite seem like a bad idea for kuhlis?

 

[fishorama]

My kuhlis don't really dig in pool sand so they may be ok but flourite seems rough textured. Pool sand is less expensive than flourite too.

I have other loaches on Eco complete without problem but have never tried Flourite. I have some on Flourite Black Sand, other than being hard to clean the loaches seem ok.

 

[Fishstix3000]

Flourite is hard to clean? They left that out at the fish store. They showed me a tank they had set up with it and said it was the best stuff they have and how awesome it is.

 

[Bubbles2112]

I think it is the Flourite Black Sand is hard to clean. I have some in one of my tanks and you can't do water changes the way one would normally perform them. Usually I twist the siphon part of the tubing straight into the substrate to suck out any accumulated waste. But you can't do that with sand--it gets sucked up into the siphon cuz its so light.

 

[Kuhlifan]

The smoother the substrate the better. Even if they don't dig, they still scrounge around for food, which can be hard on their little whiskers.

I used pool filter sand in my aquarium. My plants are growing like crazy. If you want black sand though, you'll probably have to do some searching or order online, because I doubt you'll find black pool filter sand anywhere.