Substrate for African Chiclids

My cichlids are constantly uprooting plants and making their own little caves. It's very fun to watch what they can accomplish. We have a sand substrate and have put pieces of flat rock ontop of the sand and they dig tunnels under it. We used pool filter sand and mixed it with some black sand (this way you can't see the fish waste ontop).
 
IMO they dig because they do not have enough caves. Make enough hiding spots for them and they should cut back on their digging big time.
 
no they dig becouse it is a natural behavoiur for them. wether making a territory, breeding area or just having fun, they dig becouse it is what mbuna like to do.
 
Nuriel said:
no they dig becouse it is a natural behavoiur for them. wether making a territory, breeding area or just having fun, they dig becouse it is what mbuna like to do.
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Well I disagree. I know they dig sometimes regardless but IME they dig a lot LESS when they have caves to call their own. P Zebra's barely dig at all, M auratus dig all the time. My tank has massive caves in it and with 4 to 6 different types of malawi fish (30-40 total) I had very little digging, the auratus wouldn't go in the cave with the P Zebras so they dug a hole under a piece of slate and kept that as their own cave.
I now have 3 P Zebras in a smaller tank and they have 2 caves, no digging at all.
 
We have MANY caves and ours constantly dig. It's in their nature. We have at least 1 cave per fish with a couple extra's.
 
yeah i have tons of caves but my p. zebras, crabos, auratus and elongatus all dig during the day, then become more prone to settling in the caves and amongst the rocks in the evening. I am not sure if it is becouse they are not fully mature or of the just like to do it, either way i think its neat to watch.
 
I like when they dig too as it makes the tank look more natural, but I know my fish would dig the whole tank up when the caves are removed. In my large tank I blocked off the largest cave so I could catch a few holding females, the next day the tank looked like WW3. Opened the caves and they returned to normal.
 
All my african cichlid tanks have lots of rockwork with hundreds caves, and the mbuna still dig. In some cases they seem to preparing a nest of sorts for mating, but often they just seem to like rearranging things. I don't think digging is only because of insufficient cover.

Jim
 
JSchmidt said:
All my african cichlid tanks have lots of rockwork with hundreds caves, and the mbuna still dig. In some cases they seem to preparing a nest of sorts for mating, but often they just seem to like rearranging things. I don't think digging is only because of insufficient cover.

Jim
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I never said it was solely because of lack of caves... I said if they have no caves adding some will reduce the digging. Some of mine still made "nests", but the only time I had excessive digging was when they didn't have access to the caves.
 
Isnt it also because alot of fish breed and lay eggs in gravel pits? If so then not allowing them to dig is going to stop them from breeding. Also, if the fish like to dig...why not let them? They are already stuck in a small cage...why make them more like prisoners by taking away their ability to burrow...?
 
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