The Puffer Forum

bertie 83 wrote:You can buy mats for tanks to give a substrate feel, that would be better than nothing for any fish IMO. For example would be fine in a tetra or danio tank. The shadows on the bottom or purely the unnatural look could easily keep your fish on edge.

Never seen these matts where are they from?

My local maidenhead aquatics does them. A thin layer of gravel will be much cheaper tho. I think they are about £12 for a 2 foot by 1 foot tank. Robbery if you ask me, it's gravel siliconed to a mat.

Not a bad idea. Thinking about it though my panaques would just chew them up!

+1 to PP's comments above. Nitrification bacteria should be in filters where they get better and more controlled flow, but those are two species per tank ordinarily. There are hundreds to thousands of other species of bacteria plus infusoria, etc. in our tanks and the majority of those are beneficial to the tank's micro-ecology. Please do not make the novice mistake of thinking that nitrogen-handling bacteria are all that we have in our tanks. Semi-closed systems have millions of bacteria and infusoria, etc., not just a few.

All of my tanks with fish or inverts have substrates. IMHO & IME the specimens so housed do far better than those in bare-bottom tanks. Fads happen regularly. That has little or no bearing on whether or not they are beneficial to the inhabitants.

Personally, I like the look of a substrate rather than a BB tank.