Mephistophocles
Member
I have a 125-gal freshwater tank that is well established (I've owned it 2 years and the fellow I bought it from had it for 4) and very stable. It's currently way underpopulated with just a male/female pair of peacock cichlids, 2 tetras and a pleco (all inherited from former owner). The decor is all artificial (inherited from the original owner) and it's horrible - but I'm just now getting around to fixing that.
I want to convert it to a planted tank and then bump up the population a bit (undecided on what to add that will play nice with current inhabitants, but that's a decision for later), and have some experience with planted tanks - but have 2 questions.
The substrate is fairly coarse gravel. I really don't want to mess with the subtrate too much as this is a rock solid tank and that substrate is original - but I think it's a little coarse to do anything too interesting plant-wise. Does anyone have experience adding substrate to a tank like this (maybe sand?) to make it more condusive to plants? Any recommendations from the plant experts?
Second question - the cichlids love to move gravel around. Sometimes very large volumes of it. I have 3 other tanks (another 120 gal, a 90 gal and a 55 gal) that I *could* move the cichlids to - are they going to make trouble with live plants? And/or, are there certain plants that play nice with this particular fish - as I'd rather not move them unless necessary?
Thanks for the advice!
I want to convert it to a planted tank and then bump up the population a bit (undecided on what to add that will play nice with current inhabitants, but that's a decision for later), and have some experience with planted tanks - but have 2 questions.
The substrate is fairly coarse gravel. I really don't want to mess with the subtrate too much as this is a rock solid tank and that substrate is original - but I think it's a little coarse to do anything too interesting plant-wise. Does anyone have experience adding substrate to a tank like this (maybe sand?) to make it more condusive to plants? Any recommendations from the plant experts?
Second question - the cichlids love to move gravel around. Sometimes very large volumes of it. I have 3 other tanks (another 120 gal, a 90 gal and a 55 gal) that I *could* move the cichlids to - are they going to make trouble with live plants? And/or, are there certain plants that play nice with this particular fish - as I'd rather not move them unless necessary?
Thanks for the advice!