Gravel or no gravel for breeding

Just wondering if people use Gravel or no gravel for
eeding catfish, africans???<
><
>I seen both used in different fish rooms.<
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>Dean Edited by: Fishmad888 at: 24/5/05 10:58<
>

[wrk21]

depends on the fish, not right up on the cats but all cichlids have different ways of
eeding. ive seen oscars with nothing more than one rock and a slab of slate in their tank, but mine liked to dig a PIT around the base of where they laid their eggs. <
>some of the shell dwellers need either a coral or calcium gravel, they are forever digging making new nests and moving their shells around.<
>i think some gravel in is good but it just makes it harder to keep clean.<
>not that he was
eeding but even jack moved a few kg of gravel to make a piy for him to sleep in.<
><
><
>  

I think
eeding cichlids with or without substrate is very possible. As when i originally had african cichlids all the males, especially one peacock I had made large pits to try and attract a female. I wasn''t into
eeding fish at this time but successfully
ed hongi and electric yellow this way. <
><
>Now after converting to tropicals for 6 months I am back into africans and the tank the fish are in now has no substrate. It does have plenty of caves and hols i put in there using pots, rocks and a
ick or two  . So far I have had these africans for just over two weeks. I already have one batch of barlowi that i stripped at 14 days and to my suprise the fish had no egg sacks, and then yesterday another female barlowi was holding and my female ngara flametail, and when I arrived home today another female barlowi is also holding. So clearly the fish will
eed with no substrate. <
><
>I think the key to
eeding african cichlids in particular is for the fish to have a space where the male most of all will not be distracted by other fish during
eeding/courtship. I figure this can be achieved by having a lightly stocked tank, plenty of caves for all of the fish or by letting the fish dig there own pits to
eed in. So I guess the male needs his own territory to
eed frequently and successfully.<
><
>Thats just my guess on it all  <
><
>Michael

[Dyce]

gravel has the addition of having extra bacteria living in it although is harder to clean. fish fish fish fish turkey fish fish gobble

ALL professional
eeders use NO gravel, because the fish dont stay in the same tank all the time they are moved a lot, males and females are kept separate and put together when needed.It is a lot easer to clean the tanks..<
><
>Bob

I''ve got a 48x15x18 display tank with calcium carb substrate and about 50 fish packed in (not all full grown) and i can''t stop the peacocks and yellows
eeding.

feed em white crane that will stop them
eeding :P