Bare or Decorated?

[maddog10]

Anyone have any thoughts

on having only bare tanks? I have Malawi's and have bare bottom tanks with only some rocks

and/or pvc fittings, but I seperate holding females (after about a week to a week and a half). Bare

tanks are a lot easier to deal with.

Are there certain fish that must have substrate and

decorations to breed? Lets hear what you have to say.

[JustRon]

I like seeing some of my fish

in a more natural habitat. I like to use sand in many tanks and watch them sift through it or pick

at it.

I also think the use of substrate to moderate PH is better than using other

chemicals.

[Frank T]

I read a thread on another

forum, about a study that said the size of the brains of the fish in tanks with scattered rocks was

much larger (cant remember the exact details) vs. ones in bare tanks.

Most of the

african breeders i know all use bare tanks.
Americans i feel do better with at least a

spawning rock.
They wil lay in the corner or even in the middle of the glass if one isnt

available but, the spawns are smaller.

i mess little with africans, so all of my tanks

except for larger fry and some holding tanks are fully covered in gravel and larger rocks.

also noticed sometimes they would only cover the available rocks/slate with eggs, not sure if

they ran out at the right time or did not lay the rest of the eggs. Try to provide extra space.

[fishmaven]

<!--quoteo

(post=1431:date=Jul 2 2006, 11:22 PM:name=Benz_020)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Benz_020

@ Jul 2 2006, 11:22 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1431"><{POST_SNAPBACK}

></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I read a thread on another forum, about a study

that said the size of the brains of the fish in tanks with scattered rocks was much larger (cant

remember the exact details) vs. ones in bare tanks.

Most of the african breeders i know

all use bare tanks.
Americans i feel do better with at least a spawning rock.
They wil

lay in the corner or even in the middle of the glass if one isnt available but, the spawns are

smaller.

i mess little with africans, so all of my tanks except for larger fry and some

holding tanks are fully covered in gravel and larger rocks.

also noticed sometimes they

would only cover the available rocks/slate with eggs, not sure if they ran out at the right time or

did not lay the rest of the eggs. Try to provide extra space.</div><!--QuoteEEnd--

>

I don't think I understand this. The way you've written this it would seem

that if you put several fish from the same spawn into two different tanks, one with substrate and

cover and the other bare, that the "brains" of the fish in the "covered tank"

would be larger than the rest of the spawn. I'm sorry. This doesn't compute!

On another note, my experience would indicate that larger tanks sometimes encourage larger

spawns. Yes, that would indicate that the same female moved from a small to a larger tank would lay

more eggs AND when moved back to another, smaller than the previous large tank, the number of eggs

would drop but not necessarily in proportion the the difference in tank size. I haven't seen a

study on this though.

Normally, the bare vs cover issue isn't for the fish but for

the fishkeeper. It's just easier to catch the fish in a bare tank. Tearing a tank down to catch

a single female is only warranted when the babies are highly prized.

Also, if you're

keeping fish to show in an ACA competition, the fish seem to show better if they're kept in a

bare tank. In an ACA competition the show tanks are bare. Fish not used to this tend to try to hide

in the corners and don't display true colors or attitude (=deportment). Dan

[Frank T]

<div

class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>I don't think I understand

this. The way you've written this it would seem that if you put several fish from the same

spawn into two different tanks, one with substrate and cover and the other bare, that the

"brains" of the fish in the "covered tank" would be larger than the rest of the

spawn. I'm sorry. This doesn't compute!</div>

no, simply, one tank with scatterd rocks and one bare.
find the study and read

it........dont ask me, i cant remember where i read it.

<div

class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>This doesn't

compute!</div>
well if you were raised in a bare baby

crib, then this study would be correct about humans too.
http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

[Patrick Kelly]

I have both types

with the breeders in. Some with gravel, some with out. I really dont see too much on the breeding

end. My peacocks tend to dig to the class anyway. The albinos have a hard time finding the food

when it gets into the gravel. The only reason I put the gravel in was for pictures.
The fry

on the other hand, grow much faster in a bare tank. At least for me. I would say at a rate of 2-

1.
I have a three groups from the same breeding colony. All in the same size tanks. Roughly

the same number of fry. The bare tank has the largest fry, the gravel tank, the next biggest and

the sand bottom tank the smallest. I have noticed this on several occasions.