I have a tank of lambchop rasboras, and luckily someone posted a video of them in their natural habitat. It was all murky and the riverbed was basically 100% huge crypts. I don't have those specific giant crypts, they just aren't available here, but I do have a lot of crypts spread throughout the tank, and it made me happy after seeing that video. Like I accidentally made at least one right choice for my fish.
When I first got into the fish hobby I bought about ten kilos of white sand and later regretted it. I realised I preferred dark substrate, so ended up topping it with dark substrate over time and now it's about 30 cm thick, lol. After three years I finally have my tank the way I like it... and I'm so relieved because I would obsess and stare at it and change it constantly. You know what's cool though, there's white patches and swirly layers of white underneath the dark making it look unique.
Great info. I was hoping for a greater focus on aesthetics and such. You know, simple stuff like... putting black fish in a tank with black gravel. Bad idea, right?
Brilliant topic, thank you! Way back in the 70's, I got a job in the new (and only) pet shop in town. I talked my way into managing the ~70 freshwater tanks. All tanks had undergravel filtration. It didn't take too long to figure out that the tanks with natural gravel seemed healthier and happier than the ones set up with dyed/painted gravel. In my own mind, I put this down to the porosity of the natural substrate vs. the lack of porosity of the color coated gravel. The outcomes were: 1. Always recommending natural gravel to our customers; 2. Having nothing but natural gravel in my 27 home aquariums. Keep up the great work, Alexander, best channel ever!
I like having crushed oyster shells as a substrate topper for my invertebrate tanks. Algae grows well on it before the algae gets eaten. The shells last quite a long time as well. Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌
Thank you for talking about this! I had been wondering whether a black or white sand would be best for the growth of my aquarium plants, this video answered all my questions 😄🎉
@@Fishtory Likewise, Alex. We are both bust trying to get to a support level. You are doing very well. Here's a fun vid. Meet Henry and Matilda: th-cam.com/video/J2rWFh8qYwM/w-d-xo.html
Just had a 10 gallon fail, front pane bowed pretty drastically, so im gonna use a black sand, with redish color rocks❤ thanks for the video, it really helped!
So many ppl say dark substrate brings color out. I had just set my mind on and organic soil base and that black diamond blasting sand for a cap. I'm just cycling a 75 gallon tank, bare bottom, planned for rainbow fish and friends. That black diamond sand is a bit reflective but prob not well enough? I'm back to debating on a lighter sand now 😅 My main goal is colorful, happy, healthy fish and plants.
Magnificent video and very educational .Keep up with the Fantastic educational videos. I think you are the very best video out there and channels You have thought about this for awhile Excellent job. Thanks for Sharing with your inspiration.
Thank you so much for noticing. I try and work on videos for a few weeks or months until im sick of the topic...then ill go back and make the actual video haha
@The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium my chemo oncologist doesn't want to treat me yet because immunotherapy makes me so sick. I have got a referral to a great radiologist I see him Thursday wish me luck young Son
Awesome video Alex, got me thinking about my choice for substrate, I'm gathering many items with the goal of putting together my fist Father Fish tank, and I was thinking about capping the dirt with black silica sand, mainly because of the striking look. Now I'm not so sure if using such an unnatural color would have any negative effect on the tank as a whole.
Nice video Alex, full of great info. I remember growing up as a kid we were taught that black (and dark colors) absorb heat while white (light colors) reflect the heat. I figured that wasn't quiet true. Walking bare foot across the parking lot yes was hot. I couldn't wait to reach the beach sand in hopes of cooling my feet. Nope, just as hot. LOL Depending on the type of inhabitants I want to keep in the tank plays a big role as to what color substrate I'll use. Take for instance the False Julii Cory, on a dark substrate it's background color of white/silver darkens to more of a gray due to it's camouflage tendencies. On a lighter background it shows it's true color. I found the best overall substrate is the natural river pea gravel. It contains an assortment of colors from light to dark. 😉
I went crazy with different glacial gravels from Pisces lol, it's all natural with lots of blended colors, but all looks like crap with mulm 😄. There's a pale whiteish with jade tones that looks cool in a blackwater scape with my paleatus corys and golden wonder panchax though, he pops (as does the dark driftwood and anubias background). There's a gunmetal gray that's so hard to work with (big and chonky) but looks so cool, a midnight with gold tones that's yummy with glow light tetras... Yeah, I kinda like my gravels.
@@voluntaryismistheanswer Not necessarily the brand but these are my usual go-to's. CaribSea Super Naturals Jungle River Aquarium Gravel. CaribSea Super Naturals Peace River Aquarium Substrate.
I prefer a darkish natural mix of very fine pebbles, almost sand like, 1mm. I find it acts like sand, but it resembles a natural river bed, plus the darker tones absorb more light allowing me to have my lights on longer without having an algae explosion. Light colours tend to cause more green algae.
Perfect, I'm trying to redo a tall hex tank with black sand, and no idea where to go with it, it's hard to even see the moss balls, with the black back. I considered blending it with white sand, I wanted to do the gray dragonstone, I am so confused, just glad to be moving out the current inhabitants and starting fresh! Maybe just a better light will help 😄
awesome information. even though i was aware of the top view and predators i had no idea about the bottom substrate and when they can do....as always Alex, you bring so much light to the story...thanks
The video was great :) Only one thing with heat - any substrate would not have heat capacity as water. Those small volume in comparison with water I would not consider at all. Good example of colour are codoras - some are not showing nice colour on bright surface and also looks they are shy, try to hide i shadow. Overcome this is possible only is bigger group, whre they feel better, but never will be fully coloured. So I would recomend darker botom, only the choice is harder. For fish which do not care (poecilia) is the best - chepest sand for filtration which is almost white silica in most of hobby market 25kg quize cheep :)
In short, consider also the exposures for pictures and videos when choosing substrate. My experience: On my latest re-scape, I switched from a white sand substrate to a natural river sand which is grey. The reason is that I document the hobby frequently, and when it comes to getting proper exposures, the reflected light from the white substrate just blows out the image, may it be a still picture or a video. My tanks always have these shaded areas due to the plants and hardscape where details get hidden if I try to expose properly for the substrate, and if I expose for the shaded areas, the bottom just becomes a glowing area of white. It also becomes a problem if the fish I'm trying to document is darker overall or has a dark structure. Whenever they're directly on or just over the white substrate, the same thing happens. Expose for the fish and the glow just blows out everything in the image, expose for the substrate and the details of the fish get hidden. The only fish that gets properly exposed while on the white sand are the albino BN plecos.
Very interesting video. Slowly I've been getting together the items needed to create a multi-betta tank. Bought the Fluval Stratum for planting as you recommended ~ should I cover it with sand or small gravel? 🤔 (I'm planning to use an UG Filter ~ sand may not be a good idea? Any thoughts on the UG Filter?) Thank you! 🤗
Nice video, totally off subject, during your different researches have you come across any information on the metabolic pathways in tropical and cold water fish? Are there metabolic pathways which allow certain species to live in cold water that are absent in tropical species? Is it possible to select for cold tolerance in aquarium species? As most commercial fish farms are situated in warm places there probably has been no incentive to try. Thanks Terry.
So yes. There are entire evolutionary chunks of thousands of mutations that can explain wll the different life processes and functions of cold vs warm water fish. What is tricky is finding the 200 or maybe 350...400 things that all help. My guess is researchers would focus on one key trait like the antifreeze cells in goldfish and ricefish... or the retention of oxygen in warm water...or torpor reset genes. But this is all just an assumption on my part, i haven't seen it worked on yet...beyond pushing fish to their temp limits and selecting the moet healthy individuals annually.
@@Fishtory thanks for your reply. I've been keeping fish for more than 50years but only found youtube during covid lock down. I have colonies of Corydoras which are about 25 years old and I'm sure they have self selected for higher tolerance to nitrates and less than ideal conditions, they have survived many occasions when I have not switched the heater and filters back on after tank maintenance. The local fish stores like my fish because they are tougher than most. I have a colony of about 40 Corydorus trilineatus that are producing eggs nearly every day, its more fry than I can grow on so I plan to slowly reduce the temperature and maybe I'll get future generations which are happy and breeding at lower temperatures. Thanks again for your reply Terry.
I really thank you Alex, for this vid! So interesting! I absolutely do not like the brown Contra Soil or red Flourite. It looks so unnatural to me, even though my local soil is pretty reddish and I love that. Maybe I was a fish in a past life, and like you said, I never saw it in riverbeds while I whiled away my days doing fishy things...🙏😉✌️
I use a all naturally pea rock in alot of my tanks, so it has browns,black, white, quarts, tans, done this for years now and my fish and plants seem to do better. I don't get hardly any fish loses from this. If they do its because they eat each other and that's natural life in 🎉a tank.
Put some shrimp on dark vs light substrate then get back to me. Many fish can see all the light spectrum we can...Plus uv, reflecting light impacts their behavior immensely
Yes, very true. They do it all according to the luminosity of the substrate and decore, rather than the color, but obviously black vs white substrate tends to be darker and encourage brighter colors...where as white sand washes them out, so they feel blended in well
I have a tank of lambchop rasboras, and luckily someone posted a video of them in their natural habitat. It was all murky and the riverbed was basically 100% huge crypts. I don't have those specific giant crypts, they just aren't available here, but I do have a lot of crypts spread throughout the tank, and it made me happy after seeing that video. Like I accidentally made at least one right choice for my fish.
Right on!
Those glow fish are not genetically modified they are injected with needles to make them glow. Do not continue this cruelty
CLOWNPUKE gravel is a must in every tank..........
All hail clown 🤡 puke gravel 🙌
Finally! Have been waiting for you to attack this topic. Great job as usual!!
Thank you kindly. Im glad you enjoyed it!!
Thank you. You have an amazing gift for teaching. I love all your videos.
Thank you so much!
Woa, it's crazy that black sand can have that much of an impact in heat! I never would have thought it would matter.
Nor did I until anecdotal reports from viewers, then reading research papers
When I first got into the fish hobby I bought about ten kilos of white sand and later regretted it. I realised I preferred dark substrate, so ended up topping it with dark substrate over time and now it's about 30 cm thick, lol. After three years I finally have my tank the way I like it... and I'm so relieved because I would obsess and stare at it and change it constantly. You know what's cool though, there's white patches and swirly layers of white underneath the dark making it look unique.
I feel your pain
I've never been much of a "go with the flow" kind of person, but in regards to creating mini ecosystems, I think it's great advice. 👍
Haha you have no idea how true that statement also describes me. Lol
Great info. I was hoping for a greater focus on aesthetics and such. You know, simple stuff like... putting black fish in a tank with black gravel. Bad idea, right?
I mean, it is all personal choice... but yes, i would say you lose the fish the less contrast there is 100%! Sorry i didn't focus on that part much
Brilliant topic, thank you!
Way back in the 70's, I got a job in the new (and only) pet shop in town. I talked my way into managing the ~70 freshwater tanks. All tanks had undergravel filtration. It didn't take too long to figure out that the tanks with natural gravel seemed healthier and happier than the ones set up with dyed/painted gravel. In my own mind, I put this down to the porosity of the natural substrate vs. the lack of porosity of the color coated gravel. The outcomes were:
1. Always recommending natural gravel to our customers;
2. Having nothing but natural gravel in my 27 home aquariums.
Keep up the great work, Alexander, best channel ever!
I never considered the porosity...that is a great point to factor in, as well. Thank you!
I feel like you read my mind 😭 I was searching this info all night
Oh whoa! Well im so glad to hear it. Cheers
I like having crushed oyster shells as a substrate topper for my invertebrate tanks. Algae grows well on it before the algae gets eaten. The shells last quite a long time as well. Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌
Thank you for talking about this! I had been wondering whether a black or white sand would be best for the growth of my aquarium plants, this video answered all my questions 😄🎉
Stay curious isn't he motto here. Cheers
Fascinating Alex. Nicely done.
Thanks Lou! I miss you and your crew over on your channel. I need to make sure i catch some streams again soon.
@@Fishtory Likewise, Alex. We are both bust trying to get to a support level. You are doing very well. Here's a fun vid. Meet Henry and Matilda: th-cam.com/video/J2rWFh8qYwM/w-d-xo.html
Just had a 10 gallon fail, front pane bowed pretty drastically, so im gonna use a black sand, with redish color rocks❤ thanks for the video, it really helped!
Glad to hear it. Sorry about your tank!
Fascinating! Thanks so much for this amazing educational talk!
Im so glad you thought so. It's always amazing to understand the creatures we keep in new ways!
So many ppl say dark substrate brings color out. I had just set my mind on and organic soil base and that black diamond blasting sand for a cap. I'm just cycling a 75 gallon tank, bare bottom, planned for rainbow fish and friends. That black diamond sand is a bit reflective but prob not well enough? I'm back to debating on a lighter sand now 😅
My main goal is colorful, happy, healthy fish and plants.
Dark soil contrasts bright fish better.... but technically eliminates the fish less
Been waiting for a video on this keep the info coming brother 🙏
More to come! Thank you
Tank should look like gramdma's house: beige and brown and plants all over the place
The thing I love more than watching fish is the science behind it. Love your videos man.
Glad you like them! Thanks for commenting and watching as well. It helps the channel and is so very appreciated.
Awesome, so much more info than just why the color of substrate matters! Well done.
Another great video. Enjoyed it. Thanks Alex, @Fishtory
Thank you. Cheers
I am gonna learn today.
Good to remember that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Keep it real as much as possible. Great content-thank you.
Always! Thank you
Magnificent video and very educational .Keep up with the Fantastic educational videos.
I think you are the very best video out there and channels
You have thought about this for awhile Excellent job.
Thanks for Sharing with your inspiration.
Thank you so much for noticing. I try and work on videos for a few weeks or months until im sick of the topic...then ill go back and make the actual video haha
Always excited to see your video notifications pop up since I subbed. Very informative, keep up the great work!
Awesome, thank you!
What a clever topic mate ✌️🤎🍄
Thanks my man! Ive been thinking of you. I hope you're haning in there and taking things a day at a time. Cheers, mate.
@The Secret History Living in Your Aquarium my chemo oncologist doesn't want to treat me yet because immunotherapy makes me so sick. I have got a referral to a great radiologist I see him Thursday wish me luck young Son
Awesome videos as always. Your videos are always about really unique subjects and i appreciate that.
Thank you kindly. I try. When they get too weird youtube wont even tell my subscribers lol so feel free to browse the back catelog sometime haha
Makes total sense! Thanks
Sure thing! Thanks for watching
Excellent as always.
please do a video about plants
I have over 50 on plants :) what specifically did you want to know?
Very interesting topic, never thought of this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was sooo good and informative. I really like the depths you went into here.
Thank you kindly
tomatoes produce better if planted beside or above something red.
Whoa! Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.
Yup, they sell red plastic mulch for underneath, it just looks too awful for the garden lol; I have enough tomatoes
@@voluntaryismistheanswer I plant my tomatoes on the south side of our bright red barn.
I use my financial statements from my taxes, bank, and credit cards as mulch under my tomatoes. Never seen them get so huge.
Awesome video Alex, got me thinking about my choice for substrate, I'm gathering many items with the goal of putting together my fist Father Fish tank, and I was thinking about capping the dirt with black silica sand, mainly because of the striking look.
Now I'm not so sure if using such an unnatural color would have any negative effect on the tank as a whole.
Love your passion, its infectious!🥳
Glad you enjoy it! And caught it
Interesting topic, thanks Alex ❤️🇦🇺
My pleasure!
Good notes, reef fish protected by reef are fully colorful, open water species are more light bellied.
Makes logical sense. Thanks for sharing
Great info as alway Alex! I want natural looking sand but can’t figure out which one to get. The availability is limited here in MA
I like fluval stratum for dark and hth for pool filter sand for a natural looking light yet inexpensive sand.
Nice video Alex, full of great info.
I remember growing up as a kid we were taught that black (and dark colors) absorb heat while white (light colors) reflect the heat. I figured that wasn't quiet true. Walking bare foot across the parking lot yes was hot. I couldn't wait to reach the beach sand in hopes of cooling my feet. Nope, just as hot. LOL
Depending on the type of inhabitants I want to keep in the tank plays a big role as to what color substrate I'll use. Take for instance the False Julii Cory, on a dark substrate it's background color of white/silver darkens to more of a gray due to it's camouflage tendencies. On a lighter background it shows it's true color. I found the best overall substrate is the natural river pea gravel. It contains an assortment of colors from light to dark. 😉
I went crazy with different glacial gravels from Pisces lol, it's all natural with lots of blended colors, but all looks like crap with mulm 😄. There's a pale whiteish with jade tones that looks cool in a blackwater scape with my paleatus corys and golden wonder panchax though, he pops (as does the dark driftwood and anubias background). There's a gunmetal gray that's so hard to work with (big and chonky) but looks so cool, a midnight with gold tones that's yummy with glow light tetras... Yeah, I kinda like my gravels.
@@voluntaryismistheanswer Not necessarily the brand but these are my usual go-to's. CaribSea Super Naturals Jungle River Aquarium Gravel. CaribSea Super Naturals Peace River Aquarium Substrate.
Great examples. Thanks for commenting my friend!
Awesome video great info to know
Glad you liked it
I didn't even think about the luminosity 😅 great video!
Heh i didnt either until some optical and physics reading hehe
@@Fishtory I'm so glad you read these things! Your videos make me sound so smart to my friends and family 😆
I prefer a darkish natural mix of very fine pebbles, almost sand like, 1mm. I find it acts like sand, but it resembles a natural river bed, plus the darker tones absorb more light allowing me to have my lights on longer without having an algae explosion. Light colours tend to cause more green algae.
It looks nice as well! Thanks for sharing
Pebbles? Baked clay?
Perfect, I'm trying to redo a tall hex tank with black sand, and no idea where to go with it, it's hard to even see the moss balls, with the black back. I considered blending it with white sand, I wanted to do the gray dragonstone, I am so confused, just glad to be moving out the current inhabitants and starting fresh! Maybe just a better light will help 😄
Yeah theres also some fish that color up brighter against contrasting colors, and others that try to blend in. Its tricky.
where are you recording right now?
My backyard lol
awesome information. even though i was aware of the top view and predators i had no idea about the bottom substrate and when they can do....as always Alex, you bring so much light to the story...thanks
The video was great :)
Only one thing with heat - any substrate would not have heat capacity as water. Those small volume in comparison with water I would not consider at all.
Good example of colour are codoras - some are not showing nice colour on bright surface and also looks they are shy, try to hide i shadow. Overcome this is possible only is bigger group, whre they feel better, but never will be fully coloured. So I would recomend darker botom, only the choice is harder. For fish which do not care (poecilia) is the best - chepest sand for filtration which is almost white silica in most of hobby market 25kg quize cheep :)
Great content 🤟😎
More please 🤩
You got it!
In short, consider also the exposures for pictures and videos when choosing substrate.
My experience:
On my latest re-scape, I switched from a white sand substrate to a natural river sand which is grey. The reason is that I document the hobby frequently, and when it comes to getting proper exposures, the reflected light from the white substrate just blows out the image, may it be a still picture or a video. My tanks always have these shaded areas due to the plants and hardscape where details get hidden if I try to expose properly for the substrate, and if I expose for the shaded areas, the bottom just becomes a glowing area of white.
It also becomes a problem if the fish I'm trying to document is darker overall or has a dark structure. Whenever they're directly on or just over the white substrate, the same thing happens. Expose for the fish and the glow just blows out everything in the image, expose for the substrate and the details of the fish get hidden. The only fish that gets properly exposed while on the white sand are the albino BN plecos.
Try to use an exposure bracketing
Darn so close to being first lol 😂❤ thank you for another great video! ❤
I think you may be first, .actually! Thanks regardless ☺️
As always, Alex, so much fantastic information ❤
Glad you think so! Thank YOU as always for watching
I love this video!
Thank you
16:29
Fruity Pebbles??
Very interesting video. Slowly I've been getting together the items needed to create a multi-betta tank. Bought the Fluval Stratum for planting as you recommended ~ should I cover it with sand or small gravel? 🤔 (I'm planning to use an UG Filter ~ sand may not be a good idea? Any thoughts on the UG Filter?) Thank you! 🤗
I think it would work with or without UGF fine. For bettas it's personal taste of the owner than any fish relatrd upsides
Great stuff as always.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I do minimal water changes with a deep substrate and a heavily planted tank. I have Happy Fish, how worried about stress hormones should I be?!?
What a great video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice video, totally off subject, during your different researches have you come across any information on the metabolic pathways in tropical and cold water fish? Are there metabolic pathways which allow certain species to live in cold water that are absent in tropical species? Is it possible to select for cold tolerance in aquarium species? As most commercial fish farms are situated in warm places there probably has been no incentive to try. Thanks Terry.
So yes. There are entire evolutionary chunks of thousands of mutations that can explain wll the different life processes and functions of cold vs warm water fish. What is tricky is finding the 200 or maybe 350...400 things that all help.
My guess is researchers would focus on one key trait like the antifreeze cells in goldfish and ricefish... or the retention of oxygen in warm water...or torpor reset genes.
But this is all just an assumption on my part, i haven't seen it worked on yet...beyond pushing fish to their temp limits and selecting the moet healthy individuals annually.
@@Fishtory thanks for your reply. I've been keeping fish for more than 50years but only found youtube during covid lock down. I have colonies of Corydoras which are about 25 years old and I'm sure they have self selected for higher tolerance to nitrates and less than ideal conditions, they have survived many occasions when I have not switched the heater and filters back on after tank maintenance. The local fish stores like my fish because they are tougher than most. I have a colony of about 40 Corydorus trilineatus that are producing eggs nearly every day, its more fry than I can grow on so I plan to slowly reduce the temperature and maybe I'll get future generations which are happy and breeding at lower temperatures.
Thanks again for your reply Terry.
I really thank you Alex, for this vid! So interesting! I absolutely do not like the brown Contra Soil or red Flourite. It looks so unnatural to me, even though my local soil is pretty reddish and I love that. Maybe I was a fish in a past life, and like you said, I never saw it in riverbeds while I whiled away my days doing fishy things...🙏😉✌️
Amazing video
Color also helps with lift. Birds use this principle.
Whao! I had no idea...but it makes sense. Thanks for the cool info!
How do you feel about colored aquarium gravels? Are they truly aquarium safe?
They are painted then varnished. They scratch the varnish off and it leaches into your tank. It's bad stuff. Plus you can't grow plants .
I use a all naturally pea rock in alot of my tanks, so it has browns,black, white, quarts, tans, done this for years now and my fish and plants seem to do better. I don't get hardly any fish loses from this. If they do its because they eat each other and that's natural life in 🎉a tank.
Very nice!
Me wanting to breed fish:
Red gravel
Red plants
Red background
😂😂😂😂 just kidding
The heart wants what it wants
❤
So what you are saying, Substrate is a reflection of light, rather than the reflection of the fish tank owner? 🐟
Hah sure
Multi coloured gravel, also known as clown vomit 😂
My two hobbies are fish keeping and hifi.
I’m not sure which is more full of bullshit.
No. Your aquarium substrate color does not matter.
Put some shrimp on dark vs light substrate then get back to me. Many fish can see all the light spectrum we can...Plus uv, reflecting light impacts their behavior immensely
alot of my cichlids change color depending on the subsrate and backround. i try to keep things balanced
Yes, very true. They do it all according to the luminosity of the substrate and decore, rather than the color, but obviously black vs white substrate tends to be darker and encourage brighter colors...where as white sand washes them out, so they feel blended in well
1:41 Not sure Neon counts as a camouflage unless you are in Las Vegas? 🗼🏜🛸
Yes, it would work well there.