Black Sand vs White Sand

[Zulaab]

In know some species of fish dont like one or the other...  when I say like it, it does not mean they are they going to die etc with the wrong substrate.. I am looking more for they lose their colors etc, if over the wrong substrate color.
I have Leleupi's in a tank with white substrate because I have seen them over black and they look sick, as they attempt to blend in with their surroundings which makes them have black splotches which over white they do not have.

Now the fish I am going to talk about here are Peacocks, Yellow Labs, Hongi, Oxyrhynchus, Fryeri and other Malawi's.  I want to make sure their colors are bright and noticeable.  The two tanks I am going to be putting fish into are going to be show tanks in my living room so I dont want to have them look bad.  I am right now thinking Black and White sand, one for each tank.  Have any of you out there have had any experience with Black sand how the fish color to it ?

[CichlidFan]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

Well, I can tell you that the RED chimba's are black in my "black" tank.  That tank has black sand and the back of the tank is painted black. They do seem to love the "concealment" factor though. In other words, they like the black.

CF

[wvgdiscus]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

Fish will try to blend into their surroundings.
If you use white the more the colors will appear, The darker the tank the less they will show their colors.
Either way the fish will like their surroundings.

[dblondfemme]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

you can see the fish poop more clearly in white sand, especially if you have plecos
<----has decided gravel...small gravel is great because you can "python" it without worry.  Now...If I had a smallish giraffe cat, I prob would have no probs whatsoever with sand.

[rrocket2002]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

The lighter the color of the sand helps to reflect light and tanks appears brighter versus dark sand.

[Hanson77]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

I have used a darker substrate for the simple fact that is gives a good contrast with the rockwork that I had in most of my tanks.  If you used darkers substrate with a lighter rock for decoration and cover, you pretty much get the best of both worlds.  You can also enhance the colors of your fish with lighting.  But I am a firm believer that good water quality and a healthy diet will give you the desired effect.  You might want to give JUAN a shout on here to take a look at his big display set up.  He has a 175 with a myriad of Peacocks and the like with black substrate in it with holey rock.  The fish still exhibit some REALLY nice coloration even on the darker back ground colors.

[Cesar]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

Mix it Jesper, 60%white 40%black for that salt and peppered look. Go look at some of the tanks on www.cyphos.com to see what it looks like.

[Mzungu]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

From what I've read and seen, fish feel more comfortable with a darker substrate. Most of their predators come from above, so if they're more exposed against a lighter substrate, they will most likely lose color and not be as happy. I'm pretty sure Malawi has a sand substrate, but it's also pretty darn deep, and I assume the fish feel safer that way.  :)

[Mzungu]

Re: Black Sand vs White Sand

Got curious, looked around a bit...Saw this neat sight of a few pages of photos from a dive in Lake Malawi!

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/diving_malawi_07.html