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Is it possible to have a community ( more than 8 fish in the tank) fish tank with out gravel on the2007-11-24 23:11:37

i have a 10 gallon tank and the gravel gets so dirty and so nasty it hard to keep it clean and i have thes pound snails that i cant sem to get rid of i have tried so many ways but my question is... can i have a tank with nothing on the bottom

Answers:

Gravel is very important for multiple reasons. It provides a breeding ground for bacteria to help filtration of ammonia and nitrites (highly toxic to fish). It also helps calm the fish. If your tank has a light, the gravel prevents the light from reflecting of the bottom of the tank. Reflecting light in strees full and iritating for fish so keep it in there.

To help clean the gravel buy a gravel siphon filter from a local pet store or walmart. They cost about $5 and clean gravel really well. Do this every 2 weeks.

For the snails you can try squashing them with your finger. You need to get all of them because even 1 snail can reproduce in no time. You can also buy loaches to eat them but your tank is heavilly stocked already. You can also buy chemicals from any pet store to kill them but use this as a last resort.

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no, the gravel hold fish wastes. i tried this and most of the fish died. so i wouldn't recommend this

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no you need gravel for the waste

or else your fish will die

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Sure! The gravel is basically just for decoration. Unless you have bottom dwellers that like to burrow in the substrate (in which case you should have sand and not gravel, anyhow), then your fish will be fine with nothing on the bottom of the tank. And it will be a lot easier to clean.

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Haha at mystery snails.