Is this tank substrate safe?

[Birdiemarie]

I have a bowl in my barebottom tank with small stones to help with BB and also for decoration. I recently read some substrate can get stuck in goldfish mouths so now I'm concerned if I need to get a different kind. The glass figures are about 1" - 1 1/2" (to give an idea of the rock size). Some of the rocks are flat ( you can see one in the second pic behind the blue crab on the left) so now I'm worried they may get lodged in the fish's mouth. What do you think?

 

[waterfaller1]

It is a possibility Marie. It is also quite possible for this to become a real eyesore unless you are constantly cleaning it. Goldfish also love to root around in stuff, so they might tear it up completely.It might do better as a decoration on a shelf nearby. I have some bags of flat black stones I got from Petsmart online. They are nice larger, flat and smooth. They are mostly an oval shape.

 

[Birdiemarie]

Ohhh...ok, thanks Carole. I will change the rocks to smaller, rounder gravel. The little figures are glued to the rocks they are sitting on so will wait to see while my fish are small if they will still mess with them too much. The bowl won't be hard to clean every week when I do WC's but we'll see how fast I eat those words!

 

[waterfaller1]

Hi Marie. No, I meant to actually take the gravel out and replace it with larger smooth, river type rocks. Something much larger than the goldfish' mouth. The cleaning plan sounds good. Have lots of bleach and Prime on hand.

 

[Birdiemarie]

Oh, I see, I should look to go bigger so they can't fit it in their mouths at all. There's so much conflicting info out there? I read to stay away from the sand because it builds up a toxic gas if not moved around enough but that it's beneficial to have a little something they can root around in.

 

[waterfaller1]

Yes, there are definitely more than one way of doing things, and twice as many opinions on what to do... I would just keep it simple.

 

[waterfaller1]

I love the crusty the crab

 

[Birdiemarie]

Yes, there are definitely more than one way of doing things, and twice as many opinions on what to do...