Hi, I noticed under the info KoKo provides on her tank page that she uses small pebble rocks (sand). What is this exactly and does it have a size on it or do you know where it can be purchased? I have used and had problems with the small stones you see everywhere at the local LFS's. I would love a decent small stone. I am really tired of the bare bottom tanks at my house. They look so unfinished.

you can get it at most good fish stores. I have black stone in mine, I like the black color because it offsets the oranges and white really well. I'd stay away from large stone for all over because it tapes uneaten food and will soon foul your water. Another thing I learned about 30 years ago is NO LIME STONE. I had severums at the time and they became sick, the guy at the fish store said lime stone gives off a gas in water that is toxic to fish, I lost every one

Hi in Michigan! I was born and raised in that state!

Pebble, or river rocks, are very common in aquariums. I have some in my tanks as well, and they are cheap, have nice natural colors, white or black, and easier to take care off than the smaller gravel. You can find them in craft stores, Wallmart, or even HomeDepot in the garden department. In the craft stores, I find them in the isle where you can buy supplies for glass decor. You know, like filling up glass bowls with rocks, or even decorate around candles, or the isle with the sand art.

Lets see if I can find a picture of a package.

Got it!
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/display...oductNum=fl0057

I've used large river rocks before and they're fantastic, but you need to have some type of current running through them, either that or gravel vaccing every three days since a lotta stuff gets stuck under they're. I usually just stick the output of my filter in a gap, it blasts most of the stuff out.

Smaller (under 10cm long/wide) river rock's probably work better, but me being me wanted a proper river tank LOL

I have a medium sized river rock (think large peas) in my tanks at the moment... I love the natural look but the size is a pain. I liked the look of smaller gravel but didnt want them sucking it up and thought this size would prevent that (not so much); the problem is that the gravel is small enough to get lots of gunk stuck in it, but too heavy to get cleaned properly when I gravel vac. I do think that gravel is manageable in most situations but there sometimes when it just wont work. As an alternative, with the barebottoms you could do somthing simple maybe? I saw one of JenW's tanks a while back that was completely barebottomed with three potted plants as focal points... it looked fantastic and really elegantly put together (in fact I'm doing a variation in my own new tank)... I dont know where exactly the thread was but if you put "barebottom" into the search and filter it with her name you should find it if you want to see it.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have tried the big river rocks but they are too hard to clean with the python and collect way too much food the way I feed! The mid size works ok but some of them are still small enough to get stuck in a 3-5 inch GF's mouth (it happened to me.) Now that one of my tanks has all 4-5 inch GF, I might try the regular small stone you see everywhere at the LFS. I was trying to figure out if KoKo had something even better than that so 2 inch GF's wouldn't have a problem? I will look at Michael's for the small stones as well. I would like to try some real plants. I was afraid I might accidentally bring disease in since they keep fish in the tanks with the plants where I go. I need to explore this option more. Once again, a big Thank You.