Fishing Talk

Majority of fish lovers love to have woods and rocks in their aquariums.
These rocks and wood also help in giving a natural look to the fish tank and the fish find this quite satisfactory. But before adding rocks and woods into your fish tank you must know about several important things. In this article you will learn about the pros and cons of having rocks and wood in your freshwater fish tank.

Advantages

There are a lot of advantages of having rocks or wood inside your aquarium.
If your fish need a particular type of water atmosphere, woods or rocks. For example, rocks like Texas Holey Rock can contribute in raising the pH of your aquarium. On the other hand, Driftwood can help in reducing the pH level of water.

Again, there are some species of fish that eat algae grown on rocks or woods. Wood itself). So if you have such fish you can provide them rock or wood so that they find a taste of their natural and they will feel better.

Moreover, wood and rock also offer a great amount of surface area the purpose of nitrifying bacteria. These helpful bacteria help in reducing ammonia and nitrites from your fish tank.

Rocks and wood provide a hiding place for your fish. It can help them from attacks by some aggressive species of fish. Those fish who are used to live in caves will also feel save if they have woods and rocks inside the tank. Moreover, some fish species require woods and rocks to breed and lay eggs.

The last but not the least advantage of having these woods and rocks is simply aesthetic. Beautiful rocks can increase the look of your fish tank to a   great extent. They also help to give the tank a more natural look.

Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages as well regarding the use of rocks and wood in fish tank.

First of all if you have a  large quantity of rock or wood in your tank it may prove to be quite difficult to maintain and cleaning. Moreover fish food residue and debris can go and get6 stuck in the rock and wood which will rot with time giving birth to bacteria and chemicals. So vacuuming the area will be impossible without removing the rock work.
Covered substrate is impossible unless the rocks are removed.

Moreover, rocks and wood may make it difficult for you to catch fish. As with rocks your aquarium has a number of places for the fish to hide and you will get a hard time catching the fish.

Again there are some rocks or wood which are harmful for certain species of fish. For example, driftwood can decrease the pH level of water. So if you place driftwood in tank with fish like African cichlid which thrive in high pH level, it will surely bring in disaster.

Also, generally rocks weight a good deal. Although your glass fish tank may be strong enough but still it is better not to put too much weight upon it by stocking  great deal of rock. If you are going to have a   bit large collection of rocks buy some egg crate from any hardware store. Then cut it according to size, and place it at the bottom of your fish tank.