Tropical Fish Forums

[ah_hup]

inside a tank with frontosas and some african cichlids??

I read up that frontosa will swallow the bubble and get swim bladder problem easily if got too many bubbles produced in the water. how true is this??

[Bob]

On the basic question, there is no real need to have an airstone in a tank, they only actually add Oxygen to the water, by disturbing the surface, if your filter outlet is already doing this, then an airstone is just for show.

If you have a planted tank an airstone is actually not a good idea, plants need CO2 and having the suface disturbed may allow a bit more Oxygen in, but will also waste CO2, the idea with a planted tank is to get the plants growing well enough to actually produce more Oxygen.

If you like airstones, then fine, but they are often more for the fish keeper rather than the fish. I prefer keeping a tank as natural as possible, but I do use airstones in tanks that I am not using filters in, for example quarentine, short term hospital or short term fry tanks.

Some people reckon that fish can have problems from "Bubble" eating (Swim bladder, bubble eye etc), but I am not sure if this is really the case.

Hope that helps

Bob

[Brendan Keogh]

Hi,

Having the airstone also only really depends on what species you are looking to keep, some like more oxygen in the water but these are scarce. Also too much Oxygen in the water is suspected to cause popeye in fish.

Regards
Brendan