sand/excavating apistos

["Adam G" <apisto99@hotmail.com>]

Hi everyone,

I'm very interested in trying to provide as many elements of a natural 
habitat as possible for my apistos.  After reading a few old threads on 
excavating behavior, I realized that my females are often trying to do just 
that.  I currently have a gravel substrate - small gravel of varying sizes.  
I was curious what my females were up to when they were inside of their 
flower pots, so I set up what my wife likes to call Living Room National 
Geographic.  I cut a flower pot in half, and I cut a small hole at the top.  
I put the large opening of the pot against the glass of the aquarium, so 
that a female could swim in through the little hole and no one else could 
get in through the larger opening.  Once inside she couldn't see or be seen 
by the other fish, and if I stood at an angle, she couldn't see me.  She 
would go inside the pot, and float at the typical and beautiful 45 degree 
angle with dorsal and ventral fins displayed.  She would then proceed to 
attack (at least that's what it looked like to me) the gravel.  It's now 
clear to me that she was trying to dig!

I'm interested in laying down some sand to help make things more comfortable 
for the apistos.  Clearly, laying the entire tank with sand would be a messy 
job.  I'd like to try to introduce some sand under spawning caves, wood, and 
rocks.  Any tips on how to do this with a tank that's already settled?  How 
much sand should I lay down (an inch, half inch, less?)  Finally, will it be 
all for not - will the sand simply, over time, fall between the gravel and 
sink to the bottom of the tank?  Any ideas or experiences would be great to 
hear about!

-Adam


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