# Sand for my Hillstream Loaches! (Photos) :D



## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Been collecting sand from my backyard stream for a 20-gal long setup I plan to give to my hillstream loaches. Will house a half-dozen _Pseudogastromyzon myersi_, possibly also my trio of _Sewellia lineolata_ and/or my single _Schistura cf. balteata_. The Myer's I picked up 2-ish weeks ago in a Petland and have been quarantining in a spare 10-gal; they're doing well so I want to move them to a specialized (and slightly roomier) setup with a little more current and stuff... basically a streambank kind of thing 

Anyway, I had a request as to what my river sand (okay, stream sand, but that sounds odd) looked like, so I took some photos and figured I'd share them here - enjoy, and feel free to toss in your own two cents (do you think it will look good?)

The sand (quarter incl. for reference)









Some gravel obtained by sifting the aforementioned sand:









Some photos of things that will live on the sand soon (aka my new Myer's Hillstream Loaches):









Sorry for the washed-out photos...









But they have the sweetest little faces... I think he made a friend (unfortunately snail control is not one of their talents)









The source of the sand: aka part of my backyard stream:


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

THat is nice looking sand. I like the darker look.


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## asukawashere (Mar 11, 2009)

Thanks Diana.  The dark grains are (most likely) primarily hornblende (amphibole), a mineral this part CT has in abundance. It produces the darker cast in some of the granite, but given the large crystals in our pegmatites it ends up in grains of its own at the sand level. There are some interesting rocks around here if you know where to look.


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