Freshwater aquarium rocks provide a breeding and hiding place to the fishes. Rocks can also be used to help anchor plants and other ornaments inside the aquarium and the surface of the rocks also provides an excellent surface for good bacteria to grow.
The kinds of rocks used in the freshwater aquarium
1. Sandstone Rock – is a sedimentary rock that is mainly composed of small, sand-like grains or minerals. Most of these rocks are composed of quartz and feldspar which are common to the earth’s natural crust. The common color of this freshwater aquarium rocks are brown, tan yellow, red and white.
2. Igneous or Lava Rock – is formed by magma or molten rock that became cool and solid. These are from the volcanic lava and are about more than 700 identifiable types. These rocks are formed below earth’s crust thus, the color is usually dark, appearing from gray to black.
3. Granite – this rock is a type of lava rock. It has a medium to rough texture and can be pink to black in color depending on how it’s formed. This kind of freshwater aquarium rocks are very durable.
4. Basalt – is a type of common extrusive volcanic rock. The color of this rock comes in gray and black and these are commonly used in roads and made major component of asphalt. Most of these rocks are fine grained because of the fast cooling of the lava.
5. Slate – is a fine-grained, homogeneous metamorphic rock. This kind of freshwater aquarium rocks are usually gray in color. However, there are unusual color variations depending on its origin.
6. Quartz – this is not actually a rock but a mineral. This is used because it is considered as the most abundant mineral in the earth crust. Together with the plants this rock will provide a healthy environment to the freshwater fishes. There are several varieties of quartz such as citrine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, amethyst and milky.
It is beneficial to know all of these in order for you to know which one to use for your the fish to present a nice and healthy place to live in.
Freshwater aquarium rocks must be chosen carefully aside from being securely stable and anchored well.