Another dumb question? Fish in the dark...

[Galabar]

So, imagine that you had a sump that was opaque and sealed to prevent evaporation.  Are there any fish that wouldn't mind that environment?  I suppose I could cut a hole in the lid (think rubbermaid), add a plexiglass top, and a small light on a timer.  However, are there an fish that like the dark (blind cave fish?)?

 

 

[nabokovfan87]

Bumblebee Catfish, Plecos, there's a few!

blind cave tetra is a thing too!

[Galabar]

You know, I'm not sure.  It's just this desire to use all of the space that I have. 🙂

Also, I'm wondering if there is a benefit to having fish that can eat food that falls into the sump rather than having it rot.

[Ninjoma]

Maybe kuhli loaches? 

[Galabar]

On 5/15/2023 at 12:16 PM, Pepere said:

Any food put in the tank has a certain bioload, carbon and nitrogen.  Whether bacteria or higher organisms consume it I suspect the resultant ammonia and co2 will be similar…

if fish consume it they will excrete ammonia and CO2 and poo. And bacteria will consume the poo breaking it down further releasing ammonia and co2…

 

Fish are more interesting to observe so long as you can observe them.

That's a good point and I was thinking about any other sinks for that bioload.  I thought about fish adding bulk, but, at some point, they stop growing.  Also conservation of matter tells me that even though the fish give off heat (metabolize), the actual grams of whatever added to the tank remains the same. 🙂

The only benefit I can see is a quicker processing of the food and a quicker absorption by the UGF in the sump.  However, again, I don't know if that would make any difference in terms of ammonia levels (probably not).

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

You may consider using it as a breeding tub for life food for your fish. Things like scuds, copepods, rotifers, etc all shouldn’t mind the dark, would eat the stuff in the sump, and could make nice fish snacks every once in a while. Or you could always breed cherry shrimp in there.