This natural countershading makes it more difficult for predators to see fish when looking down (dark background) or up (light back ground of sky). Extremely light-colored gravel is not natural to the fish and it can reflect so much light back onto the fish's scales that the normal colors seem faded. In addition, some species never feel secure with the brightness of light-colored gravel. Natural river gravel that has mixed pebbles of beige, brown and nutmeg colors works best for me. It looks good and so do the fish. Natural gravel also has another advantage: it's inexpensive. You will have to wash the gravel thoroughly before you put it in your tank to remove any dust and debris that is present. Here's a simple way to do this. First, obtain one of those plastic 5-gallon buckets that restaurants often receive different kinds of foods in, or purchase a new one. Make sure the bucket is clean before you start the washing process. Add no more than 10 pounds of gravel to the bucket to allow lots of room for you to stir it vigorously as you add water. Depending on the time of year and where you live, you can do this chore outdoors with the help of a garden hose or indoors in a suitable location. A bathtub or utility sink works well. If possible, put some kind of fine screen over the drain so you don't clog it in your enthusiasm to get things clean. Run water into the bucket with the unwashed gravel and stir the gravel with your hand. You may want to wear rubber gloves to save wear and tear on your fingernails. The object is to get the dirt and debris out of the wavel and into the water. When the water in the bucket gets dirty, carefully pour it off, add new water and start again. This is another reason for only cleaning 10 pounds of gravel at a time. Wet gravel plus several gallons of water weighs quite a bit. You don't want the bucket to become so heavy that you injure yourself trying to lift it or lose control of it and cause a big mess. While you can let the water run continuously, it's better to get into the habit of practicing resource conservation. You'll know you've washed the gravel enough when you can stir it up and not cloud the water. Add each bucket of gravel to the tank until there is a layer 2 to 3 inches thick on the bottom. Arrange the gravel so that it gently slopes downward from the rear to the front of the tank. The reason for this is that solid matter on the substrate will tend to accumulate toward the front of the tank, making it easy to see and remove when you do tank maintenance. Tank maintenance includes regular water changes and periodic gravel vacuuming. One final note on gravel. There are some instances in which you will want to use a finer substrate instead of gravel. For example, banjo catfish (Aspredinidae) like to burrow into the substrate and cover themselves during the day because they are both shy and nocturnal. Gravel is too coarse for them to burrow in. so you will have to use a medium grade of sand. The gravel you select will serve as a foundation for everything else you're planning to add to the tank. The variety of natural and artificial (but natural-looking) items that are available to you is almost limitless. A word of caution here, however, is that not everything that will fit into an aquarium is suitable for use therein.
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