A pH of 7.0 to 80 is good, and summer temperatures should not exceed 80 o F. Older individuals respond better to capture and acclimation than do young specimens, especially the very young. After acclimation, discern if fungus medication is necessary and treat appropriately. While sand rollers are pretty much colorless, they do have several redeeming qualities. First and perhaps foremost, they are odd, acrobatic swimmers. The most distinctive feature is the black banding of the fins, most prominent in males during the night.
Males have a blackened overall cast to their bodies.
They are smaller and more slender than the females. The translucent qualities of the troutperch are not evident in the sand roller. The latter is much chunkier than its eastern counterpart. In the early spring of 1990, I set up a prospective breeding aquarium of 40 gallons. Generic gravel overlaid undergravel filter plates, and a powerhead was mounted onto the undergravel uplift tube.