Caves

[D4N]

i want to make cave for my plec have any ideas??

 

[Neal]

Maybe a coconut cave? I never thought they would look that good, but I have to say they look really good. It depends what plec you have and what size. My little bristlenose will go in the coconuts, but my adult won't. And my brothers baby plecs also use them. If you have a big cave, I can just suggest a big ornament even though they don't look natural. And now I use a big ornament, all 5 of my plecs share it. Or you could use a slate cave, but I don't think they look very good personally.

Neal

 

[callum_parsons]

cant beat a good clay pot

 

[fish-r-fancy]

I was going to start a topic like this for my future pleco and was thinking of an "underground cave" made of pvc pipe that you could cover with gravel. Also were would you find a coconut?

 

[ab420]

cant beat a good clay pot

VERY true! I just set up a Malawi Cichlid tank, so I needed a lot of caves, and wasn't too comfortable stacking up hundreds of pounds of rocks in my tank. I got a bunch of different sized terra-cotta pots, all large though, and even a terra cotta saucer they had there. I sawed holes in some, and used aquarium sealant to "glue" them together in different configurations to make a ton of caves and tunnels. Then I spread the silicone over the outside of the pots, and attached various left over types of gravel here and there to give it some different textures and colors, not to mention TONS of surface area for beneficial bacteria. I actually put some of the gravel from my tank into some of the caves, even the ones stacked on top of others ones, because some of the cichlids like to dig in the gravel. I made 2 structures, 1 with 3 big pots, and 1 with 2 big pots and a saucer, and fish absolutely LOVE it!

 

[skiltrip]

cant beat a good clay pot

VERY true! I just set up a Malawi Cichlid tank, so I needed a lot of caves, and wasn't too comfortable stacking up hundreds of pounds of rocks in my tank. I got a bunch of different sized terra-cotta pots, all large though, and even a terra cotta saucer they had there. I sawed holes in some, and used aquarium sealant to "glue" them together in different configurations to make a ton of caves and tunnels. Then I spread the silicone over the outside of the pots, and attached various left over types of gravel here and there to give it some different textures and colors, not to mention TONS of surface area for beneficial bacteria. I actually put some of the gravel from my tank into some of the caves, even the ones stacked on top of others ones, because some of the cichlids like to dig in the gravel. I made 2 structures, 1 with 3 big pots, and 1 with 2 big pots and a saucer, and fish absolutely LOVE it!

that sounds really really interesting. could you possibly post a picture of your terracotta pot setup?

 

[leafs]

I siliconed some small pieces of mopani wood together to form a cave. Looks pretty natural as long as you don't use too much silicon. My Clown pleco always hides under it. I don't like the idea of using pcv or pots. Doesn't look natural enough for me.

 

[wendywc]

I'm going to form a big cave for my bristlenose with the box of slate that I have. Im going to silicone a few pieces together, but not all... that way I can move it & lift the top for cleaning later.

 

[hoarp001]

You can get a coconut from tesco and 'juice it'

 

[Torrean]

you can silicone sand or gravel to the outside of a piece of pvc tubing. That will make it look alot more natural. You can also silicone four pieces of slate together to make a square tube...
One thing I tried once that worked well is to use tupperwear. You can silicone sand or gravel to it if you want it to look more natural or you can just leave it be so that you can see your fish "hiding" inside.

 

[raptorrex]

i want to make cave for my plec have any ideas??

try using bits of broken pottery!! stuck together with silicone, did one for a friend, making lots of gaps and caves. they are a bit sharp, so i put them in an old film dev tank, and popped them on the JOBO to roll them around for a few hours, this took most of the sharp edges off. so they were safe. made a hell of a mess of the dev tank!!!!!

ps a JOBO in this case is a sort of water bath with a roller powered by a motor.

 

[D4N]

well i have made a cave now

i used pvc and used stainless steel bolts to fasin some slate to the pvc pipes. i counter sinked the holes so you counted see the bolts as well

this looks realy good and it is stronger than silcone

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Is there any way that you could get a pic up of your tank? Would love to see it. About the coconut thing would it be save to use those in an aquarium if you toom all of the milk out? I would think that it would pollute the water. But I could be wrong. Just wondering if anybody knows.

 

[DarkEntity]

Is there any way that you could get a pic up of your tank? Would love to see it. About the coconut thing would it be save to use those in an aquarium if you toom all of the milk out? I would think that it would pollute the water. But I could be wrong. Just wondering if anybody knows.

Buy a coconut, remove the milk. Cut shell in half with a saw, remove all the flesh so you are left with nothing but the hard brown shell. Remove all the hairs from said hard shell, clean thoroughly. Using a dremil, file or sandpaper and shape a semi circular hole in the edge..voila you have a cave.

Now for the natural look, take some java moss or other attachable plant and put it on the shell, leave for a week in an oxygenated and filtered environment (not your tank) if the plant has attached put the shell in your tank

Tada. job done

Or

goto Java-Plants.com and buy one premade

 

[Neal]

To buy from Java they are about £5, to make one yourself your looking at about 60p. Just do what was said above, but boil it for 30 minutes before you take the meaty stuff out, it's alot easier to get out then.

Neal