Cichlid Hiding Places
Gerry
My cichlids are running out of hiding places and I was considering
adding a clay pot (the kind flowers are grown in) to the tank. Has
anyone done this before? Should I do anything to the pot before I add
it to the tank? More importantly, how do I split the thing without
shattering it. Any help here would be appreciated by myself and my
cichlids. Thanx in advance.
Gerry
garner
If you use new flower pots all you have to do is soak them first to make
sure they are clean. Used flowerpots are a little riskier. They can absorb
chemicals and fertilizers. I have very hard alkaline water, so if the pots
have any affect on water chemistry it is not noticable. I don't know if
they would affect the chemistry of soft acidic water.
Can't help you with breaking the pots. I use relatively small pots (for
Kribs) and just bury half in the gravel.
Lisa Garner
mlga...@netins.net
FreemanG12
I use PVC plumbing pipe. You can buy it in all sorts of interesting
shapes, sizes, and configurations that provide multiple entries and exits
from the hiding places. It's completely stable, so it won't leach any
toxins into the water. If you hide it under a few big rocks, you don't
even see it.
Also, it eliminates a problem I had with falling rocks. My cichlids, like
most, are incessant diggers and one was digging a cave underneath some
rocks when the rocks fell on it and killed it. Using the PVC pipe as the
base of the rock jumble helps keep that from happening.
Sedarat
A great alternative to the flower pot is using coconut shells.
Break the shell in half with a hammer, cut out the white stuff with a
knife and use a chisel or a drill to make a hole--- the perfect cave.
E-mail me for more comprehensive instructions if you are interested
KristinSue
Gerry,
I've actually got a coffee cup (sterilized in boiling water first) in my
cichlid tank for lack of enough hiding places. I just have it lying on
its side and have a small plant achored under the handle of the cup to
give it a little cover at the entrance of the cup. It works nicely! They
all love it! A clay pot is a fine idea...I have no idea how to break a
little notch out of it without shattering it, though.
Kristin
jss
I use different size canning jars for hiding places. I bury them half way,
and in time they become green with algae and look neat.
jss
skruiz
Clay pots are very popular with cichlids, especially as breeding
structures. There no problems using them. Use a utility knife to cut out 2
small holes in the overturned pot. Don't try to cut all the way thru at
first, but make many shallow etches until you get all the way thru.
--
Scott
Phoenix, AZ
"No free man shall ever be debarred
the use of arms. The strongest
reason for the people to retain
the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect
themselves against tyranny in government"
- Thomas Jefferson, June 1776.
Mark Fig
Gerry wrote:
>
> My cichlids are running out of hiding places and I was considering
> adding a clay pot (the kind flowers are grown in) to the tank. Has
> anyone done this before? Should I do anything to the pot before I add
> it to the tank? More importantly, how do I split the thing without
> shattering it. Any help here would be appreciated by myself and my
> cichlids. Thanx in advance.
>
> Gerry
Gerry
I've used clay pots in two ways:
1) I buy a large clay pot. Then I use a pick or screwdriver and a
hammer to starting chipping at the bottom of the port. Most clay pots
come with draining hole at the bottom., so it is easy to make this hole
bigger by chipping at it. I keep chipping until the whole bottom is cut
out. Then I put this pot in the tank on its side. Sometimes I cover
the pot with rocks and it hides the pot while still giving the fish
places to hide and be protected from falling rocks. I find that if I
don't cut out the bottom, my fish won;t go in because there is no escape
route when a bigger fish comes after them.
2) Another way I use the pot is to just take it and lightly tap against
my outside stairs at the top edge of the pot. If you do it lightly you
will see small pieces break off and you can keep doing it until you feel
the cave is big enough. then just put the pot into the tank upside
down. Presto! instant cave.
Good luck
Mark
Tabmmoc
Rocks work really well. River rocks, landscape slate, that fake stuff
they sell at Home Base for making your house look like you have NO taste,
field rocks. Anything from baseball size on up will work great to give
'em hiding places. They're cheap, sterilizable, natural-looking and they
make various sizes of hidey-holes so small fish can claim an apartment too
small to be taken by larger fish. I've got over 20 mbuna and central
american cichlids in a 90-gallon tank and no one gets beat up. (Except
that stupid Auratus whose attitude writes checks his body can't cash.)
The rocks are piled almost to the top on one side and two-deep toward the
other. The centrals hang on one side and the zebras hang out in the
rocks, one cave to each.
Try it, just be sure to wash those rocks well.
"It never got weird enough for me." H.S. Thompson
Robert
Gerry wrote:
>
> My cichlids are running out of hiding places and I was considering
> adding a clay pot (the kind flowers are grown in) to the tank. Has
> anyone done this before? Should I do anything to the pot before I add
> it to the tank? More importantly, how do I split the thing without
> shattering it. Any help here would be appreciated by myself and my
> cichlids. Thanx in advance.
>
> Gerry
pots and bricks too!
bob
PSteel68
all I did was take a saw made for cutting ceramics and cut small notches
in the large end of the pot. I then placed the pots big end down and had
an instant cave. You can cut the openings to different sizes so various
fishes can use the pots. I also covered the pots with rocks and my fish
love to use the rocks and pots as shelter. I hope this helps. Good luck!
______
/ \ small end of pot
/ \
/ \
-------I~~i--------large end of pot w/ notch cut out
******************Gravel
johnny
In article <01bc8bdc$2665c100$5a162ccf@default>, ken...@juno.com wrote...
> I use different size canning jars for hiding places. I bury them half way,
> and in time they become green with algae and look neat.
>
> jss
>
in time the moss would cover the entire jar and makes for a really cool
decorative entity.
best regards.
--
johnny
nvi...@pacbell.net
san jose state university
graphic designer in training
no spam please
PSLUser
In article <01bc8bdc$2665c100$5a162ccf@default>, ken...@juno.com wrote...
> I use different size canning jars for hiding places. I bury them half
way,
> and in time they become green with algae and look neat.
Oh...That must look nice, but for some reason my Jack Dempseys
(Cichlids), don't like jars, or anything glass, because they don't go
inside of it. What they do like is half of a clay pot buried half way to
give the impression of a tunnel.....they swim in and out of these things
every second..:) And protect their own to the death.
Later....
Richie
MDH THE LA
Gerry,
Clay pots are a great way to provide hiding places for your fish. One
thing you should be aware of though, is that other fish will want to use
them for breeding caves and therefore displace whomever is inhabiting
them.
As for the preparation of the pots, just a rinse in cold water should do
so long as it's never been used for anything else before. Breaking it is
no problem as long as your careful. Just take a small hammer or
screwdriver and essentially "chip away" at them. When you get the size
hole you want just take a rasp or file and take the sharp edges off so the
fish don't cut themselves.
HTH,
Mike
Thai Ton
In article <33c644c9...@news.itis.com>, mb...@badgerstate.com says...
>
>x-no-archive: yes
>On Tue, 08 Jul 1997 18:55:05 -0700, Mark Fig <mfigu...@galileocanada.ca>
>spake unto rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids:
>
>==>Gerry wrote:
>==>>
>==>> My cichlids are running out of hiding places and I was considering
>==>> adding a clay pot (the kind flowers are grown in) to the tank. Has
>==>> anyone done this before? Should I do anything to the pot before I add
>==>> it to the tank? More importantly, how do I split the thing without
>==>> shattering it. Any help here would be appreciated by myself and my
>==>> cichlids. Thanx in advance.
Clay pots are cheap too. I got two varying size, one really tiny for under
$1 at Walmart. Only problem is I don't have much space left where I want
to put large clay pots.
As to all those PVC pipes, I went looking for some at Walmart. Obviously,
they're not a home store so they didn't have individual ones available. So
I stopped over their "tremendous" pet department and noticed these tunnels
by Hartz made for hamsters and such. You can see through them and they come
in many colors. I am assuming that they are inert because they are plastic,
as to what kind, I don't know. I got a green T which I place the one leg
into the gravel to form a short tunnel and a long blue tunnel which I held
down with some gravel in it. The colors are great and does not overly
stand out from the tank. I was afraid that plain white PVC tubing would not
look very well, but I needed to find more hiding places.
Since my cichlids are still young 1.5", they haven't really established any
territories, but last night I had one hanging around in one tunnel and the
other hanging around the other tunnel on the other side of the tank. So I
guess they seem to like them. BTW, they were about $2.50 each.
--
* Do not send advertising material to this address. I don't have any money. *
Robert Nettles
snip
> As to all those PVC pipes, I went looking for some at Walmart. Obviously,
> they're not a home store so they didn't have individual ones available. So
> I stopped over their "tremendous" pet department and noticed these tunnels
> by Hartz made for hamsters and such. You can see through them and they come
> in many colors. I am assuming that they are inert because they are plastic,
> as to what kind, I don't know. I got a green T which I place the one leg
> into the gravel to form a short tunnel and a long blue tunnel which I held
> down with some gravel in it. The colors are great and does not overly
> stand out from the tank. I was afraid that plain white PVC tubing would not
> look very well, but I needed to find more hiding places.
>
> Since my cichlids are still young 1.5", they haven't really established any
> territories, but last night I had one hanging around in one tunnel and the
> other hanging around the other tunnel on the other side of the tank. So I
> guess they seem to like them. BTW, they were about $2.50 each.
>
> --
> * Do not send advertising material to this address. I don't have any money. *
BUT-since they can see through them, my fish don't like the tubes nearly
as much as rocks or wood. They will only swim around them. I donno,
all fish are different.
bob
Larry Hileman
With regards to clay pots: I find by using pots of various sizes, and
attaching them with aquarium adhesive, my cichlid family have adjusted
very nicely. Also, the pots are positioned in various directions to give
swim through spaces. By this total allachment, easy clean-up
..wonderful! Obviously, new clean pots must be used.