Natural Looking Caves / Hides - Any Ideas?

[tanglovers]

Hi All,

Saturday I am moving in my large tank (520 gallon) into place. Part of the stocking in this tank will be a group of large clown loaches.

I am trying to come up some some natural looking caves and hiding places for them. I am leaning towards finding some nice low driftwood arched pieces as there will be some branch like driftwood in the tank.

Anyone else have any ideas? I have toyed with the idea of using rocks but would be concerned if they tumbled over it may hurt the loaches.

Any pics of anything? I am using clay pots and PVC currently and it works great but is not natural looking at all....

 

[andyroo]

get a big drill-bit and hollow out holes & spaces in the driftwood.
That or bamboo sections, if you can find them. Best is bamboo roots/rhizome, but I'm not sure you can buy them easily (yet).
Reading your other post, string bamboo (or painted/textured PVC) sections vertically along the tank back-wall- natural bamboo falls into the river and generates this sort of habitat, and the loaches will love the hides.

I vote you keep the whole school together- 520 is plenty of space so it shouldn't get too busy, particularly if you've got plenty of hides.

 

[tanglovers]

I like the sound of the bamboo! What is the longevity of bamboo, does it break down quickly/easily in the water?

Any pics of something like this by chance?

 

[Josh the Happy]

Try these: Ciclid Stones i bought the big pack and my Loaches love
them, all kinds of great places to hide.

 

[SkySouza]

I have the cichlid stones as well. fish love em

 

[tanglovers]

Thanks! Do they look fairly 'real'? I have seen some like this but where more of a plastic/mold that looked fake but they were not ceramic like those.

 

[andyroo]

there are lots of species of bamboo- some are more durable than others. I've had sections in my system for maybe 3 or 4 years that have only started to give up over the last 6-months... with introduction of mystery snails & marble headstander. Look at the wall thickness- get the sturdiest walls you can. They get a little white fungus in the water and an "aroma" if you take them out, but don't worry about that. The fungus goes away and the fish quickly get to grazing any accumulated crud, particularly loaches & synodontis & pleco & snail and RT sharks.... & headstanders.... Even angles/cichlids will graze over the surface.

That or go the the local college or community centre and sign up for a ceramics course. When you get there, make your own habitats

 

[EmilyMarie85]

You could also take those pvc pipes/pots and attach substrate and/or rock to them using aquarium silicone.

 

[Chromobotia]

You could also take those pvc pipes/pots and attach substrate and/or rock to them using aquarium silicone.

I tried this. Ii worked well and looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the silicone started to peel away from the PVC over time.

 

[Josh the Happy]

You could also take those pvc pipes/pots and attach substrate and/or rock to them using aquarium silicone.

I tried this also: Click here to see my experiment.
i looked good for a while, but the gravel
fell off and was picked off by the loaches.
Then i switched to the stones, they are
ceramic, look real, a large amount of them
scattered and or stacked looks awesome
and provides many hidey holes for fish
of all sizes.
I have pictures...

I tried this. Ii worked well and looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the silicone started to peel away from the PVC over time.

My point...