Hiding places?

[EastBay]

How many of you "build" artificial caves -- either with pvs pipe, terracotta pots, etc, and who uses "natural" stuff -- rocks, driftwood, etc?

How important are hides? So much so that I need to build them caves? I want to keep my tank as natural looking as possible.

I currently have rocks, driftwood and fake plants (just easier than real plants), but don't know if there will be enough hiding places.

I haven't added any livestock as of yet. Heck, I still need to put water in the darn thing!

 

[Conor1148]

Hiding spots have been interesting for me. with tons of pieces of PVC my oscar seemed more stressed than when he had a big piece of driftwood that had much less hiding places.

PVC can be a good temporary shelter if you clean it well enough, but for some fish it could cause more stress than its preventing. (atleast in my case)

it all really depends on the fish. what are you planning?

 

[EastBay]

Still not completely sure on stock list.

Leaning toward JD, GT, sal, FMs, jewels.

I really want a carpintis, but can't find them at my lfs. They just generically title them "Texas". But also heard it may not get along with a JD.

In a previous post, Sarah88 suggested the JD and GT.

Like I said, still not sure. This is my first foray into CAs and from what I can gather, a lot of it is "try it and see what happens."

 

[EastBay]

I want to make sure I have enough hiding spots with what I have now, without filling up the tank with aquascaping.

I have a 90g mbuna tank that is filled about 1/2 up with rockwork. But my biggest fish is about 5-6 inches and fairly streamlined.

BTW, my CA tank is also a 90g

 

[Foster]

When I had catfish that needed caves I went to the local outdoor rock store and asked them what would be good (and cheap) per lb. They turned me to the slate pile and were most pleased that I packed off most of the pieces that were too thin and small for their needs. I now have the remains in my chichlid tank and there building their own caves with them.

Just be careful your pointed rocks dont end up knocking into the glass....

 

[FishingOut]

That is a good point Conor. Im sure my dempsey would become a little more comfortable about being in the open if he didnt have a place to hide all the time. I wouldnt want to put him on the spot like that because he seems happy going from cave to cave.
Ive always found caves to be very beneficial. Gives smaller fish a place to hide. Smaller established territories for more aggressive fish. Plus I like the natural look. Check out my tank in my signature.

 

[knifegill]

Big pieces of thin driftwood and sanded-smooth bits of slate as in above post. My catfish liked the terra-cotta pots but it wore their spikes off so I scrapped them. Also, I turned one of those goddawful giant pirate ships on its side, hid it behind some driftwood and ripped off the ridiculous plastic plants and my big raphaels all huddle in it.

Also, when I housed my raphael as a loner with some cichlids, he was out more when there were caves everywhere than he was with only a few hideys. I think the security of being able to vanish gave him more confidence to explore during the day.

 

[Cakilla]

The cheapest cave I ever made was using a small aquarium ( 1 gal ) and move the subsrate from where you want your cave then place the small aquarium in the position you want it and then cover it up with the substrate that you moved and there you have it instant cave ( I had mine done that way when I had river gravel for substrate and it looked really natural.)

 

[Toby_H]

For my fish... I go to a landscaping yard and pick up rock, slate and cut rock dirt cheap. I use the cut rock to stack, slate to make a 'roof' and natural shaped rock to accent...

For myself... I like to hide in the garage

 

[EastBay]

I think we all agree hides are necessary. I'm just worried I don't have enough, or big enough. Granted, I have no fish yet and when I do, I plan to start with juvies. But I'm afraid the hides will be way to small when the fish reach their adult size. Or do they just deal with it? Or should I just worry about that when they get large?