Water Changes & Big Rock's

[DawnMichele]

Big boulders with flat bottom don’t trap waste, so cleaning is not necessary. Though they provide sight barriers and aesthetic value, they don’t provide much cave habitat. There is a style of Japanese aquascaping called iwagumi that focus on rock arrangement with design guideline.

Aquascaping ideas

The 2Hr Aquarist's comprehensive guide on aquascaping styles practiced for the advanced planted aquarium. Includes showcase of fellow aquascapers’ works on Iwagumi, Natural style, Dutch style, Natural Biotope and Hardscape Diorama.

www.advancedplantedtank.com

Some simple tips for working with rock

This tank is done by Luca galarraga (my favourite scaper?) at CARAC 2019 organized by Acuariofila Regiomontana A.C. It is a live setup (done within a short time) but demonstrates many high impact...

www.advancedplantedtank.com

Curved rock such as lace rock, larva rock or carved rainbow rock make good cave habitat, but also trap waste efficiently that need to be cleaned periodically. Carved rock is never used in Iwagumi because they are unnatual. I stack smaller rock on top of bigger rock for safety and easy removal during cleaning. The caves provide good nesting site for Tanganyikan and small CA/SA egg layers which had successfully raised young in my set up amid large open water Haps and CA/SA. In fact, I had to evict entire colonies of Julie’s and Daffodil because they took over the rock piles. Mouth brooders had no success in such set up as parents don’t provide protection of youngs.

Thanks for this!!! I decided to put them on egg crate's. I wanted to distribute the weight evenly.

 

[RD.]

Big boulders with flat bottom don’t trap waste, so cleaning is not necessary. Though they provide sight barriers and aesthetic value, they don’t provide much cave habitat.

If you look at how my boulders were placed, I was able to easily create cave habitat. One just has to be a little more creative, and mimic what is seen in nature. Perhaps not so easy to see in the photo that I posted, but even in the two middle boulders, there was enough for a large adult jacob peacock to utilize as a cave. Of course not all fish require caves, nor use them in the wild, many fish are open water fish, such as most in my tank linked to above.

Personally I hate the look of lava rock, rainbow rock, ect, as much as I do bright blue/green gravel, but to each their own I guess.

 

[RD.]

Thanks for this!!! I decided to put them on egg crate's. I wanted to distribute the weight evenly.

Egg crate only creates the illusion of distributing weight evenly, it actually does no such thing. That is a complete myth. What it does do is remove the potential of a sharp point fracturing a tempered piece of glass.

 

[DawnMichele]

Egg crate only creates the illusion of distributing weight evenly, it actually does no such thing. That is a complete myth. What it does do is remove the potential of a sharp point fracturing a tempered piece of glass.

It would best for mt to put the rock's on the glass directly?

 

[RD.]

Do whatever makes you feel comfortable.

A past discussion on rock weight, and glass boxes.

How strong is our glass tanks and can withstand the weight?

Hey gang not sure where to post this so here it is.... I have a couple 55g tanks of standard dimension retangular tanks 5' long x 12"deep x 20" height and 1/4" thick glass . My concern is can I place large rocks that weigh in excess of 20-30lbs directly on the glass? Will in not cause a...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[BichirKing]

I have large rocks and never clean under them. when I do rearrange the tank there isn't much debris under them.

 

[tiger15]

If you look at how my boulders were placed, I was able to easily create cave habitat. One just has to be a little more creative, and mimic what is seen in nature. Perhaps not so easy to see in the photo that I posted, but even in the two middle boulders, there was enough for a large adult jacob peacock to utilize as a cave. Of course not all fish require caves, nor use them in the wild, many fish are open water fish, such as most in my tank linked to above.

Personally I hate the look of lava rock, rainbow rock, ect, as much as I do bright blue/green gravel, but to each their own I guess.

Big boulders can provide sight barriers and hiding places, but not much caves. Cave by definition has roof and your pic shows only one cave on the right. You can pile boulders to make more caves, but it’s dangerous as they are heavy. I don’t like the unnatural look of larva rock and carved rainbow rock either, but they are lighter and interlock tightly to make good caves. Many cave dwellers won’t spawn unless they feel private, and many often lay eggs on the roof of caves. I created secondary caves by burying flower pots inside rock piles. A trick to spawn Tang compreessep and calvus is to prove a cave with an entrance hole just large enough for the female while the male spray sperms at the entrance. Same with bristlenose pleco with entrance hole just large enough for the male so he can block the entrance to guard the eggs and fry inside. Iwagumi style rockscape with big rock, no caves and thin vegetation is sterile and provides poor habitat for fish diversity except open water species.

 

[RD.]

Cave by definition has roof and your pic shows only one cave on the right.

I guess you missed the part where I stated: "Perhaps not so easy to see in the photo that I posted, but even in the two middle boulders, there was enough for a large adult jacob peacock to utilize as a cave." There was also more than one cave in the pile on the right, but again, you aren't seeing the complete set up so that may not be obvious.
You are only seeing a still image, from one angle.

And as already stated, the vast majority of fish in that tank were indeed, open water species, not cave dwellers. When I kept Tangs, and mbuna, I had multiple caves, all created using river rock. No plants found where most of those species range, so none needed in my tank for diversity. lol

Ditto to some of the open water spawning species, or egg scatterers such as some of the Rift Lake Synodontis species. I had no issue breeding them, either. For Alto comps, I created caves as you described using slate set up like a flat walled teepee - but no matter the species, and I kept many over the years, the end result was always a fairly natural looking scape, not one made out of rainbow rock or lava. But as I said previously, to each their own. I'm not pointing fingers, I currently have a tank with ABS pipe in it, to provide escape routes and hiding spots. Far from au natural, but it works.

 

[Nick Park]

Each to their own. In my case, I find lots of rocks piled together means less aggression, more hiding places and escape routes, more caves and tunnels, and more breeding. The downside is that poop and uneaten food can collect under the rocks - but not excessively so.

 

[DawnMichele]

Thanks again everyone for your help. I really appreciate it. I was just curious to know what you guy's did during water changes with your rock's.