Alternative Cave Material

[mrRRunner]

I'm very close to purchasing some slate caves/clay cones of E-Bay but I was wondering if anyone has used plastic before as cave material and if so was it successful for breeding? The reason I ask is that you can get plastic water pipe at DIY stores for approx £1.75 for 3M and plastic drainpipe (square section) pretty cheap to, so thats a lot of caves and all you would have to do would be to block the ends of if you wanted to after you have cut it to length. Thanks.

 

[scatz]

plenty of people use PVC pipe, its cheap, and easy, some may need weighing down though, so you could silicon a piece of slate over one end to cap it off and add some weight

 

[mrRRunner]

Thanks for the info Scatz

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I used to use PVC pipe capped off at one end for my cichlids, it is fine, other than the colour. I used to smear it with aquarium silicon and then roll it in sand or bark chips ("horticultural propagating bark") or peat fibre, and then plant it with jave moss/java fern. It helps, but you can still see the white inside of the pipe.

cheers Darrel

 

[mrRRunner]

Thanks Darrel, the pipe I was thinking of using is grey and the square sectioned stuff is brown, I like the idea of covering it 'nice one' :clap:

 

[scatz]

i use grey pipe too, doesn't stand out at all

 

[smart]

i also have some pvc tube in my tank (as shown in my avatar), and also covered it with silicon and some gravel from the tank to blend in. its abit of a pain to get the gravel to stick, best leaving it for a short time before applying the gravel.

 

[mrRRunner]

Thanks for the replies guys, plastic it is then. :thumbup:

 

[aqua84]

hi

hi mate, :hi: i dont know if this is any help but i used plastic pvc for ages without much luck, i found that the back of the cave needed to be dark for any of my catfish to lay eggs so i started by burying the cave into the gravel, this works but then the gravel became an issue
i took them out and then siliconed backs onto them but because they were white they still got a fair amount of light into them.
i went out and bought D caves after getting frustrated and had 10 out of my 12 catfish tanks lay eggs that day and the next.
it was ridiculous, for me they cost $9each and i would highly reccomend them now. was worth every dollar.
hope that helps.
cheers
pete.

 

[Sambo]

Use black pvc, bare or decorated, smooth down any sharp edges, - I have never used brown pvc but I have found for some reason the black pvc doesnt float whereas the grey pvc makes a good floating log material and is easier to see as natural than brilliant white pvc ..so depending on your use, I'd reccomend grey and black pvc for aquaria. I have been using this for seven years no problems for frogs turtles catfish/ all that like to have the option of hiding which ironically makes most hide less