Tubes / tunnels for Pleco tanks

[FunkyFredFrog]

I have a number of smallish catfish - small pleco's / corydora's and mini synodontis. I really want some form of tube stack or the kind of bricks with segments but dont know who sells them.

I can find caves for breeding on eBay but they're blocked at one end!

[macvsog23]

Joe at rare aquatics has tubes abd some shrinp tubes are sold on E Bay

https://www.rareaquatics.co.uk/shop/pag ... lS5VdarGgU

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ceramic-Multi-fun ... 3a4b48eb86

[andywoolloo]

you can probably make a pvc condo type thing with aquarium sealant, but i have tried a triangle type one with 3 on bottom then two above and one on top and it wouldnt stay stuck.

They sell bricks with holes in them at nursery stores and some hardware stores with outside nurseries, that you could stack.

[Taz]

I made something similar out of some large bamboo (~4cm diameter) that I found at a local garden center (well, out the back of our local B&Q), 10 mins with a saw changed my 6 foot cane in to a number of smaller sections, and they stuck together fine with aquarium sealant.

Good points are that they are wood which looked nice with the other stuff in my tank, and also gave the catfish something to chew on.

Bad point was after 4 years ish the catfish had chewed it through to paper-thin, and it started disintegrating in the tank, but that meant time to build a new one

[2wheelsx2]

I have some of those shrimp tubes from Asia that you can get from Ebay, and the plecos seems to much prefer the caves. The only fish which use the tubes consistently seem to be my L204 and my Red Hump Geos.

[FunkyFredFrog]

I like the ones one ebay but they're very small. I may try to make my own....I like the cane idea....

[MarcW]

I have three of the caves from Rare Aquatics, they come in a couple of colours and are easy to hide away under wood or stones if you don't want them on show. I also make my own from slate, I got a big chunk 10-15kg from a garden centre for £3, use a chisel and hammer to seperate into sheets then you can use an angle grinder (very dusty) or a hacksaw (takes a while!) to cut pieces and glue them together with safe silicone.

My fish seem to go in and out of each type equally, not had spawns in either yet though, but I haven't been trying for long!

[FunkyFredFrog]

I've got some of the square edged green slate siliconed caves and some of the brown all in one round caves but these are all cutoff at one end and my pleco's have never taken refuge in them...I went to B&Q and got the biggest bamboo cane piece they had - I've cut it up and going to see how that goes. My Ghost Knife seems to like them at least!

How can I tell what sort of silicone won't leach into the water? I would have thought that most silicone would be safe but I'm not an expert...

[MatsP]

You can buy tubes of aquarium safe silicon from your LFS - that's the most reliable source, and unless you need massive amounts, I don't really see the point in risking the fish's health for a few pounds. If you go on an industrial level of production of caves, then it may make sense to find a supplier online that has aquarium silicon - it's still a fair bit more than the 1.29p per tube at Screwfix (which is PROBABLY ok, but to me it's not worth the risk that they have something in it [or add something without saying anything, because they decided that it makes a "better" product).

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Mats

[MarcW]

For making my caves I use Gold Label Pond and Aquarium Sealer. It works well on glass, stone, wood, pond liners etc. Once it dries it's rock solid, and will even set when submerged. I have been using this for a year or so now and never had it cause any problems at all.

There are a few others out there too but this is the one my local shops stock.

[MatsP]

I'm using the Silver label - it doesn't set under water, but it works well too - available in black or clear. It's about £10-12 from memory, where the gold-label is about £15-18 (at least where I go).

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Mats