L10a tank and caves

[Taratron]

I recently came upon 5 red lizard whiptails, 2 males and 3 females. They're currently in a 20 gallon tank with sand substrate, a large sponge filter, and some rocks and driftwood. I know I need caves for the males to think of sexy-times, but unfortunately the only home warehouse location near me won't cut PVC pipes. As I don't have any way to cut the pipes myself, I need other caves. Would cholla wood caves work, or bamboo? And if either would, can anyone offer a good place online to obtain some?

Also, what else would get the whiptails in the breeding mode? So far they hide a great deal and I can't find any habitat info on their Cat-e-log page that would indicate if they prefer long branching driftwood or more caves.

[fishfarmer]

A hacksaw that you could buy at the hardware store cuts thru PVC pipe fairly easily.

[yayfish24]

plecocaves.com is a great place for caves. I dont know about how to breed those but try plecocaves.com.

[jp11biod]

my L-10a were spawning regularly in a 6" PVC pipe-- 3/4" ID , open on both ends. I will confirm the size

[pleco_breeder]

I haven't bred them for almost a year, but my group was maintained in local tap for the most part. Just a weekly 50% water change, and they were ready to go. They went on hiatus once during the time I was working them, and were re-started by using half RO for the water change and continued fine with only tap after that. Temperature seems to be more important than water for breeding. My best results were had at 81 F and only a slight drop of 3-4 degrees during water changes.

Successfully raising the fry is a completely different matter. Start small, decaps are too big, and increase slowly.

Larry

[nvcichlids]

when I had my group they were regularly out on the leaves of a giant amazon sword. They regularly at the mikrogeophagus ramerzi powdered blue eggs. I didn't care so much about the eggs as I did seeing them out!