Loaches Online Forum

Hello,

Just wondering what do folks here use for caves/hideouts for your Loaches ?

Ive been searching the net for suitable stuff but no luck. Does anyone make hideouts specifically for bottom-dwelling fish ? I saw a thread on a forum somewhere that linked to a guy in the UK who was selling some on his website, was very cool.

Any ideas ? Thanks.

Stephen

I use large pieces of bogwood, although it's always difficult to track down suitable bits that either have hollow areas or can be leant together.

I have rock hideouts and a couple of clay pots (like the kind you'd use for gardening) that I made caves out of. My kuhliis and snails especially love the pot-caves.

They're made by K&A Imports and come in 3-4 sizes. The largest are big enough even for adult cichlids.

You've got to be careful with some of the resin ornaments available as some have areas where loaches can become properly stuck, others have sharp-ish edges. I prefer the natural look myself, with plenty of pieces of bogwood piled up against each other, which creates lots of nooks and crannies. Obviously the larger the loaches, the larger the wood has to be and the larger the gaps in between the pieces have to be for them to navigate around.
Mark (Mad Duff) has made some excellent terracotta stacks for some of his loaches, which can be seen here: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=3760
Emma

i've had really good luck with driftwood from petsmart and other local pet stores. the problem is you can never find a nice piece when you really need it. i check every time i go there and buy choice pieces even when i dont need them. its hard to find natural wood that has cool caves in it so when you do see them, you should buy them. ebay or aquabid is good too but a nice piece can be really pricey.

petsmart also has some good plastic root stumps that i like. i've never had a loach get stuck but i had a 1 foot bala get stuck and rub a raw ring around his body before i found him. was disgusting and i had to put him dowm. but yes becareful because there can be sharp edges inside that loaches can scratch themselves on.

i've found slate is also really cool if you can find it. just make sure it doesnt alter the water chemistry. you can test this but im too lazy to link it.

another option is to bury pvc pipes in the gravel and then hide the entrances with rocks so you cant see it. you can also put aquarium sealant on it and stick sand to it but it didnt turn out great when i did it.

another option: any peice of driftwood will proabably have enough room for a loach to dig or squeeze under. to make that even better you can hollow out the underside to make more room. since you wont see it anyways, it doesnt matter how it looks. i've even drilled out holes and made tunnels with my wood so it looks completely natural when you look at the outside of it.

i try and make my tanks like an obstacle course because it seems to give the loaches more to do. its great to see them chase each other through a maze of slate.

I generally use a combo of round rock, flat smooth stone and bogwood/plants. Currently there are several 'apartments' in the most recent tank setup. Since I have a sand substrate I have seen them 'redecorating' quite a bit, moving sand and leaf litter about. When you use stone and substrate make sure you seat the stone firmly, or silicone it together. If it isn't stable a rock fall can injure fish or possibly crack your glass.

That would not be fun.

My dream setup for my tank is simply a tangle of driftwood. Lots of caves and places to hide and play around in. But its a toughie as there arent a lot of places around my area to buy them from. Eyrie and Kimura - you are both spot on, its quite tricky to find the right peice of driftwood. Im with Emma, i love the natural look in aqauriums. There's a decent selection of stuff at the Plantsalive site. Mmm, what to do.

Stephen.

Hey guys, I recently stumbled upon this ebay store which is *filled* with incredible pieces of driftwood that would make excellent hiding places.

http://stores.ebay.com/RockArtSource

If I had a bit more cash and time I'd probably pick up some of their pieces because they look excellent.

Cheers.

EDIT: I just bit the bullet and ordered a piece, we'll see what happens.

I was at Home depot and they had grey electrical conduit in 14 inch bends on sale it is 4 inch diameter. I went home boiled it and then used large pond river rock over the top. My guys will fly through it then come back to the front and start all over again , it is not uncommon to have 3or 4 of them just hanging out the front of it

I'am working on a structure for the back wall of the tank to incorperate two of them on top of each other with natural stone to landscape them, way to much fun

I have a collection of bogwoods , mopani wood and coconut. For the smaller Clowns they have some old undergravel uplift tubes to play around in , these are old and covered in algae so blend into the decor quite well.

i have a lot of hollow driftwood, a cave made from slate rock, and coconut caves

you can use plastic pipes of different diameters. put them under bogwood and rockwork to hide them from view.

or on large pieces of bogwood ive drilled them before soaking them, same again do different diameter drill bits.

mick

Hello Stephen,

PVC pipes are most apreciated. This is my tank:

Palaeodave has a bit of a horror story involving a Yoyo getting stuck in a gap in one of those resin root ornaments, it all worked out alright in the end thankfully. Resin ornament's colour can fade over time, which is something to take into consideration.

Personally I favour driftwood and natural rocks, also recently got some Pangio khulii one of which seems to favour wriggling his way through a clump of java moss.