Caves they prefer?

connor · Post by **connor** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:43 pm

I have various driftwood pieces in my tank which form quite some nice caves. And a bamboo stick.

Bamboo wins. All the time.

-Connor

linarite · Post by **linarite** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:06 pm

Well, I guess the loaches agree with you Graeme. I spent about an hour watching them this morning all around the new caves. Everyone was out except my shy one.

Connor, I have room for a small piece of bamboo but not sure where to get some that would be safe to use in the tank. Any ideas?

connor · Post by **connor** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:27 pm

linarite,

I got mine from a hardware store. It was the simple untreated, un-laquered kind. I just sanded it down a little bit and put it in a bucket of water for about 10 days (I changed the water 2-3x per day and it can't hurt to use boiling water a few times either).

My 2 ancistrus sp. keep the bamboo nice and clean. No rotting so far. After approx. 2 weeks there's an inner layer of the bamboo coming off in little shreds, I take it out and scrape it off with a stick and after that it's perfectly stable.

-Connor

linarite · Post by **linarite** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:33 pm

I will see what I can find the next time I'm at the hardware store. I saw some at the lps but it was for lizards and snakes and I wasn't sure that it would be safe for my loaches. May have to resort to a piece of PVC if I can't find bamboo.

Thanks for the info Connor.

connor · Post by **connor** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:04 pm

linarite,

I forgot to mention this: for the last "bath" I used a nice strong deeply purple coloured potassium permanganate solution to thoroughly kill anything left alife on/in the bamboo.

Gives the bamboo a nice brownish hue .. the ancistrus take care of this quickly, though. .)

-Connor

linarite · Post by **linarite** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 5:35 pm

Ok, and just where do I get this? At the hardware store? Let it soak in this and then rinse well? This shouldn't hurt my tetras or cory cats either, right? How did you dispose of this solution after you were finished with it?

connor · Post by **connor** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:22 am

linarite,

in Germany potassium permanganate is readily available in all pharmacies/drugstores in crystalline form.

You will notice that the deeply purple coloured solution (you can achieve this by a very minor amount of potassium permanganate, just the tip of a knife should be enough) will turn into a brownish colour after half an hour or so. A few hours later it will be completely brown which means all the potassium permanganate has become inactive (=oxidized) and what's left over are essentially plant nutritients:

4 KMnO4 -> 4 MnO2 + 2 K2O + 3 O2

If you rinse the bamboo well, there will be no danger for anything in your tank. The potassium permanganate itself is an extremely strong oxidizing agent and will kill basically anything that lives in large enough amounts.

I would recommend to bath plants for only 5-15 minutes. I always treat my new plants like that to get rid of any unwanted guests and never had any problems. You can leave the bamboo in the solution for as long as you like.

The inactive solution is safe to be just flushed away.

linarite · Post by **linarite** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:53 am

connor,

I will have to take a look around and see where I can put my hands on some here in the US. It may be available in a drug store but not sure.

The loaches seem to like the new darker areas in the tank. They have taken to hanging out in there, poking at the gravel looking for something to munch on. Found two of them and a cory cat trying to fit into the really small cave formed by leaning a rock against the driftwood. Why do these guys like being packed like sardines? And when did my cory cats begin to think of themselves as loaches?

Instead of flushing the solution I may just dump it in my garden. Septic systems are sensitive things. Don't want to add anything to it to upset the balance in it.

Thanks for the info.

Ded1 · Post by **Ded1** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:19 pm

Well, this is the cave we were talking about... and now after less than a month suddenly all of them like it.

And I couldn`t help it, Stucky says hi to all:

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:00 pm

If you live anywhere near a large Chinese community check out their hardware stores. I can pick up all sizes of bamboo here in Toronto for a few bucks. Get the unstained stuff as I've no idea what they use for some of the colored stuff you see sometimes.

This 6 foot plus length only cost me about CDN$6

Martin.

linarite · Post by **linarite** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:40 am

Very Cool cave setup there. Every time I get a look at another tank I want a larger one Now. You can do so much more with a bigger tank.

Martin, great idea for the lights and about where to purchase the bamboo. We do have a rather large oriental community here so should be able to find some in town. Thanks.

Ded1 · Post by **Ded1** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:46 am

linarite wrote:Very Cool cave setup there. Every time I get a look at another tank I want a larger one Now. You can do so much more with a bigger tank.

If god of aquarists would be so kind and let us all have enough space and enough money...imagine that.

Right now I need a second one.

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