Loaches Online Forum

PVC........ in many sizes and shapes. I even have powerheads in some to force water through. Work well but not the best looking for show tanks. I prefer it because it has a small surface area on the bottom to keep the fish in a clean enviroment as opposed to under something that collects crud because of low flow and low location.

PVC looks horrible... sorry Tinman.
Go to a thrift store or neighborhood garage/boot sale and get some old clay/ceramic jugs and sugar pots and go at'em with a hammer n'pliars until they are the shape you want. If you took too much off glue bits back on with super-glue or silicone. Take sharps off with some 100 grit paper, then finish up decor with a couple of tea/coffee-cups on their side for small cave habitats. Looks like a junk-heap underwater- natural habitat for most critters of this modern earth :)

Seriously though, gives great habitat/niche potential and control and looks great, particularly with lots of plants.
A

Function Andyroo. I am all about function Besides I like them all greened up on the top side . Completely and utterly inert as it should be with whatever your selection

I tend to go with wood and rocks. I got some really nice oak bark that is still half-round, matching the branches it came off of. Even straight sticks can be leaned up against each other to create arches.

Pipes could actually be burried in the sand and the open ends covered with stones. Coconuts and Aquaristic wood are cool...

In case you use flat stones, build a kind of bridge, loaches dig under flat stones and that one sinks into the sand as the sand gets removed by the loach. It better if flat sones are held up by at least 2 "base-stones"

Here my temporary tanks

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=10750

I made this out of PVC pipe pieces from Home Depot, a bag of aquarium rocks, and a caulking gun sized aquarium sealant tube.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=8682

this is Motel #1, i've actually moved on to a much larger version Motel #2 since they outgrew it. Its not a hard project either if you feel like being crafty. Theres a site out there that has a lot of similar DIY projects for aquariums, ill see if i can dig it up

Here's some natural looking pipes i use along with the usual bogwood,pebbles,boulders...etc.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=10223

I like PVC much better. For function and for better loach atmosphere. PVC levels the playing fields for loaches. With rocks and driftwood, loaches will find a good spot and will never want to leave it. The loaches will compete for that good spot unless they are hungry and need to come out.
It's like having only 1 chair in a waiting room. Everyone wants to sit in the chair instead of sharing the bench with 10 other people.

Loaches L.O.V.E. tubes of any kind, be it bamboo or PVC. They love them so much I think it's almost cruel not to have a few in the tank.
My clowns and striatas prefer them above all other hiding spots at night, only the kubotai like more open caves.



I mean, noone is forcing them to cuddle up like this.

@Graeme, thats a perfect pipe.

@Connor, this shot is really endless cool (and in an English speaking forum even more or less proper to use those words )

Connor, what a wonderfull picture

What picture are we talking about?

I can see nothing but a white square with a red X into it.

Great shot Conner. Brilliant . Whats ugly about them pipes now Andyroo

Addind a pipe or three can decrease picking or fighting in your tank without re-arranging you entire set up in many situations

ah,

Now I can see. Wow!!!

Excelent!!!

This shot bellow was taken a few months ago when I put this wood on the tank. Now, a single modesta is it´s owner...

I dont like the idea of the clay pots. I read somewhere they can make the water a little hard.

I think PVC pipes look a little unnatural but they are definately the Loaches favorate abode. Loaches (botia) are caught in the wild by using similar pipes. Loaches like to rest with maximum body contact against either another surface or another loach.

Refer: Loaches, A natural history and aquarium care (2008). MacDonald, et al.