greshakei digging holes.... worried about cave in

[Jeff22]

well my metriaclima greshakei is digging a big hole behind one of the rocks in my tank. I don't mind this so much but it is one of the center support rocks and i'm afraid that if it digs too far under the rock it will fall over and possibly cause a small cave in of the rocks on top of it.

why is it digging holes? just normal behavior? anyway to stop it? other advice?

i posted a week or so ago about having two of them. I ended up taking the one that was being aggressive towards all the fish back to the store and just kept one of them. so far aggression has gone way down and the tank is more peaceful. now i find a big hole.

I should have just stuck with the yellow labs. I have 4 of them and they are no trouble at all. no fighting, digging, etc. they are the best behaved and best looking fish i have ever kept.

[monkey_toes]

why is it digging holes? just normal behavior??
Yes.

anyway to stop it?
If there's a substrate that can be dug up, no.

other advice?
Always put your big rocks in before adding substrate. That way, the rocks are sitting on the glass, instead of a shifting gravel bed. If you plan to stock with fish prone to digging, it's not a bad idea to silicone (aquarium-grade only) the bottoms and/or sides of the rocks to the glass for added security. Doesn't help you, though, unless you dismantle and reassemble.

[tarheels910]

Put eggcrate across the bottom of the tank. If you put the rocks on top, it will help them keep stable. Also you can silicon the rocks together to make them one piece. This way they wont fall. Hope everything turns out fine.

[Jeff22]

alright thanks, I tore everything up last night and put the big base rocks right on the glass so there is no way for the fish to dig below the rock. it was a pain but at least i don't have to worry about the rocks falling anymore.

thanks.

[monkey_toes]

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