Pleco shelter question

[Galaxie]

I am looking to make a shelter for my pleco. Mainly to give him some peace from the Oscar when he gets fiesty. Currently, I have a piece of 4-inch corrugated drain tile.....but the pleco is so wide now, he doesn't fit inside so easily. I've been looking for 6-inch pipe, but it doesn't seem to exist.

I figured you folks might have some ideas on a decent shelter. What do you think?


thx

 

[ChileRelleno]

PVC plumbing pie (black), either as is or encrusted with substrate.
Terra cotta pots, whole or half.
Use flagstone or slate ect, to build a cave.
A sheet of plexiglass, heat and bend it into whatever size shelter you desire, this too can be encrusted with substrate.

Too cover pipes ect with substrate so as to hide or camoflauge, simply generously spread with aquarium safe silicon and cover with your substrate.

 

[jamzwayne]

I took my piece of drift wood, and laid it down flat with one end setting up on a rock, and pushed the gravel to the back to make a lil cave....he out grew it, but he used it for a long time. He's about 11 inches now, and he owns my tank.

 

[Galaxie]

Chile, the problem with PVC pipe is its not readily available from local retailers. So.....and I invite you to laugh, because this is about as simple as it gets..... I cut down a 5-gallon bucket, nearly in half, so when laid down the radius to the top of the arc is about 4-inches. Then I pushed it down into the gravel and covered it with the substrate to hold it down. So, Lefty the Pleco has the perfect hiding spot....a cave 4 inches tall, 11 inches wide, and about 14-inches long. If you can picture a pleco with a Cheshire Cat-like grin, that's what he looks like now. :laugh: Any gravel underneath the cave, I scooped out and used for cover. Kinda neat because I can look underneath the tank and see inside. The only weird thing, is my tank sorta looks like the bottom of the Potomac River now....with a paint can 3/4 buried. Very novel though.

 

[patoloco]

Getting some rocks glued with silicone to form a cave would be great. Also, variuos pieces of driftwood could work. I don't know what kind of decoration you have, so I'm going for the natural look.

 

[wataugachicken]

could get a longish piece of slate or two and lay it against the back glass so it makes a long tunnel-like hiding spot

 

[Halo]

Pretty much anything he can hide in will be appreciated. I don't go for pvc myself, but I've had great luck with wood, and terra cotta pots. I found a nice long square one, knocked out the ends and filed off the sharp bits for the fish. After a while it gets a very natural patina of algae on it, which the plecos love to nibble at, and which makes it blend in with a planted and wooded tank. Just experiement a bit with things you find.

Things to watch out for:

Toxic paint on pots.
Plastic paint on pots.
Sharp edges on anything.
Let your silicon cure for a week to ten days before putting it in the tank.
Home made slate caves that can collapse, trapping or crushing fish or cracking tanks.
Bad water flow that can trap debris, bad water, or toxic gasses in the cave
No back door for big fish that can't turn around.


Last but not least.. I know your big pleco is armored, but oscars and cichilds have been known to pluck out eyeballs. Shortly afterwards, the plec dies.. so watch how agressive he gets.

 

[ChileRelleno]

could get a longish piece of slate or two and lay it against the back glass so it makes a long tunnel-like hiding spot

Home made slate caves that can collapse, trapping or crushing fish or cracking tanks.

Halo beat me to it...
Be very very careful when placing rocks and slate in the aquarium!
Especially with medium-large plecs being able to rearrange heavy objects with a swipe of the tail.
A true aquarist nightmare...
A cracked/broken tank and water everywhere

 

[wataugachicken]

somehow he's always right. . .

 

[Halo]

I just always look at what can go wrong watauga... Besides, I head about the glass bottom of a tank getting busted out when a pleco wiped out a slate highrise for clowns. I was planning on building one myself, but rejected the idea after hearing that. As for plastic paint on pots... well.. my pleco's still occasionally poo orange plastic paint... apparently it tasted really good... I've had problems with bad water flow too. Incredibly bad mung water trapped in an artificial piece of wood in my first tank.. yutch... Besides.. you know ya love me!