Simple DIY rock wall and cave for 5 gallon hex
- Thread starter Kuhlifan
- Start date
most of the time in bigger tank i think thay can but a 5 gallon is pretty small and the hex has a small foot print so i really don't know?
The frogs have pretty bad eyesight, so they're not the greatest hunters. The shrimp will have the benefit of being able to climb the rocks, as well. The foreground will soon be planted with pygmy chain sword, so it will be nice and grassy for all sorts of things to crawl around and hide in.
I'm not sure if the shrimp will want to gather in such a bubbly-chaotic spot. only time will tell.
Well I ended up making one myself. I couldn't get it to be much like a cave so it's a cave that caved in lol. The rocks were difficult to work with since they were polished stone but after 3 days of work it's done. Here are the pictures and I plan on stuff moss in the little cracks and adding to to my planted aquarium. Thanks for the inspiration and nice pictures!
That looks great! Making the cave was definitely the touchiest part. I bought three packs of the larger rocks from petsmart that had several big flat rocks in them. I had to kind of do one half of the cave at a time and let it dry before I could layer the other half on top of it. Waiting was definitely very hard.
So far, so good on mine. I have a powder blue gourami that likes to go in and out of the cave, so I think something like this in a larger tank with a territorial fish like cichlids would be pretty cool. If you were industrious, you could build several small caves around the tank for a larger population. I bought four ghost shrimp to test my gourami's appetite for live food, and so far he ignores them. There is one shrimp that constantly swims up and down the front of the tank and the gourami just swims around him looking for food. I have my cherries on the way, so I'm hoping for a good match when they arrive.
I bought two african dwarf frogs yesterday, and so far they seem to be getting along as well. They LOVE the rocks. The only problem is you can see them in the tank, they're always hiding. That's actually the only big concern I now have about this project, there is room for critters to get in and around and behind it. The shrimp aren't a big deal, they're small crawly things that can really use this to their advantage for breeding/hiding/molting. Larger fish are a concern though. I'm afraid one might get behind it and get stuck. I was able to find on ADF this morning, but not the second. However, given the wealth of hidey holes, I can't really draw a conclusion from that. One big annoyance is this tank, when it was set up prieviously, didn't have a background, so you could see through it. Now it has one...but that keeps me from checking behind the rocks! Now I don't know if I should maybe cut windows in it or what. I'll have to see how desperate I get.
So far, so good on mine. I have a powder blue gourami that likes to go in and out of the cave, so I think something like this in a larger tank with a territorial fish like cichlids would be pretty cool. If you were industrious, you could build several small caves around the tank for a larger population. I bought four ghost shrimp to test my gourami's appetite for live food, and so far he ignores them. There is one shrimp that constantly swims up and down the front of the tank and the gourami just swims around him looking for food. I have my cherries on the way, so I'm hoping for a good match when they arrive.
I bought two african dwarf frogs yesterday, and so far they seem to be getting along as well. They LOVE the rocks. The only problem is you can see them in the tank, they're always hiding. That's actually the only big concern I now have about this project, there is room for critters to get in and around and behind it. The shrimp aren't a big deal, they're small crawly things that can really use this to their advantage for breeding/hiding/molting. Larger fish are a concern though. I'm afraid one might get behind it and get stuck. I was able to find on ADF this morning, but not the second. However, given the wealth of hidey holes, I can't really draw a conclusion from that. One big annoyance is this tank, when it was set up prieviously, didn't have a background, so you could see through it. Now it has one...but that keeps me from checking behind the rocks! Now I don't know if I should maybe cut windows in it or what. I'll have to see how desperate I get.
