An Elevated Cave Experiment

[Gvilleguy]

After living almost three years with my first tank - a 26 gallon / 98 litre bow front, I often regret the tank shape in terms of aquascaping for my residents.  The tank is tall without much floor space, so I end up with a lot of empty space in the top half. I think my next tank will be a 3 or 4 foot long!
 
But in the meantime, I am currently converting the tank to house, hopefully, a group of Apistogrammas.  So the Legos in my signature picture have been removed.  And I need caves.  And more caves.  And perhaps some caves.  I am going low tech DIY for the caves - short lengths of PVC pipe covered with tank gravel glued with aquarium sealant.  Two caves are completed and in the bottom.  They can be seen here on the left and right side:
 
 

 
But I didn't really have room for a third one, so I looked upward for ideas.  I experimented with a platform with legs, but I did not like the legs invading the lower space.  So I then decided to try a suspended platform approach.  I cut a square out of a sheet of acrylic and drilled four holes.  I suspended it from the hood of the tank with four lengths of fishing line like so:
 
 

 

 
The cave itself is still in the process of getting gravel attached, but it will simply rest on the acrylic when it's done:
 

 

 
I don't know if the platform will work long term, but wanted to give it a go...
 

 

 

[Lunar Jetman]

I'm not sure I like the thought of the suspended cave, but the actual cave itself is an interesting idea and I may give that a try myself.

 

[Gvilleguy]

I am skeptical that an apisto will actually use a cave suspended like that.  But I'll give it a try.  I found at least one apisto owner who has caves up off the floor, and they said their apistos would swim in the caves, but not actually lay eggs in them.  If the cave doesn't work I'll make room for it down below somehow.  But I might keep the platform with plants on it.  The other fish seem to like swimming under and above it.  Gives me more mid level activity.

 

[snazy]

They are very handy these type of caves and look a lot better as you don't have a clutter of different decorations but make sure you check them for debris from time to time as depending on the tank they may collect stuff inside.

 

[Zikofski]

very good i like the idea of a suspended cave, very creative there, i also made a cave but not suspended out of plastic, can i ask tho, what did you use to suspend the cave, make sure that its a durable material as over time it may break down under water? but i am impressed with the other caves too very nice
 
congrats

 

[Gvilleguy]

Snazy - that is a good suggestion.  The two ground caves are actually L shaped, and the end is sealed with a cap.  So as long as fish are not laying eggs in there - I will need to periodically rinse them out just to make sure debris is not building up in them. 
 
Zikofski - the platform is acrylic, and the lines are fishing line, which will not break down.  The weak point is the sticks holding the lines in place - those are bamboo skewers, untreated, dried.  So I believe those will break down.  I will need to think of an alternate solution - some type of safe plastic sticks to replace them.  I just wanted to mock something together quickly, and I had the skewers on hand from feeding veggies to a pleco.
 
I will post another picture once the last cave is in place - probably 2 days or so to finish gluing gravel on it and dry it out.

 

[Zikofski]

cheers cant w8 to see how it looks when its done, you thought about lining the acrylic with some moss? would look cool seeing moss overhanging to make like a mini cave sorta thing haha
 
but ye the sticks will break down but you will be surprised will take years so no rush haha

 

[Gvilleguy]

I forgot to feed the fish last night, so this morning I turned on the light to feed them.  One of my bigger, older, Neon Tetras came strolling out of a cave.  Looks like she has taken to sleeping in there...

 

[Zikofski]

aaw thats great


my clown loaches have taken residence in my cave

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Snazy - that is a good suggestion.  The two ground caves are actually L shaped, and the end is sealed with a cap.  So as long as fish are not laying eggs in there - I will need to periodically rinse them out just to make sure debris is not building up in them. 
 
Zikofski - the platform is acrylic, and the lines are fishing line, which will not break down.  The weak point is the sticks holding the lines in place - those are bamboo skewers, untreated, dried.  So I believe those will break down.  I will need to think of an alternate solution - some type of safe plastic sticks to replace them.  I just wanted to mock something together quickly, and I had the skewers on hand from feeding veggies to a pleco.

 
Why use skewers at all?  Why not just use a loop of fishing line through the ends of the acrylic to hold the acrylic suspended?

 

[Gvilleguy]

Eagle - well.......where were you when I was tying all of those extra, unnecessary knots the other night??!! This is a great suggestion. Thanks!

The only gotcha I can think on that is if the load on the shelf is unbalanced, I wonder if the shelf could actually slide up the lines and dump the contents. I will give that a try, though, since that would eliminate a failure point (the rotting wood).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

A small dot of aquarium silicone where the line meets the acrylic would keep it from moving.

 

[frapadoodle]

Nice, always looking for new ideas.

On second thought, kinda miffed you thought of it first.(the shelf, not the caves)

 

[chokko]

i like this idea (pvc+fishing line) and with moss on it. will try it tonight.
 
been thinking for months how to get more floor space in my Blue Planet Paradiso 160L triangle tank, for more corydoras.
was trying to find a plastic caddy type thing (i.e. that would normally sit in corner of bathroom to hold toiletries for example)..but worried the plastic on a yum-cha brand caddy might be poisonous

 

[chokko]

Edit: thoughts on fish  hurting themselves on the fishing line...i.e. if they dart into it  ?