Coconut Shell.

[Jo and Gra]

Whats the prep involved in cocnut shells??

Go from buying a COMPLETE coconut in a supermarket.....to tank....

 

[Bloo]

mmmm I've tried and just made a huge mess - even though my DIY skill are good. Just a huge mess and it stank to high heavens !
I suggest you buy one for a few ££'s

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi folks,

Very easy to make / use > I have them in all my Apisto tanks for spawning.

The key is make sure the cocunut when you open it is fresh, any off smells then discard straight away.

Scrape the outside of the shell to remove all the hair, doesn't need to be perfect though.

Saw the coconut in half, then half the halves (quarters in the end!!). But really it's up to you as to what size/shape you are after.

Scrape out all the coconut flesh, then scrape the inside of the shell as well. Rinse in cold water.

I then put them in the oven for about 5 minutes (about 160), just keep a check on them to make sure the shell doesn't split.

Then cool and straight into the tank, perfect spawning cave!!!!

Andrew

ps if you prepare 6 at a time like I do, you'll get sick fed up of eating coconut!!!!

 

[Jo and Gra]

no boiling or anything??

 

[BigC]

One little addition is to cover the coconut shell cave in java moss for that natural look.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

or ricca that always looks good

 

[a.d.wood]

@ Jo and Gra > no boiling, but oven bake instead. Still a form of sterilising.

Andrew

 

[Jo and Gra]

simple as that?

 

[shuhu]

simple as that?

wait until your're doing it, then ask the same question again.

 

[william11373]

isnt it a good dea to leave the flesh so the fishies can nibble on it if its hungry

 

[a.d.wood]

You must take the flesh off for at least 2 reasons:

1. Haven't seen any fish where coconut is part of the diet, and probably too hard for them (at least the smaller community species)

2. And most important, the flesh will polute the tank very quickly leading to even more problems with fish health

Andrew

 

[spacebass]

no boiling or anything??

I have read elsewhere on this forum that boiling causes the shell to lose any colour in the boiling rather than into the tank

 

[love_fish]

There's a grea thread about this in the DIY section. I did this, and it was very simple. Get coconut, drain the milk, cut in half, take meat out, boil for 45+ minutes, cut entrance using tin snips/kitchen shears/ whatever that'll get the job done, take hairs off, then your done. Simple as that.

 

[soritan]

I made mine pretty easily, as well. I left the coir on my coconut shells, though.

I bought pre-halved coconuts at the store. I ate the coconut meat. I boiled the coconut shells for about 30 minutes. I took a hammer and carefully tapped out the opening from the side with a pair of heavy pliers to aid.

My only regret is that I didn't boil a little more. The shells still leached a large amount of tannins into the water in a very short amount of time.

I have no worries about leaving the coir on, it's often used as potting soil for orchids and citrus trees with no additives. Besides, my java moss latched itself to the coir inside a week.

Coir