# Plecos habitat



## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

I have just gotten a trio of lovely (eye of the beholder, I guess~) albino BN plecos. They seem to be doing fine, but are digging up the sand in the tank along the back. 

Whichever one can keep out the others seems happy behind a clump of bacopa that is planted in the corner. They seem to be playing king of the castle with the corner...

They do not seem to be interested in the rock cave I have... nor my Hygrophilla difformis.

What will make them happy? (or at least not stressed)

Keep in mind that as a graduate student who has only recently started keeping an aquarium (read budget is stressed T_T) I would prefer a reasonably economical solution if possible while still not looking too terrible~

Thanks


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

In general, any kind of cave should be fine for the Plecos. Try building them additional caves out of rocks. Of course, ensure that the cave is structurally sound and will not collapse on them.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

You can do it with a piece of slate propped onto another rock to create a small crevice.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

for the BN, just through some driftwood in there. They prefer caves of the driftwood kind over rockier caves.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

A piece of slate sounds easy enough, but if dritwood is best I will try to find something for them.

In terms of driftwood, does it have to be a cave proper, or are a few pieces piled on each other to form crevices good enough?


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## Octavian (Sep 30, 2009)

I use clay pots buried halfway into the substrate. Place rocks and gravel around it if the orange/brown colour of the pot bothers you.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

it really depends on what works for you. If you want to replicate their environment more, they come from areas that have a lot of driftwood. You dont really need to worry about a cave, as they will just chill on the driftwood, if there is a natural hole in the wood, they will also use it.

but if you want the looks of rocks, then a cave from piled rocks work also.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Most plecos will eat small amounts of wood as it softens and decays. I always try to have atleast two kinds of wood in a tank with plecos and also feed Sera pleco tabs that have wood in them. 

If you can get a small powerhead for the bottom just to create a strong current area where the logs are the plecos will be happy


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

You can also use pieces of coconut shell. Just buy one at the supermarket, remove juice and meat. The shells sink, and some plecos enjoy eating the hairy fiber on the outside. They can stay underwater for many years without rotting.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

An excuse to eat coconut you say?

An instant cave you say? For which I don't have to pay 4$ a pound?

(Aside - It actually bothers me that fish food, or in this case driftwood can cost more by weight than people food. Same thing goes for dog/cat etc foods...)

The question will be how miserable will it be to cut in half ^^

At any rate, it sounds like a solution while I wait for the spring thaw to go dritwood hunting~


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

kaegunim said:


> An excuse to eat coconut you say?
> 
> . . .
> 
> The question will be how miserable will it be to cut in half ^^


Use a slate cave. 

(I've found that an ax (!) works best, but the following is also a grad student approved (TM) method of breaking open a coconut:

1. Drive a nail in through more than one of the 3 "eyes," then remove. Invert coconut over a measuring cup or bowl to drain the liquid.

2. Smash coconut with a rock, a cleaver, a hammer, a meat tenderizer, or any other durable object until the coconut breaks open.

3. Enjoy! (I bet if you leave bits of coconut inside the shell, the plecos would eat it, but don't leave too much in, since it could create an oil slick in your tank!)


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

kaegunim said:


> An excuse to eat coconut you say?
> 
> An instant cave you say? For which I don't have to pay 4$ a pound?
> 
> ...


I've found ancistrus to be ecstatic to live in a large coconut half whever offered. Especially if you shoot a powerhead in there. Plecos like their current. That always seems to be the ticket to make them happy once you meet their food and water needs, to have a high current area where they hang out. They almost always choose to be where the current is blasting them. Most plecos also like sweet things, like little pieces of fruit, coconut, etc .

If you want a perfect 'half' of a coconut, complete with a little door, and you happen to have a dremmel, that's an easy way to do it.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

You can also break up a coconut by dropping it on concrete pavement a few times. Don't do this on a ceramic tile floor, since the tile may break instead.

You can easily saw coconuts up with a hacksaw, if you want a particular shape.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

Sucess!

I know of a fellow grad student who shall remain nameless who has recently purchased a hack saw blade (sans handle unfortunately, but we grads thrive on adversity~)

Now to see what coconut availability is like in January ^o^

(Sadly "Copa Cabana" just popped into my head... ohh Barry Manilow >_<)


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

kaegunim said:


> I know of a fellow grad student who shall remain nameless who has recently purchased a hack saw blade (sans handle unfortunately, but we grads thrive on adversity~)


Yes, I will loan you my hacksaw blade. Remind me to give them to you when you find your coconut shell.


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## kaegunim (Jan 15, 2010)

I have great sucess in the half-coconut-plecos home construction to report!

A few words of advice to anyone planing to do such a thing:

It is pretty to very hard to do with hand tools. My first attempt was to bludgeon it apart with my trusty 16oz stanly claw hammer. This si good for getting coconut bits, but not so useful for getting a resonably hemisphere shaped coconut!

The second attempt started with a hacksaw blade (thanks again anthony). To it's credit, this gave a nice clean cut. However, without taking a week off of work to do the cutting it is not practical at all! (To be fair the tooth count on this particular hacksaw blade is pretty high, but still!)

So, recalling that the drilling to get out the tasty juice went swimmingly well (the one and only power tool I brought with me to london is my trusty drill), I went around the circumference drilling 1/8" holes as close together as I could manage. A flat blade screwdriver was my chisel and I popped the halves apart no problem ^o^V. I cut out a "cave door" in pretty much the same way, but filed the jaggies off to be kind to whichever pleco takes up residence.

Much to my delight, the coconut half sinks even before water-logging, so I dropped it in a bucket of dechlorinated water over the weekend before finally putting it in the tank.

Unfortunately, much as the BN's like to much on the outside, I have yet to catch any of them going in...


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

That is a lovely cave! The plecos will probably check it out once they become more familiar with it.


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