Cave Use

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bigbanker

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Messages
1,381
Location
Charleston, SC
I've built several caves for my cichlids to use... but they never do! They simply might swim through or poke their heads in. None of them have selected a "home." How can I get them using the caves?
 
Hmm. That's weird. Mine have never not used their caves. I guess it's just up to the fish. How long have you had them? What type of cichlids are they?
 
I have sand as a substrate and they like to dig under the rocks to make their own caves...
 
Aspencer: That is good to know! I'm going to be switching over to PFS in about a week or so. Very excited for the new look. Hopefully the plants will root well in it.

Pictuslover23: I've had the fish for almost four months now... There are some yellow labs, acei, a kenyii and two auratus (I want to rehome them!!!!).
 
Aspencer: That is good to know! I'm going to be switching over to PFS in about a week or so. Very excited for the new look. Hopefully the plants will root well in it.
I also have plants and the do well. I use root tabs and use the PPS Pro dosing regime.
 
I was previously using root tabs as well but wanted to give seachem flourish a try (supposedly it helps with algae). Just curious, what is the PPS pro regime?

What type of sand do you have in your tank?
 
I got sand from Home Depot, the kind the sand blast with. It was easy to wash and did not cloud the tank. When I vacuum the tank, it is heave enough to not get suck up by that or my HOB filters. The name started with an X..I can google it if you cannot find it.

I buy dry ferts which is much much cheaper than using flourish. To control algea, I dose 2X regular dose using excel which also give carbon the plants need to grow instead of CO2 but is not really a substitute for CO2.

Here is the link you can research what ever you like...most use EI dosing regime...Fertilizers and Water Parameters - The Planted Tank Forum
 
I used Black Diamond blasting sand and love it!!! Really brings out the colors in my tanks.
 
Bl80 said:
I used Black Diamond blasting sand and love it!!! Really brings out the colors in my tanks.

Is it completely black?? I've used pool filter sand for white but didn't know what I could use for black. Black sand from the pet store is HIGH!!!!!
 
One thing I noticed about the sand was that it is kind of sharp, idk if you noticed this BI80. My fish are fine and it doesn't affect them at all but when working with it it's a good idea to wear gloves. And when rinsing it there'll be some filmy rainbow looking stuff that comes to the top. It's a good idea to rinse the sand and mix REALLY well before putting it in your tank. Well that's my two cents. :) here's a pic of my 28 that I redid with it.
 

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Ya I paid 4$ for 50# of the blasting sand, on sale. I love it as do the fish. I have had no pribs. I rinsed it with hot water and put it in....
 
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