DIY Coconut cave!

[asymphony]

I want to build a cave for my Kribs and would rather make it myself instead of spending $40 at the lfs for one.

Specifically, I'm looking into using a coconut and make a little 'hut' out of it, plus I can always grow plants on top of the coconut.

My question is, what would the best way to 'gut' out all the white coconut meat, just a knife? Would boiling it soften it up?

In any case, I'll still have to boil the coconut shell to release the tannins, but just wondering if anyone else has had any experiences!

Back to my google searching for now..

 

[rob28]

lol....
being born in puerto rico, i know a lil bout them.
best way to gut them is a spoon and elbow greese. just scrape it out, lil-by-lil

 

[Ruadh]

Would the meat come out easier if the coconut was backed in a slow oven for a couple of hours?
I thought this might loosen it up some.

 

[asymphony]

or the microwave?

 

[crazyfishlady]

Hmmmm...a coconut, never thought about that and I need some caves....One quick question. Will the coconut float in the fish tank? If so, what must you do to make sure it stays on the bottom?

 

[jimboslice]

It will for sure float. Not sure what you would do to hold it down.

 

[asymphony]

boil it, from what I've read! =)

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I'll second the spoon and elbow grease.

You are going to want to boil the coconut anyway to get some of the tannins out (you don't want to stain your tank brown), so you might as well try that first if you aren't worried about saving/eating any of the white part.

As far as floating, mine never did. If you have a problem just fill the bottom with a bit of substrate. I like to do this anyway because it gives the coconut a tighter fit, and allows the fish to dig it out a bit to suit its taste.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

What I did for my DIY Coconut cave was:
1. I nailed three holes in the top to drain the juice/milk.
2. Next I sawed it in half.
3. I let it sit out in the sun so that the "meat" would dry up.
4. Chipped the "meat" out. (Very easy when hard.)
5. Boiled the coconuts to get the tannis out.
6. (Opitional) You can use a saw to saw a small doorway in it, but I didn't do that.
7. (Opitional) You can also layer javamoss on the top and put a tight fit bowl around it, then put it in a dark room for about 3 weeks and you will have a nice dense layer of javamoss solid across the top, gives it a cool effect. (Only optional if you have a planted aquarium.)


Anymore questions?