# Egg Crate Made into a Box for Time-Outs



## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

I have a 220 tank with a lot of fairly aggressive peacocks and malawi predators. Some of them on occasion become aggressive and will harass other fish. I was thinking of making a time-out box out of the egg crates maybe the size of a 10 gallon tank and attaching it to the left side of the tank. I would probably have an open top with all the sides and bottom attached by plastic ties. I would use large 2 stainless steel S-Hooks to attached the open top egg crate box to the side of the aquarium. At least this way I wouldn't have to set up another tank. I find that secluding the more aggressive fish for a few days calms them down. What do you guys think?


----------



## lucid_eye (Apr 12, 2009)

interesting idea, my only concern would be the fish cutting themselves bashing into the wall, when they try to get out.


----------



## Jaffy (Jul 10, 2010)

You could add some plastic canvas as a liner to avoid the rough edges of the eggcrate.


----------



## Vincent (May 7, 2004)

Why would secluding the fish calm them down? I am not convinced it is possible to train fish that way.


----------



## Chunkanese (Feb 4, 2011)

Vincent said:


> Why would secluding the fish calm them down? I am not convinced it is possible to train fish that way.


Doesnt train the fish, however the fish who is very aggressive is likely one of the dominant fish in the tank. When you seclude him the social rankings in the tank will change and possibly stop the overly aggressive fish from bullying others.


----------



## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

Chunkanese said:


> Vincent said:
> 
> 
> > Why would secluding the fish calm them down? I am not convinced it is possible to train fish that way.
> ...


That's correct Chunkanese. I have also netted an aggressive fish in a large net and secured the net and fish at the top of the tank for about half an hour. My observations are when he is released, he becomes a lot calmer. Fish are smarter than most people think.
Made the cage tonight. It's around 16" long x 14" wide x 8" high. I just go to figure out what type of hangers to use. The S hooks I bought doesn't work too well because it's too thick and doesn't clear the top glass cover very well. I have to use something flatter like some hard plastic of some sort. Any ideas would be appreciated.


----------



## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

go to home depot they sell suction cups with s hooks on the.. throw the s hooks out.. they rust and poison your tank... drill a smaller hole thru the base of the suction cup.. put zip tie thru hole.. attach to fish prison... problem solved.. most of my filter stems are attached this way.. *** actually had to add another loop of ziptie if its far away from the stem... zip ties, suction cups, and duck tape can fix any problem


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

m1ke715m said:


> zip ties, suction cups, and duck tape can fix any problem


 :lol:


----------



## gverde (Mar 3, 2010)

m1ke715m said:


> go to home depot they sell suction cups with s hooks on the.. throw the s hooks out.. they rust and poison your tank... drill a smaller hole thru the base of the suction cup.. put zip tie thru hole.. attach to fish prison... problem solved.. most of my filter stems are attached this way.. I've actually had to add another loop of ziptie if its far away from the stem... zip ties, suction cups, and duck tape can fix any problem


Great idea. Thanks.


----------



## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

yo its hard to find the suction cups.. they have big and small.. i think they are in the hardware aisle.. but its like a small section i had to ask like 3 people before i found them.. thats one thing that sucks about home depot the people there are never around or you find one thats useless and knows nothing about what u want cuz they are in a diff department


----------



## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Steel tape with holes called perforated tape or plumbers tape will work for hangers. It is with plumbing supplies as they use it to hang pipe,etc. It will eventually rust out and need replaced but there is no problem with it poisoning the tank. The theory of metal killing fish ignores the fact that many aquarium items were metal before plastic became cheap. Remember Metaframe tanks? They always seemed to have lots of rust on them.


----------



## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

egg crates are 2'x4'.
just cut it to your desired width and height and place it in the tank. theres no need to make a box.
i usually hold it in place with rocks at the bottom from both sides and big suction cups at the top. i also used one of my "magfloat" at the top.


----------



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

Cichlids are not airbreathers. The box does not have to hang on the tank. The box made from egg crate, or even a plastic hamster ball, can sit on the tank bottom. In fact that way the fish can still eat and even move around a little, especially in the round hamster ball. It does seem that repeated use of the time out container does have a permanent effect. It could be completely the loss of hierarchy in the tank but cichlids are pretty smart, so learning/training may be a factor.


----------



## aprildawn (Sep 8, 2010)

i made a "timeout" cage made from plastic canvas. have my sulphurhead in there now. does 2 days sound good?


----------



## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

Mcdaphnia said:


> The box made from egg crate, or even a plastic hamster ball, can sit on the tank bottom. In fact that way the fish can still eat and even move around a little, especially in the round hamster ball.


LOL...just picturing that is making me giggle!


----------



## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

mel_cp6 said:


> egg crates are 2'x4'.
> just cut it to your desired width and height and place it in the tank. theres no need to make a box.
> i usually hold it in place with rocks at the bottom from both sides and big suction cups at the top. i also used one of my "magfloat" at the top.


+1

I made egg crate dividers for most of my tanks. If you take your time you can cut it so you have two "hooks" at the top that will clip rather securely to the plastic top of the tank, and then you can place a rock at each end on the bottom (and one in the middle if it is a big honkin' fish) and voila! instant prison (or incomplete divider witha hole only the smaller female in cichlids that are sexually dimorphic by size for breeding, temporary full divider for keeping incompatible species in the same tank, or even a complete divider with a flat stone on either side for substrate spawning cichlids (where they may actually spawn right thru the divider!)


----------



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

m1ke715m said:


> go to home depot they sell suction cups with s hooks on the.. throw the s hooks out.. they rust and poison your tank... drill a smaller hole thru the base of the suction cup.. put zip tie thru hole.. attach to fish prison... problem solved.. most of my filter stems are attached this way.. I've actually had to add another loop of ziptie if its far away from the stem... zip ties, suction cups, and duck tape can fix any problem


I have a problem imagining rusting steel as a poison. Unattractive, messy, staining and ruining the looks of the tank yes, but poison??

There are streams in this area that run through pockets of low grade iron ore. For perhaps a hundred feet downstream from each pocket, every rock, plant, and mud flat is covered with a thick coating of rust particles. The streams are still full of minnows and darters there.

I used to volunteer at the old Cleveland Aquarium. There was a real ship's anchor embedded in a fake coral head in the 5000 gallon Carribean tank. From the visitor's side you could see a little rust. From the back side a cascade of rust poured over the cinder blocks that formed the sub-structure of the coral head that was not visible from the front. Marine fish were spawning in that tank, and a few fry even grew up in open spaces in the filtration system.

Two old time pet shops here had old angle iron tanks where the frame was rusting away into the tank. Even when you wondered what was still holding these tanks together, they worked fine to keep fish in. Many of these old tanks had cast iron bottoms, and the cast iron plug that once allowed them to drain out was often rusted in place.

There have been experiments proving you can fertilize the ocean with iron particles, creating a bonanza crop of phytoplankton and zooplankton in areas that are natually barren.

We had a piece of live rock in one of our marine tanks for years before realizing it had formed on the sheared off head of a giant size bolt about 3" across.

The way steel stains things and deteriorates is plenty enough reason not to use it. You don't need to invent an imaginary poison.


----------



## Guest (Sep 3, 2011)

i only say that cuz *** seen other people say it that rust is not good for your fish lol its not like i sit around thinking of scare tactics ... so to rule it out i just use zip ties... its not that serious


----------



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

m1ke715m said:


> i only say that cuz I've seen other people say it that rust is not good for your fish lol its not like i sit around thinking of scare tactics ... so to rule it out i just use zip ties... its not that serious


 I agree with replacing the rusty steel with something more dependable and permanent. Rust can leave stains even on tank glass that don't scrape off well. There are lots of people on the internet saying that rust is poisonous. Who first made it up and started the myth we may never know. Very few of these faulty memes get traced back to their originator.


----------



## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

I have used egg crate to partition off the more aggressive from the less, and it does allow the nipped fish to recover as well. It's amazing what african cichlids can learn. My tank boss knows when I am scolding him and will go hide from me. They may bump the egg crate a bit and make threats though the 'fence', but it won't hurt them any more than maybe a nose scratch until they realize they can't break it. The little guys can go through it still, but that's good since they can choose to move to the area they are comfortable with.


----------



## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Rust can kill fish, that much is proven. But I definitely would classify as a straight up toxin.


----------



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

The King Crabb said:


> Rust can kill fish, that much is proven. But I definitely would classify as a straight up toxin.


If you beat a fish with a club made of rust you could kill it. Otherwise every bit of history and science proves that rust is harmless to fish. Fish live in natural habitats with everything covered in rust. This hobby started in tanks made from cast iron, with cast iron frames and solid cast iron bottoms, and a few are still in use and preferred by some fish breeders.

Iron must be ionized to be absorbed, so rust is one of the safest forms of iron. It is the iron supplements such as chelated iron that can be overdosed. To exhibit the most toxic effects, iron has to be injected intravenously.

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/ve ... ail/306534


----------



## Guest (Sep 4, 2011)

way too deep for me to even comment.. however the beat a fish with a club comment made me lol


----------



## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Mcdaphnia said:


> If you beat a fish with a club made of rust you could kill it. Otherwise every bit of history and science proves that rust is harmless to fish. Fish live in natural habitats with everything covered in rust. This hobby started in tanks made from cast iron, with cast iron frames and solid cast iron bottoms, and a few are still in use and preferred by some fish breeders.
> 
> Iron must be ionized to be absorbed, so rust is one of the safest forms of iron. It is the iron supplements such as chelated iron that can be overdosed. To exhibit the most toxic effects, iron has to be injected intravenously.
> 
> http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/ve ... ail/306534


Wow.. It's clear you have science on your side here :lol: I've just seen rust start in tanks and before you know it fish are dying, that was my source... Not a great one :lol: Thanks for the insight! :thumb:


----------



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

The King Crabb said:


> Wow.. It's clear you have science on your side here :lol: I've just seen rust start in tanks and before you know it fish are dying, that was my source... Not a great one :lol: Thanks for the insight! :thumb:


You're right that's not a great one. The rust in your tank was probably an indicator of other bad habits and neglect going on. It would be hard to pinpoint exactly what caused your wipeouts. If a filter stopped working because the wires baling it together rusted through, or a metal cased heater rusted and exposed the heating element to the water, it's not the rust that would be killing the fish. You can have fish breeding and fry growing up in a marine tank with cascades of rust in it.


----------



## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Oh they weren't my tanks, I've just heard of other's tanks wiping out completely when there is rust in there. Probably in the heater/ filter like you said.


----------



## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

aprildawn said:


> i made a "timeout" cage made from plastic canvas. have my sulphurhead in there now. does 2 days sound good?


That depends. What is he charged with? Are there eye witnesses? Does he have good representation? :lol:


----------

