# The cichlid stones are awesome.



## locomotive282 (Jun 2, 2009)

The cichlid stones by underwater galleries are great. The look real, the fish love them, and they dont displace water.










Check out a video of my tank right here!
:fish:


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

IMO they still look plastic but maybe with a little more algae that will go away....as u stated im sure the fish LOVE em. :thumb:


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## ccross (Jul 9, 2009)

I picked up a couple and they do look real underwater. Especially if you arrange them so you can't see the holes. The only problem that I can find w/ them is most of the holes are made for smaller fish.


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## Drowned (Mar 16, 2009)

Think about the dirt that will accumulate in each of them. No way to wash it away.


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

as mentioned dirt will accumulate, but think how much harder they'll make catching the fish.

the other thing I'd worry about is stagnant water, without the water circulating in them the oxygen levels will drop off in them and potentially suffocate anything inside, as well as creating homes for anaerobic bacteria.


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

I've been using them in my demasoni tank for a year now. I have only had to remove one fish out of the original 17 due to aggression. I have dems in there all sizes, from tiny fry, right on up. Some of the fish breeding now were born in the tank. As far as catching your fish, no worse than having to move a huge pile of rocks, and they aren't nearly as heavy. If you see which stone the fish goes in, and it is one with only a single opening, you just reach in and take out the stone, fish and all. 
I think that as far as water stagnating in them, well, if you watch your dems, they aren't just sitting in there not moving, mine are always peeking out with there tails swishing, and their fins moving, so I guess they keep the water circulating that way.
I like the stones, they have worked very well for me, but as always: "your mileage may vary".
J


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## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

I have used them for a couple of years and have had no problems. Once they are in the tank for a while they look very real. And as football mom says, sometimes if a fish is in one you can just lift it out of the tank with the fish in it. All in all, I am very pleased with them.


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## locomotive282 (Jun 2, 2009)

Stagnant water is only a problem if you don't have adequate water flow. I run two xp4s and an xp1 for the uv sterlizer. I can remove the stones easily and they are not heavy. The fish love sleeping inside them and my crayfish has claimed one as his bachelor pad. All the hiding spaces the stones provide really makes a difference for these agressive fish.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Very cool!

I have made a number of caves with small doorsâ€¦ debris does collect in them quite easilyâ€¦ my solution is to stick the siphon hose right in the door (provided there are no eggs in them)â€¦

Although I do feel flow in them is basically nill, I have not found the water to ever become stagnant. In my experience the fish swimming in and out, as well as hovering in the cave, creates just enough movement to prevent this from happening.

Iâ€™ve also found my females commonly lay eggs in them and situate themselves near the door pulling water in from outside while fanning the eggs. I do not feel that using caves with small doors comparable to these give me any lower hatch rates, which would be the case if the water were stagnant.

I do see how unused caves could become stagnant and therefore become uninviting for fish to move intoâ€¦ Although I feel sticking the end of a siphon hose in the door once a week during maintenance would solve thisâ€¦

I agree being able to see the doors makes them look a bit less realâ€¦ but it allows you to clean the insideâ€¦ practicality usually comes at some priceâ€¦


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## karlfishing (Aug 4, 2009)

i just bought 24 of them from kensfish and i love them.


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