# DYI decorations



## Aneura (Apr 23, 2016)

I am looking to build some different decorations in my tank. I have a 75gallon with geo cichlids that could use some caves. I tried to do PVC pipe with rocks attached, but the rocks came off I used GE sillicone as I saw recommended and a glue gun. Not sure what i did wrong. Any advice would be appreciated.


----------



## uarhcaz (May 10, 2012)

A very common household object used for making caves are terra-cotta pots, if you search around theres all kinds of them from plain ones to engraved ones with neat designs. Kind of have natural colors to them and are strong enough to stack rocks over if you want to do that still.

I always wanted to use more of them and get ferns or even moss to grow all over it to mask the fact that it's even a pot but I never had luck getting them to stay on. Being smooth the roots couldn't really grab well.

My vote is if you put enough in to keep fighting over them at bay, the fish will be happy with it.


----------



## Aneura (Apr 23, 2016)

uarhcaz said:


> A very common household object used for making caves are terra-cotta pots, if you search around theres all kinds of them from plain ones to engraved ones with neat designs. Kind of have natural colors to them and are strong enough to stack rocks over if you want to do that still.
> 
> I always wanted to use more of them and get ferns or even moss to grow all over it to mask the fact that it's even a pot but I never had luck getting them to stay on. Being smooth the roots couldn't really grab well.
> 
> My vote is if you put enough in to keep fighting over them at bay, the fish will be happy with it.


Thanks for the advice I didn't think of pots, but that could be an option. I've put the PVC pipe in by itself for the time being and having that one extra spot has reduced the aggression a good amount. I am working a homemade cave system with three separate caves that face away from each other using pvc pipe, styrofoam, and concrete, but that will not be ready until it's been soaked for over a month in water outside of the tank. Not willing to risk any issues with the PH.


----------



## MysteryMan (Aug 7, 2016)

One thing i saw recently and tried is coconut shells. Buy a large coconut from the store, drain it, cut it in half, take the white stuff out of the shell and boil the shells then cut a little door into them depending on the size of your fish, theres a wiki how-to for it i think, just another idea


----------



## TheFishGuy1 (Oct 4, 2018)

Maybe you can try it again with rocks. Just make sure to find good rocks and limit them in the tank so your tank won't look crowded


----------

