namehater

im getting ready to start stocking an african cichlid tank and before i add any fish to the tank i was wondering how big the caves need to be. i have the rock work in place right now, with probably 6 or 7 caves, all of them being about the same size. looking straight at the tank the caves are roughly 4"wide x 2.5"tall x 5" deep. is this big enough? if not i have some 4" diameter PVC that i cut to about 7" in length i can use to modify what i have so far.

cichlidsmad

normaly you would make it big enough for the fish you are keeping and for which ones you want to hide some will have to be big and some small it depends on the size of the fish

namehater

most of the cichlids im considering seem to be in the 5-6" range, i hate to wait until i get them to build their caves, but i guess thats probably the best bet so i can change the rocks around to match the size that the fish currently are

lets just say i have a 5" yellow lab. could you tell me a general size of the cave needed for it?

cichlidsmad

i wouldnt know about that sorry but someone like steveangela would know but id say something just a bit higher then his fin etc

hope someone else could tell you
sorry i havent got ths info

i have a open fish tank not many hiding placesabout two hiding places for fry only they can get in and out

deathtroll

I try to have some caves that are just big enough for my smaller fish and some that are a little larger than my biggest fish with some caves being wider and longer than my biggest fish so their is room to spawn

CHoffman

I wouldn't worry to much about size. For yellow labs you don't want huge caves. They like smaller caves so they feel more secure and can claim that hole as their own. Make a variety of nooks and caves and they will find a place. If it looks like it's not working once you get them rearrange.