oscarlover34

I was wondering if it would hurt my tank if I put a big piece of driftwood in it?

luper

http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/index.php?topic=2525.0

search it up first..

but ill be using drift wood too... mostly people say boil it b/c of the tenine or w/e in it..

plus any bad things that may be in it...

but it should be fine just boil it several times to clean it
-luper

chickadee

I have driftwood in all my tanks and I have boiled it and not boiled it. If you get it from a dealer in drifwood and it is the right kind of wood it should be okay to use right away. Mine has never turned the water colors no matter if it was not boiled. I have always bought mine through:

http://www.amazonmoosey.com

Their wood is mostly cypress and it makes a great driftwood. It will have to say that the catfish in your tank will
"carve" it a bit but not enough to make it disappear just to give it character.

Rose

chickadee

Here are a few pictures of mine to give you an idea of the assortment of the unboiled pieces. Just as a little bonus you get to see my little Otocinclus catfish in the hole of the big driftwood piece having a snack on the algae growing there. (His name is Dingbat )

Rose

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Butterfly

Beautiful wood Rose. If I'm using a piece I found I ALWAYS boil it. If it comes from a dealer it depends on how it looks whether i boil it or not. It at least gets a good wash with a brush.
Carol

luper

hey Rose (chickadee),
What kind of plant is that on your second and third picture on the left with the holy leaves?!?!?
I WANT IT! LOL

drift wood seems like an art eh.... anyother good places to find it? Swampy seems to have plenty of choices but jw/

-luper

EDIT:

also Rose, is that a rock in the foreground? Looks cool whats growing on it? What kind of rock is it? I'm an amatuer so I'm admiring tanks alot lol

chickadee

The plant grows from a bulb and is the Madagascar Lace Plant - now I can never remember the real name: Aponogeton madagascariensis (got it!). They are VERY easy to grow and need little care, but grow quite tall and need to have the really tall leaves pulled out once in a while to keep the plant producing smaller leaves and so it doesn't get "leggy". My betta LOVES it. He sleeps on it.

The thing in the front of the tank is:
http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...familyID=9611&

They love the little cave too. The Otos and the Betta fight over who gets to be in there and I have thought many times of getting more than one if I just had more room so they would stop fighting. They just won't give up!

Rose

ebbandflow

I just realized that the driftwood I bought last weekend is fake! Ive been boiling plastic or acrylic or whatever its made out of (it feels like wood I swear) for like two hours now. The finish on the outside started to come off. Oh man I am an idiot.

chickadee

No you are not! That artificial driftwood is really good. It is hard to tell - that is why they sell so much of it, because it does look and feel so much like the real thing. Even the fish are fooled a lot of the time.

Rose

luper

LOL

sorry i feel bad for ya but its kinda funny i can relate though so don't feel alone..

thanks rose