DIY Pleco Breeding Cave

Hello,

Okay so I'm starting to make some breeding spots for my clown plecos. It looks like I have 5 females and 4 males. Although one male may turn out to be a female. The females have been getting full with eggs and then slimming down for a while now. I'm assuming their just absorbing the eggs because they have no where to lay them. The males have been sparing with each other and I've seen some breeding 'dances' between males and females. So I think it's a good time to start making the caves and putting the in.

I want to make the caves out of PVC pipe because I think that'll be the easiest. Right now I have two pieces left over from my aquaponics spraybars. One measures 7in and the other 3in. They are 1in in diameter. I think that should be big enough. Anyway I was thinking of coating them with silicone on the outside and then rolling them in my substrate (pool filter sand). I have a bit dry in the basement lol I won't roll them inside the tank. Then I'd use a rock or something similar to seal one side or I could just put them in the sand. I'm hoping to make them blend in as much as possible. Any suggestions? Do you think I should put some sand inside the pipes? Do you think I would need larger pipes? I haven't tried it but I believe the plecos will fit in nicely. Any comments or ideas would be great!

 

My friend who is a fish MASTER always has fish breed in her tanks, its a miricale. She was caring for some BNs for a friend and they bred twice in her tank, they used a large Terracota pot, I suggest using both the PVC and pot to give them options. It seems the males like to span them selves over the eggs, something they can't easily do in a PVC. In the pot they layed them over the back side of it and the male would just sit over them all. PVC rolled in gravel sounds great, be sure that one side is sealed OR take a long piece and seal the middle of it to make 2 caves.

 

Hm.. I dunno. I think I'll stick to the PVC because I want the tank to look as natural as possible. The pots would stick out too much.

 

RA, if you have the spare cash, you could snag a short length of wider diameter PVC, a 2" or 3" piece. I'd roll it in gravel, then in sand.
Although they may have chosen the terracotta simply because of the texture of the pot, PVC is very smooth and the eggs may not adhere well to a surface like that. You can get super tiny terracotta pots at agway for like $0.50 each; they're maybe a little bigger than a double shot glass. IMO, if you rolled these in gravel/sand, and sort of like nestled them into the substrate, especially like in corners along the back of the tank, it'd look pretty natural, and provide the textured surface for egg laying.
although, having never bred fish myself, this is all just stuff I've read, not anything I've actually done myself, so [insert grain of salt here].

 

I agree about the PVC being very smooth inside and possibly causing problems, but I also have never bred fish. Your idea about what to do on the outside (of whatever piece you use) I really like, it should blend in nicely.