Aquascape in Fish Motels

[herring_fish]

I am aquascaping my rock in a minimalist style with arches and what not. Part of the rock will be up off of the sand bed and there will be far less rock than I used to have. This means that there will be fewer areas for fish and other critters to hide. I understand that where there are less places to hide, fish will come out less not more because they lack the confidence of knowing that they have a safe place to retreat to when needed.

For this reason, I have thought about making places for fish and critters to hide that are not visible from the outside of the tank, particularly from the front.

I thought about gluing tubes together and aiming them toward the back of the tank. I cut some of the tubes that aquarium epoxy comes in and painting them black. They are about 1 inch in diameter and close to 8 inches long. I plan to cut the tubes into approximately 2 inch pieces.

This is the first thing, off the top of my head, that I have thought of. I hope that I can get some feedback on this idea and get several new ones.

I tried getting some feedback on another thread and it was suggested that I use PVC of different sizes and lenghts so I will try that.
What are your thoughts, criticisms and ideas?

 

[trackhazard]

Sounds like a good idea. With that said, I don't know if a bunch of different tubes in one place is going to do that much. Most fish I see will stake out one area and defend anything in that area. If that area happens to have all the hiding places, then one fish will have a bunch of places to choose from while the others lose out.

Another thing I would be concerned about is make sure detritus and stuff doesn't get trapped in there. I would probably figure out an easy way of getting something back there to wash stuff out on occasion whether its a turkey baster or a powerhead or whatever.

Otherwise, it looks like a good idea to me.

-Charlie

 

[Daniel62]

I also am going to try this out on my next FOWLR tank. Great minds think a like LOL