[watercrawl]

I see a lot of talk about having caves for the species of fish I'm keeping.

Here's what I have:

6 juvenile gobies (ikola) - waiting to sort out a pair
6 quite small black calvus - waiting to sort out a pair
3 juvenile paracyps - need to find more, I know
A small colony of multies
3 BN pleco's

All in my 75 gallon.

I'm wondering, how defined do the caves need to be?

Do they need to be one way in, one way out kind of caves? Do piles of rocks with lots of nooks and crannies suffice?

 

[nodima]

I have always just used large rock piles with various sized openings at all sorts of levels in the tank. Never had an issue, fish always seem to sort out where they want to be.

 

[Wei Fun]

I wouldn't worry too much about what you think they should want. The important thing is to give a variety of choices, and let them figure it out from there. I personally go with a mix of rockpiles, prefab caves, and shells.

 

[AlphaWild]

If aquascaping is fun for you, go ahead and design the caves in a way that appeals to you. Just don't be offended when the fish pick their own crevice that you didn't design.

 

[FishFlake]

Yeah, those darn fish just don't seem to care about what I want sometimes. Just give them lots of options & they will know what to do. :thumb:

 

[prov356]

6 juvenile gobies (ikola) - waiting to sort out a pair

They don't need caves, but will find a cleft in a rock or similar to sort of sit out of the way.

6 quite small black calvus - waiting to sort out a pair

They like narrow clefts in between rocks for spawning.

3 juvenile paracyps - need to find more, I know

The males like a cave or opening between rocks that they can fit into, and doesn't have to be huge. In the wild they hang out in these caves trying to entice females to spawn.

A small colony of multies

Shell bed, no caves needed.

3 BN pleco's

BN's like a cave with only one end open so they can lay and protect eggs in the closed end of the cave.

But, like all said, they'll do with what you give them usually.