Designing Caves For Aquariums

Recently I felt the need to give my tank a little more pizazz so I thought a nice stone cave would be the answer something where the fishes could hide and play.
I visited all of my local pet shops and Walmart's and found that for what I was looking for would cost anywhere between 29.99 and 59.99 as I didn't want anything small.
Well maybe for some that is the easy answer for them something that is pre-made but I rather buy more fishes instead of buy rocks, so off to the local Park I went.

I went and got some rocks and placed them in a bucket of warm water with lysol which says it kills 99.9% of germs and since I was paranoid about bacteria and other germs
being on the rocks I thought this route was a good idea.

Well it didn't turn out to be a good idea no matter how many times I rinsed the stones the lysol smell didn't come out so thus I couldn't use those rocks because they would kill my fish faster then the bacteria and germs that I thought might be on the rocks.

Off I went to the Park again this time I decided to get some round and elongated stones and some flat ones, this time I placed them in very warm water and scrubbed them with scrub pads until all the dirt was off then rinsed them well with warm water.

So I preceded to design my cave I placed the rocks in a layered pattern and tested it for stability so the rocks would not shift or fall and cause harm to the fish or the aquarium glass.

Well I really wasn't that impressed after a few hours it looked nice and it was two tiered but it was not cave like enough for me.

Off to the park I went again for more rocks me and the Park starting to become best friends this time I got larger stones and more round flat rocks

I built them up and I did like it although it had one major flaw I made it too big there was more stones then water it seemed to me as the space left for fish to swim in wasn't plentiful anymore and I didn't leave enough room for them in the back so this setup wasn't going to work either.


So guess where I went again ...correct the famous Park I (wonder if I should have setup camp there lol) this time I got much flatter rocks and preceded to build again, after the customary wash and rinse, this time I hammered the top rock smaller and hammered jagged edges down so just in case they wouldn't harm the fish.

I made sure there was enough space left on the sides and back and the top which is essential if you have angelfish, this time I indeed had the look I wanted to achieve it appeared more cave like and I was pleased.

Sure I could have went and got the already made stones and accessories at the store but making something out of nothing not only saves you money it gives you a sense of accomplishment and you can make your tank look like what you envisioned in your mind.

So visit your nearby Park, Lake, River or Stream and let the Aquatic Artist come alive in you.