viejita loves exo-terra

[wickedglass]

my viejitas have done it again, this time I put an exo-pet magnetic reptile cave into their tank, with the magnets siliconed. these are more commonly used to breed bristlenoses, but I thought I'd try it on some of my apistos, and they loved it! Here's the pics of their little tropical cave hideaway lovenest!

oops, I mad a mistake, they're actually called "exo-terra reptile den"

[wickedglass]

here's some closeups of the fry in a couple of different locations inside the cave.

okok, so the glass on my tank needs cleaning and the cave looks like a medical model of a colon, but it works,

I bought 2 of these caves off ebay for $13 each plus postage !!! cheap, I thought.

the only problem is that the magnets won't be any good through 10mm glass, but they work fine with 6mm glass if you have small tanks!

[Th0mas]

Great idea Chris, I've never seen these cave before - where else can you get them?

Congratulation with the viejita spawn - keep us updated with the fry's progress.

Thomas.

[Robdog]

That's a really good idea wicked! It would be really interesting to see the little fellas doing their thing or do you have the outside world blocked off in some way?

[Idisscusdiscus]

Nice Idea, I would have never thought of that!

[wickedglass]

hi Robdog, the rock is actually trademarked EXO-TERRA, not exo-pet as I first wrote. it comes in two parts, an inside part and an outside part, the outside is held on by the magnets, so when its in place, the cave is completely shut in, except for the glass barrier which lets in enough light for the fish to see inside their sanctuary.
they're available from selected pet shops around the place, usually ones that also carry reptile supplies. I've seen the "exo-terra reptile dens at upmarket aquariums in the city near vic market. but the cheapest I've seen them is on ebay! unless one of our sponsors carries them, I'd recomment ebay .... oh, and go for the small size, anything bigger is huge, remember, they're made for reptiles


Today the fry are free-swimming today, I've had to cordon off the tank from the male, coz he wants more eggs laid, but the girl has had enough and for his own protection there's now a his and her side of the tank .... she's fiesty and he's a total clown!

[wickedglass]

yesterday my agassizii "double red" pair laid eggs in their cave. interestingly enough I have flowerpots in both those tanks, and while the males displayed over these and tried to entice the females into breeding in the pots, both the females preferred the caves, so the males had to finally give in to their demands ;)

[wickedglass]

here's a pic of the agassizii girl guarding the eggs

[Robdog]

That's awesome man! I can see a trip to the reptile shop 2moro for me

[Robdog]

Hey wicked can you post a picture from the side of the tank so I can see how far the cave sticks out into the tank.

[wickedglass]

here's a pic sort of from above, I'll try to remember to take a pic from the front of the tank next week. as you can probably tell, the cave doesn't jut into the tank that much. This pic shows the cave with the magnetic cover on. At this stage my girl has her fry at free-swimming stage and is outside the cave.

[Th0mas]

What's that lump outside of the tank Chris?

Thomas.

[Noddy65]

I assume thats the magnetic cover? It sticks on the outside of the glass to make the cave dark?

Mike

[wickedglass]

that's absolutely correct, Mike :)

here's 3 of the exo-terra promo images, they will make things clearer

[Robdog]

Cheers mate. I saw those shots on their website. It sure is a great idea. I spose if you didn't have room for the outside half, all you'd need would be a magnet and some dark cardboard.
It is obviously a great success as you've proven but what about water flow inside the cave? Is there a tiny gap between the glass and cave?

[wickedglass]

there is a thin gap, yes, and I use black paper stuck on the outside for my agassizii instead of the cover. you can move the cave a fraction further into the tank if you're not using the cover if you need a bigger gap, but I wouldn't advise it because the wrigglers could fall into the gap and get lost down there

[Robdog]

Do you know how much these are roughly in the stores?
And what size is the one you have there

[wickedglass]

the one i have is the small size, I get them off ebay for $13 + $7.50 postage, I have no idea what a store charges for them, but $20.50 seems reasonable, especially when it gets delivered to my door and I don't have to spend petrol money getting it :) .

[Robdog]

Is that your Aggie Blue that has spawned in the cave?

[wickedglass]

no, it's in another tank, and they started courting in earnest today. I'm moving them into another tank tomorrow.

[Robdog]

Sorry to burst your savings bubble wicked, but I picked up a reptile den today for $17.95 plus 30% off which by my calcs is about $12.60.
Plus I got a piece of driftwood, all for under $20.
Big props on the idea though! Just gotta drop it in now and hope that I get similar results to you.
How are your babies doing?

[wickedglass]

well done, Rob, I'm all jealous ... did you calculate in the petrol to get to the shop? ;) .... I'm sure its still way under what I've paid though. Nice work! Make sure you wash and scrub it first, though. I've started to put in the whole cave, so I'm not tempted to look all the time, too, my viejita shot out of the cave like a cannonball everytime I looked, but lucky for me it didn't seem to make a difference to her guarding the eggs to hatching and she's cruising around the tank with the bubs like the great mothership that she is. I suggest not looking too often after they've spawned.
at the moment I have my trio of the A. agassizii blues in a breeding setup, hoping that they will breed. They seem to be rather aggressive towards each other, so I have a lot of hiding places, including a cave on each side of the tank and a stack of slate to divide the tank so the girls can have their own territories without having to look at each other and the male is free to roam between them ;)
I've never had aggies that were so aggressive towards each other and I'm loathe to guess at their provenance (unknown), but I have a feeling they may not be tank bred, as they're quite adamant that the fish reflected in the back glass of the tank is an intruder. Other than Bettas I haven't seen a tank bred fish do that. maybe someone can dis-enchant me of the notion that they're not tank bred and post their observations on the difference in behaviours.

[Robdog]

Can't help you there. Interesting theory though. Maybe if David Soares is still lurking around here he'll shed some light.

Still haven't got around to adding my cave to the tank. Got all excited when I first got it but then I think my Inka's spawned and were really jittery when I was around their tank so I've kept my distance since then.

The Inka's are on the top shelf of the rack so to setup the two tanks on the bottom shelf means me crawling around on the floor so I don't disturb them with my presence. I WILL NOT crawl around just for some horny fish. Maybe just a little

[Nathan]

i saw those caves in my LFS last week, i cant remember exactly but they were $25-30 so your doin well wicked