Top 5 aquarium botanicals- caves and hides!
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- The first episode of a series of top 5 botanicals for aquariums, this one is the best botanicals for use as caves!
Having just found some young Hypancistrus plecos emerging from the caves in my river scape it felt a great time to talk about some alternatives to the man made caves that are often used for breeding!
This video is sponsored by live aquatic food online:
Featured in the video are:
Savu pods
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Bell cups
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Buddha nut pods
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Coconut caves
Ourico pods
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Nice video, Alex! Also, congratulations for making it to the +1000 subscribers =)
I think if coconut shells are not for everybody’s taste is mostly because their perfect ovate shape, and the circular openings they carve on them, made them look quite unnatural; almost like birdboxes, I would say. But this is easily modified by taking out chunks of the edges with plyers, to make the edges and the opening look more irregular and angular, as if they had naturally broken down.
On a different note, something I’ve never seen used as a botanical cave, and I wonder why (maybe they float too much, even if boiled?), are portions of bamboo/cane poles. There are several varieties, of different diameters, readily available for gardening or decoration, and I reckon that by breaking them “in a natural-looking way” they could make excellent caves. Also, since bamboos are prevalent on tropical regions around the Globe, they would always be “biotope correct”. Well, just as an idea…
Thanks so much, it’s a big milestone and I honestly didn’t think I’d persist with RUclips long enough to make it but I surprised myself with how much I’ve enjoyed it.
I totally agree, it’s super easy to alter their appearance a little bit and make them more ‘natural’ looking. You just need to get creative 😁👌
They may well float but I think you could wedge them between rocks and/or partially bury them in the substrate and it could work really well. I have seen a few bamboo dominated scapes lately so it’s definitely possible but I’ve never seen them used as caves more just decoration
I used a coconut shell in my discus tank an my gold nugget pleco loved it.
That’s awesome, I’m glad to hear the little guy enjoyed his home! My Apistogramma have always loved them too 😁
Are difficult to find at least here in Italy, great video as always.
That’s a shame, is there no specialist supplier in Italy for botanicals?
@@alexb_aquatics It's easy to find alder cones and catappa leaves.
Others botanicals it's very difficult.
That’s such a shame
You could use old dried cannoli shells or maybe cut some ravioli in half etc.
What do you think about cocoa pods? I live in South east asia, and aside from coconut, we have a cocoa tree growing in my backyard. I think I'm going to try use those instead since they resemble Savu Pod.
They’re great too, I actually used them in my Parosphromenus linkei tank! They seemed to break down a bit quicker though
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i want some but i dont want tannins
The bael tree/bell cup don’t seem to release huge amounts of tannins. You can always boil them for longer and Chuck the tannins away, or add a small amount of carbon to the filter to remove them ☺️ don’t let the brown water put you off there are plenty of ways around that
Thanks
what is a good place to buy them?
I used Live Aquatic Food Online, they’re linked in the video description but are only UK based at the moment I think. Where are you based?
@@alexb_aquaticsFlorida, US
Have a look at betta botanicals 👍🏼