Terracotta pots

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 1, 2005

• #1

For those of you who have "real" terracotta pots in your axolotl tank;

did you soak them for a while before you put them in the tank? Do they cloud the water? Has anyone cut the end of one out so it is a tube rather than a pot?

 

J

joan

Guest

• Apr 1, 2005

• #2

No, no, and no. Although I have toyed with cutting it down the middle to make a 'lower' cave instead of just setting the whole pot in there.

 

B

brian

Guest

• Apr 1, 2005

• #3

I've used them for breeding cichlids before, and never had any problems. Just pop them in the tank.

 

S

sharn

Guest

• Apr 1, 2005

• #4

hey, i bought a terracotter pipe for my axies from a special pet place. they love it and it has a holwin the side so they can play around. it didnt do anything to my water. i find it gets coverd in algae though

 

J

jennifer

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #5

I find that some of these pots do release some yellowish color into the water when they are first soaked. So I do soak them for a day or two before putting them in the tank.

 

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #6

Thanks for the info everyone

I tried to cut one of the pots in half long ways... ended up half cut and half broken. But it looks really nice covered in aquarium gravel.

I used a thick bead of silicone along the broken edges and stuck smooth gravel to them, so there are no sharp edges at all.

I will post a picture once I have it in the tank.

 

C

colin

Member

Joined

May 7, 2007

Messages

253

Reaction score

0

• Apr 2, 2005

• #7

you can use a bit of sand paper to get rid of sharp edges, works great and not so messy...

 

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #8

The sand paper is a good idea, but I was already making a mess.

Here is my broken pot covered in gravel.

 

S

sharn

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #9

neat! makes me want to get all arty (bad idea!!) id make a HUGE mess hahaha. it looks awesome cynthia

 

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #10

Thanks Sharn. Kim inspired me to make a mess with her rock covered cave.

I am working on their PVC caves now. Trying to make them look not so much like PVC fittings.

 

J

jarred

Guest

• Apr 2, 2005

• #11

Wow Cynthia, that looks really good. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of it in your tank.

 

K

kim

Guest

• Apr 3, 2005

• #12

HA HA Cythina!

Looks great! I was thinking of covering my axies pot in sand but yes way tooo much mess!

Thinking of what else i can do

 

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 3, 2005

• #13

kim - I found a web page a few weeks ago (do you think I can find it now? No!) on DIY caves for fish. It was using pvc 4" pipe and he made upright caves with dividers for cichlids. They looked way cool.

Anyway he used aquarium gravel on parts of them and sand on others. When he applied the sand he covered the PVC with silicon where he wanted the sand attached then rolled the PVC in a plastic container that was half full of sand. It really didn't look like it made "a big mess".

I may try it on my 2nd pot. I am now however waiting for more black silicone to arrive. I have resorted to ordering the tubes that are used in caulking guns.

 

K

kim

Guest

• Apr 4, 2005

• #14

LOL Cynthia.. Thats alot of silicone!..

Im thinking of leaving it for while as if i keep making them things they will have no where to swim

 

C

cynthia

Guest

• Apr 4, 2005

• #15

hahaha true it is a lot of silicone... I have just the 2 pipe fittings for the axolotl tank, so they will still have room to swim.

But I have 6 other aquariums with fish and frogs in that I can decor for too (sad and sick I know, maybe I should just get cable TV instead. lol ).