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by David Midgley
I thought I’d write a very brief article on the creation of pot caves for use in cichlid aquariums. I use terracotta pots and saucers in all my non-display tanks as substitutes for rocks. Pots have several advantages over rockwork for the breeding aquarium:
1. Terracotta is non-toxic and pH neutral. Some rocks, such as limestone (which is CaCO3), can alter the pH of a tank. In tanks with cichlids from the african rift lakes this is not a problem, however, for cave spawning cichlids of south america or west africa this can be problem.
2. Terracotta is, relatively, easily manipulated. I use both pots and saucers as cases in my aquariums.
3. Terracotta is light! Compared to rocks anyway. This is of particular importance when you need to catch a fish out of the tank.
4. You need less pieces to create usable caves (ie: one pot or saucer per cave). With rocks often you’ll need multiple pieces to create caves and hiding places.
5. Terracotta is cheap. Rocks (at least from aquarium stores) are not.
So how & where do I cut the holes?
I cut the holes in standard terracotta pots in two places; either in the middle of the pot or at the base (shown below).
Pot-cave with entry cut into bottom, and assorted fast-swimming fry.
To cut the holes I use a ceramic disk on a standard angle grinder. Be sure to take appropriate precautions when using this potentially dangerous gadget. You can buy a cheaper angle grinder from your local hardware store for around $30-$50.
I have also used terracotta pot saucers with some success (see below - notice fry about the breeding cave).
Julidochromis transcriptus ‘Gombe Island’ male guarding his much larger female inside their saucer cave.
Saucer-caves seem particularly popular with Julidochromis & Chalinochromis spp. and given the choice, they appear to chose the saucer-style cave (for breeding) more frequently (though I’ve not conducted a t-test) than the standard pot caves above. In some tanks I have pot caves sitting atop saucer caves, giving two discrete caves in a very small footprint.
