Re: spawning places

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

Mike Roberts writes:

> I was planning on making "caves" out of slate instead of using flower pots
>  for my upcoming A. Cacatuoides tank.  I am VERY limited on "floor space."

I have used slate with success.
  
>  I see the recommendation of using flower pots quite often.  I went to my
>  local hardware store and rediscovered the bewildering array of shapes and
>  sizes that clay flower pots come in.

Some folks, myself included have discovered that larger pots can be broken up
and the larger "shards" arranged into a sort of slate-like pile with natural
openings on the undersides.  Because the shards are curved, these cave
structures are not going to slip and crush a fish or a clutch of eggs.  Pots
as small as 2 inches work.  I currently have a broken 4 inch pot in a tank
with A. cacatuoides.  The pot is broken at an angle from one top corner to the
opposite bottom corner.  The bottom section is lying inverted, with the
drainage hole facing sideways in the tank.  The female has been swimming in
and out through the drain hole for days now.  Her color is not yet yellow
enough to be in breeding mood, but I anticipate that when she is, this will be
the spot she chooses over the dozen or so other prime locations in the tank.
  
>  What size of opening, height, and depth would the list members recommend
for
>  these "slate cave" breeding niches?

When mine have spawned in the area between two pieces of slate, or between a
piece of slate and a piece of driftwood, they always pick the point where the
two items come together.  These areas are so narrow, I cannot imagine how the
female can possibly squeeze in there.  But she does.  One of the favorite
places for my panduros was between two slates five inches long, with 3/4 inch
between them at one end, and coming together at the other.  Guess which end
she seemed to prefer.  Yeah, the end where they come together.  How?  I dunno.

Bob Dixon


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