Synthetic Spawn Caves – Cheaper by the Dozen

Starting material

Commercial waste collectors include a set of black tubes whose diameter is about 2-2,5 cm (approx. 1 inch), just the right size to build small spawn caves. If you replace your old collector by a new one, don’t throw away the old tubes, they could still give a contribution to breed Parosphromenus.

The tubes are made of sooty thermoplastic material that melts at a temperature of 200 °C or more. Its density is a little lower than 1 g/cm³, so it floats barely beneath the water surface.

Machining the Tubes

The main tool is a hot air pistol, its fan supplies an airflow of 300-600 °C, enough to melt the thermoplastic and to burn yourself badly, too. Some cheap hairdryers reach a temperature of 160 °C and more, but this may be not sufficient for melting the thermoplastic.

You could break the longer tubes inter smaller ones with a saw and saw off the tube ends, if you want. A small amount of cable ties may fix some tricky constructions at the end of your machining.
Heat the tubes near the blast pipe of your hot air pistol, avoid touching the metal cap of the pistol. Once the surface of the tube begins to shine it’s the right moment to morph, bend, twist and stick your tubes together.

There is a wide range of variation on cave-building, I mostly form two caves from one tube.

My next step is combining two double-caves to a set of four. Usually there is no problem to stick them together using the hot air pistol, the cable ties could help, otherwise.
At last you’ve got a set of 6 x 4 caves from about 1,5 m black tubes in different lengths and orientations, ready to use in your tanks.

Caves in Use

If you want to place your caves beneath the surface there is nothing more to do (see above: density l.t. 1 g/cm³). To lay your caves on the ground you have to add some gravel or small pebbles to your caves. Charge the caves differently to get your desired orientations.

Some species like different options of caves, one set gives immediately four options to decide, no possibility to resist…