dissapearing fish/ how to seal hollow decorations?

[pyrofish]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum, and fairly new to fishkeeping, so please excuse my lack of technical fish knowledge!

One of my fish dissapeared for a day, and I finally found out that he had somehow dug a hole under one of the decorations, and was hiding in the hollow part of it. Because this area inside of the decoration (it was a ceramic shark) is mostly sealed off from the filter, I suspect that waste may build up and kill the fish. So I removed the shark from the tank. You may ask, so... what's the problem then? Well now that I removed the fish's "home" he feels the need to terrorize the other fish in the tank (those cichlids...)!

So what I want to do is to fill in the hollow part of the decoration. What would I use to do this? Bondo? (probably not) Obviously whatever I use needs to be safe for the fish and not affect the water quality...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Shaggy]

Can you put the shark in an area in the tank where its closer to the filter, so it may have better filteration?

[flynngriff]

I've had this problem a lot, too...

I take a piece of pvc pipe or an aquarium rock that is roughly the same size as the hole in the decoration, and just silicone it in place to plug the hole. You don't want to completely seal it, however, or some of your decorations will float...

[pyrofish]

Originally Posted by flynngriff

I've had this problem a lot, too...

I take a piece of pvc pipe or an aquarium rock that is roughly the same size as the hole in the decoration, and just silicone it in place to plug the hole. You don't want to completely seal it, however, or some of your decorations will float...

Thanks! I'll have to try this. The hole is sort of an irregular shape, but I think a section of pvc pipe may work anyway. As long as there is not enough room for the fish to fit through, right?

What type of glue do you use exactly?

As for the filter, I am using a power filter, and I'm not sure how I would channel it into the inside of the decoration (once again, I don't know a whole lot about fish tanks). Plus, the fish was in there all day long: he didn't even come out to eat. I think maybe he couldn't find his way out or something. For some reason, I think plugging up the hole would be the simplest way to go.

Besides, I paid good money for that fish! I at least want to see him once in a while!

Thank you for the suggestions so far!

[DavidDoyle]

If you seal the hole, it wont sink and trapped air inside could turn anerobic and thus toxic if released into the tank. Most cichlids like caves and they are easy to create using stacked rocks. Or you can purchase caves or use clay pots.

[flynngriff]

I use silicone aquarium sealant, the same type used in the seams in aquariums. You should be able to pick it up at any fish store.

[pyrofish]

Thanks again guys.

What If I seal it with water trapped inside rather than air?
Or, what if I filled it with a solid substance such as gravel? Or hot glue? Or waterproof epoxy? Or bondo?!

I'll take your advice David and get some cave-type decorations, but I don't know about leaving this particular hole open.

Maybe I should post a picture so that you can see exactly what I'm talking about.

When the fish finally swam out (after tilting the ceramic shark sideways), I took the Ceramic shark out of the water to find *alot* of fish waste. So it seemed obvious that the filter had no effect on this area.

Also, if I just skip "fixing" the decoration and just get a new one, do you think the fish will become over stressed with the absence of the original decoration?

Edit: OK here is a link to a picture of the decoration:
http://hometown.aol.com/pyrochris2/m...ge/garden.html

[flynngriff]

Like I said before, I don't seal them completely, I simply put something in the opening to close it off so that a fish can't fit through it. Generally a piece of PVC pipe can be cut to fit it. Then I glue it in place with silicone. There's still enough room for the air to escape and water to flow, so all it does is keep the fish out.

[fish_doc]

I use craft mesh and silicone. I cut a peice of the plastic mesh used to make kleenex box covers, bookmarks, coasters and stuff like that and silicone it right over the hole. It allows for water flow while keeping anything larger than fry out.

[fishfreaks]

we had this problem with our colleseum(sp???), we just took a medium size whisper filter and rolled it up, the stuffed it inside the hole.

[Thunderkiss]

Personally i wouldn't sweat it for numerous reasons. Look at it this way; you have something he wants to use ... let him Nothing bad would happen to him in there anyway, but if you do seal it, i wouldn't seal any water in it.

[pyrofish]

Well... I don't know a whole lot about fish... but it seemed kind of odd that the fish was in there the entire day. The fish actually moved the gravel next to the decoration, and swam beneth it, and somehow found his way into the bottom of the decoration. I think that maybe he was, for some reason not able to get back out. Could the gravel of collapsed around the shark? Anyway, to me it seems like a good idea to keep the fish out of it. Just today I bought some of that plastic "craft mesh" stuff that fish doc mentioned. It will not restrict water flow, but will keep the fish out. Similar to flynngriff's Idea, but it will be easier to get it to work I think.

All I need now is that silicone aquarium sealant stuff...

Regaurdless of whether or not this is neccessary, I still want to try it. Are there any reason's why I shouldn't? (Besides just that it is not neccessary) Any possible negative side effects?

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

[fish_doc]

I used this craft mesh on several ornaments I have. Ususally the fake plastic tree trunk type things. I had all my clown loaches (4) disappear inside one. I dont mind them hiding but I still would like to see them once in awhile. LOL You can always provide them with other Open type hiding spaces.

[mlefev]

I had this problem with a clay vase I had in my tank. I sealed up the handles (since the fish loved to get stuck in there) with a piece of cork. It takes years (if not decades) for the stuff to dissolve and I simply cut it into the right shape and shoved it in the holes. You have to cut it a bit small because it will expand, but it's a viable method to keep the fish from shoving their heads somewhere they can't get out of.

I think some of the other members' ideas of PVC pipe is probably more viable, however, in a pinch, mine seems to work well enough.

Heavy planting and the removal of ornaments is also an option. It takes more time and patience, but the fish that want to hide will hide, and those that don't will be visable.

[Alin10123]

I would just replace it with a cave or something.
Certain fish love hiding in caves and will come out during certain times of the day.
Like my Pleco. He'll hide in the cave all day. Then at around 1am i will hear a water splash at the top which is when he'll take a breath of air and then come out to start feeding.
He's sort of a shy fish though, if i get near the tank he dives back into the little cave.

[pyrofish]

I like the cork idea too, but I already went with gluing (with silicone aquarium sealant) the plastic mesh in place. It turned out super duper nice. Remember with cork (or with anything) not to seal it off to water, only to fish, as everyone mentioned before.

I plan on increasing the number of caves so that there is enough to go around between my fish. I could be wrong, but it seemed that the sharks mouth was a pretty good cave to begin with.

That's funny Alin, my pleco is also shy around people, but not around other fish! He stole one of my cichlids hiding space! And the guy at the pet store (incorrectly) predicted that my cichlids would tear it apart! The other funny thing is that I also hear a splash in the middle of the night, but I just assumed it was two of the cichlids fighting again...