Hobby Aqua-Cave Aquarium Breeding Cave is a moulded cave with a single entrance, made for the fish that will not breed without one. Beyond breeding it does the quieter job of giving a bullied or shy fish somewhere to be - and a fish with a retreat spends less time hiding, not more.

Key Features

• Sizes: Small 7x10x11cm, Medium 9x10x11cm, Large 10x11x13cm.
• For Cichlids And Catfish: the species that spawn inside a confined space rather than in the open.
• Reduces Stress: cover is not decoration. Fish that cannot get out of sight stay on alert, eat less and colour down.
• Inert: no effect on water chemistry.

Placing It Properly

• Entrance away from the light and the traffic. Facing the front glass and the room is the one orientation a fish will not use.
• One cave per territorial fish, and then one spare. With exactly as many caves as fish, the loser of every dispute has nowhere to go.
• Bed it down. Push it slightly into the substrate so it cannot be tipped, and check nothing can roll onto it.
• Leave an exit. Do not wedge it so tightly into rockwork that a fish spawning inside has only one way out.

Good To Know

• Pick the size above. Match it to the fish, not the tank - a cave much bigger than the fish defeats the point.
• Rinse it under the tap before it goes in, and have a look for sharp edges or casting flash on any moulded piece.
• Keep decor clear of the filter intake and the heater. Blocking either is how a tidy layout quietly becomes a problem.
• If a fish moves in and stops coming out, that is the cave working, not a problem. Resist the urge to look inside daily.
• Lift it out and rinse it when you do a water change. Caves collect detritus because nothing flows through them.