Hi there, hopefully this is a really quick and easy question. I have a 10 gallon tank that I'm going to be dividing into either two or three (I can't decide if I want to just get another smaller tank for my newest little guy), and I really don't want to have to drop $30 on a commercial divider (or even twice that if I do go with dividing in three!). I saw the tutorial on how to use craft mesh to make your own dividers, and I've tried looking for the components for it. Buuuut I live in a small piddly little town and apparently the malls/stores/craft shops around here don't have any of the parts. :O
Anyway my question is this. My grandfather is a carpenter and has offered to make some plexiglass dividers. He says he can put some holes in them so water can pass through freely, and can smooth them out so little fishy fins don't get snagged on them. What I'm most worried about is whether or not it would stress out the fish being able to see each other all the time like that. I let them see each other from their holding tanks this morning - Watson doesn't seem to mind seeing the others, and eventually Moriarty hid behind his castle, but Sherlock is an agressive little dude and just flared continually until I put the piece of paper between their holding tanks again.
Would completely transparent plexiglass be okay though? Or should I continue my search for the illusive craft mesh?
i wouldnt recommend it.. at least not for Sherlock. but the craft mesh is called plastic canvas or crochet mesh, its always with the crochet and knitting stuff. it took me FOREVER to find it
If you don't care to give me your address, or a post office box address, I can mail some to you. It's like 3$ at walmart, and I know I could mail it easily. I think the plexiglass would work fine as well (you can see through the plastic mesh a bit too). I know some people actually put their tanks together so that the fish can see one another on purpose, and that eventually they get used to each other and stop flaring. I'd think that if you were really worried about it you could put heavy cover on the divider side, meaning that you'd have lots of plants and hides or whatever on that side to help obscure them from one another.
Offer still stands though, I'll be happy to mail some craft mesh to you if you want to go that route. :)
Oh, and *where* did you find the tutorial?!? I've looked high and low, and apparently I'm just too blind to find it. :) I've got the mesh and what looks to be the holders...I just can't find the post on how to do it. :)
-__-
I need solid and plexi ones. My fish can see through the net and when you are breeding and don't want them to get used to eachother.... NOT COOL! Plexi would be for conditioning, but I need solid black for everyday. Wonderhow I'm gonna get those.... (-___-)
CJConcepcion, thank you SOOO MUCH! I've looked high and low for that post (seen it mentioned over and over and over...never could find it! ) That's great, and pretty much what I gathered from pictures, but it's wonderful to have the actual tutorial. Thanks again!!
I've heard of people using coroplast as dividers (I'm assuming you'd do them the same way that you do the craft mesh dividers), and those would be a solid color/no visibility between tanks. It can be a bit hard to find locally, but I know you can order it online. I'll see if I can find the thread and a link to coroplast suppliers.
With plexi, if you were to drill many small holes in it, just about as big as a drill bit, you could still get water flow between (and only need one filter), but not have the fish be able to see one another. That might work for you.
And, instead of the coroplast, if you wanted a solid colored plexi divider, you could make 2 dividers, put them just about an 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch apart, and then slide a solid colored peice of matboard or thick paper between them. You just wouldn't fill that center space with water, so any solid colored paper product would work as it isn't coming into contact with any water, just being there between the tanks in a dry "island" of divider. (So no concerns about foreign chemicals in your tank water.) You'd have to glue in the dividers to make them water-tight, and you would need two filters (if you are filtering), but it would solve your visibility problem.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
Similar Threads
