KevSC20

I purchased a plastic-like ornament for my 10 gallon fish tank (freshwater). It basically looks like a small stump with about 5 or 6 branches coming out, providing a little bit of shelter underneath for bottom feeders. The ornament is completely hollow inside.

The problem is that there is a gaping hole in one of the legs (branches) of the thing, which is large enough to let my Neons and Glowlights to get into. Today, I had a hard time getting a Neon out because it went in the hole and got lost inside the ornament. I'm afraid if nothing is done about the hole, then fish might get lost in there too long and starve.

I'm trying to figure out a safe way to plug up the hole. It is a small, irregular shaped hole that looks like a 1.5 inch long slit, and about half an inch wide. I was thinking of putting gravel in it, but the gravel could just come out. A sponge would work as well, but I am afraid the fish might pick at it and get through that way. Most of my other ideas would either make the ornament look bad or could possibly be toxic to the tank water and the fish.

Until I can plug up the hole, I'm going to leave the ornament outside of the tank just to be safe.

If anyone has a suggestion, it would help a lot. I'd rather not buy another ornament if it can be avoided (it is perfect for the setup I am wanting and it took me a while to find it). I just want to make sure that anything I do to plug it up will be safe for the water and the fish, and that it will stay plugged up. I need the hole plugged up tight as well since I have fairly small fish (don't worry, there are some other very small holes that will allow water in so that it stays underwater).

Thanks in advance,
Kevin

andy53

I don't know if you want to, but you could add some other holes so the fish could get in and out easier, and provide more hiding places. Just a thought.

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3 Gallon
Pico Reef

29 Gallon
Planted

aj2998

Patch it with aquarium silicon and over the hole place a rock or something to cover up the pluged hole!

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1 dog - 5 y/o Abby
4 Hermit Crabs
55 gal tank (with 3 mollies)

Amanda

Striped Bass

I think thats a good suggestion. Just drill out a couple more holes in it. Dont forget to sand paper the edges smouth. If theres enough light getting in that hole, no fsh is really going to get stuck. I used to have a 18inch long 8 high plastic driftwood in one of my older tanks I droped it ones and cracked a cuople of 1+ size holes in it. Did like i said sand papered them, I had 2 pleco's that for a while i thought had died and got compleatly eaten up for about a month. Then one day i saw one when i randomly turned on the tank light at around 3am one morning just to take a look at a new fish i added. I was shocked. Then about a week after that i saw them both. LOL So you could do a few things. Make more holes, Fill the entire inside of it with a aquarium grade cocking, tip it so the holes under the gravel or just buy something else. Feel free to let me know what you do and post a pic so i can see what your dealling with.
Thanks Stripedbass