PlanetCatfish.com

Hi friends
Hope all the fish are good!
My colony of L397 stopped breeding they seem to large for the caves they always used.
I added larger caves but they seem to not want to go in & definitely not breeding.
Was thinking of custom ordering something from plecocaves!
Thanks in advance.
The plecos are 5"+ almost 10 years old!

The cave situation

Plecocaves.com makes a few larger caves that are 1.75" diameter instead of 1.5" diameter, which is most of their standard caves. If you go bigger with 2" diameter caves, my L397 won't touch them.

Cheers, Eric

If you aren't familiar with what caves your fish need, an easy almost foolproof method is to add a thick substrate of scoria or 8mm rough pebble. Then drop a large slate tile into the tank.

The fish will dig under to create the perfect sized cave with best aspect including any bends or dips it prefers. You can watch it move or add accordingly and gain some valuable experience/insight.

This method isn't condusive to robbing eggs and artificially hatching but it's a good way to get your fish spawning.

Thanks for the comments I searched all over plecocaves & couldn't find 1.75".
Seems that's what I need. The 1.5" are to small now.

AmazonTank wrote: 12 Mar 2025, 07:49 Thanks for the comments I searched all over plecocaves & couldn't find 1.75".
Seems that's what I need. The 1.5" are to small now.

They might be listed by outer diameter instead of inner diameter. I'll check my caves when I get home and I'll give you an update then with link to exact product. I'm away for a couple more days; the rest of my family at home won't know what to look for, so it'll have to wait until I get back.

Cheers, Eric

Thanks Eric!

Hi Eric any link to the perfect l397 caves for my old timers?
Thanks so much!

Ugh sorry. Forgot. Will follow up

Here are two examples of size differences in the simple "round" caves from Plecocaves:
The short light brown-colored cave is a standard "round" cave. It's 6" long x 1 6/8" outer diameter (OD). It can be found here: https://plecocaves.com/product/1-5-round-pleco-cave/.

The other cave (the "dark chocolate/almost black" according to the plecocaves website) is a larger round cave, 7" long x 1 7/8" outer diameter.

This 1/8" difference in OD makes a big difference in cave size.

I THINK the wider cave is this product: https://plecocaves.com/product/1-5-round-cave-long/. This cave is listed as 7" long and 1.5" diameter. I think it's the right product because (A) the website doesn't list a 1 7/8" cave and (B) the next size up listed on the website is a full 2.25" (not 2") diameter... and I know I don't buy those.

For what it's worth, there's also a "longer" cave, which you can find here: https://plecocaves.com/product/extra-lo ... ing-caves/. I've bought several of these. They don't provide the slightly wider diameter, but I think they're about 9" long for the 1 1/2" diameter size.

Finally, you can try the Euro-D caves: https://plecocaves.com/product/euro-d-pleco-cave/. They list as 1 1/2" diameter, but the ones I received are slightly wider than the "round" caves or standard "D caves." When I look at the Plecocaves website, the only Euro-D caves I see have a crimped (slightly rounded) closed end (like the dark chocolate cave in my photo). I also possess a couple that have flat walled backs (like the light brown cave in my photo). I don't see them on the website, so maybe they aren't made anymore, but they add about 1/2-3/4" to the length of the caves.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Eric

Thanks so much they do look wider I ordered the black round caves to try.
The Euro D caves seem to short they like the long caves but do look wide.
Does Brantly do custom caves? I loaded up on the larger ones a couple months ago & they refuse to go inside they just hang in the 1.5" 10" caves but to tight to breed.

AmazonTank wrote: 22 Mar 2025, 01:23Does Brantly do custom caves?

I think so, but not sure. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Cheers, Eric

I asked he said there not 1 7/8.
They sure look bigger though.

Okay. That's odd because you can see in the image it's bigger. Maybe that was a manufacturing irregularity?

Otherwise, as far as I know, he sells nothing between 1.75" and 2.25".

Cheers, Eric

Yes I sent the pic. Brantly is gonna send me a variety of what he thinks will work.
They are so beefy my L397 10 years old 5"+.
I'll report back with hopefully good news.
Thanks again!