Terracotta pots

Just wondering if I need to be careful with these? Just bought 2 new ones, and I'm boiling them just to be sure. Sounds daft, but would they be alright to go straight in the tank after they've cooled, or should I do any checks on them first?

Also, does anyone know of any super glue brands that are aquarium save? I'd like to get some moss to cover the pots in, and I've heard gluing them in place is a good way for them to establish themselves.

I have only ever had a problem with a terracotta pot once but that was one with a plastic plant in it, each time you touched it you got covered with orange paste I dont think it was fired.

I have heard people using superglue before, never used it myself, I would suggest clean aquarium silicon to glue stuff to the pots

They've definitely been fired so fingers crossed they'll be fine

For some daft reason I hadn't thought of using aquarium silicon. I have some too so I'll have a play about over the next few days.

Cheers Star

I literally only put the pots in 5 minutes ago and already the male keyhole is doing a shimmy dance for the female in the biggest one

:EDIT: And now the krobia are displaying and twitching at each other too >.<

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWm7pd643k


lol lol

You wouldn't have to glue the moss in place.. lightly tie it to the pot with either sewing thread, or fishing line. Once the moss takes hold of the pot, remove the thread/fishing line. I hear it takes a few weeks for it to latch on to the pot, but worth it in the end.

I dont do anything with terracotta pots. Buy em and in they go

I use superglue. Tis wicked. It can be used on stuff that is wet, takes seconds to be cured, far better than silicone, which should have at least 48hrs out if the water to cure, not good if you want to attach plants to something.

I've used a variety if brands of superglue with no problems

I've never had any luck with moss in the past when I've tried tying it to things. Bits and clumps always end up floating off and it looks like such a mess, so I end up getting rid of it.

Cheers for that info Alasse- it's reassuring to hear that it's worked well for others

Apparently anything that is labelled Cyanoacrylate is aquarium safe so that's handy to know.

So far everyone in the tank is taking it turns to try out the pots. There seems to be a krobia "asleep" in there at the moment, and the pearl gourami and all the corys have had a good nose about too.

I never used to like how they looked in tanks, but the pots are really growing on me now

I stop by the terracotta aisle in the store often. I pick one up, and put it down, thinking it won't look as nice as I dream it would. If they made smaller versions of the strawberry planters in terracotta, I would jump on one of those for the shrimp to hide out in.

You can also put the moss on the pot, then grab a fine hairnet and stretch over the moss, and either glue the net down or just tie it under the pot

Terracotta can look awesome in a tank, specially if plants are grown over it. I often stick baby java fern to mine

I bought java fern from the high priced (over priced) local fish store, and hated it. Plugged up my filter screens, looked terrible.. but I got some free trumpet snails, that I love, since they turn over my sand for me.. I love to trace the snail trails on the surface..

Java fern should block filters...you dont mean java moss??

I never used to like how they looked in tanks, but the pots are really growing on me now. I thought they really looked ugly until my OH came home with a mini sized pot and a larger one and I put them in. Really pleasantly surprised at how nice they look, and I can't wait to glue some plants to them. Cheers for more tips Alasse We can always count on you to know what to do about plants

I love java fern but god does it look ugly if it's a sickly or dying plant. I love anubais, and have it everywhere in my tank. Unfortunalty it's covered with algae (hair algae I think as it looks fuzzy) and I can't for the life of me get rid of it.

There's a lot of people disagreeing about how safe glue is and saying it'll leak toxins. But I've read quite a few people use it very often, especially with reefs and glueing frags to plugs and what not. I'd guess if anything would react badly to any toxins from glue it would be live coral.

....... aaaaand the male keyhole is still displaying and shimmying outside the larger one....and the female is joining in now O.O

Hehe sorry for the commentary, I've just never had anything breed before and it's just nice that despite the small temporary tank they're in, that they're happy and healthy enough to hopefully breed.

Any plant looks ugly if its sick or dying lol

Java fern would be my favorite plant, all of my planted tanks have java fern either as the main attraction or as a filler. Wicked plant

Alasse wrote:Java fern should block filters...you dont mean java moss??

Yes... I did mean java moss... was terrible ugly.. total waste of money.. except for the snails..

Hehe, very true. But java is especially horrible if unhealthy

I've had no luck with java moss in the past either- I want to try a more compact one next time in the hopes that it'll actually take to what ever I attach it to.

Java moss is gorgeous, BUT it must be kept trimmed and neat or it will get everywhere.

My favorite moss at present though would be the peacock moss, looks stunning (that is the main moss in my 2.5ft ram tank)

Peacock moss... need to research that..

Ooh, that's exactly the kind of thing that I want to try. Flame moss and Christmas moss are lovely looking too.