# Big kid and his Legos



## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

This sound like a bad idea to me. Let me explain.

My husband is finally warming up to my boy, Lunch. He's agreed to get a larger tank, and on the fence about a 2nd betta (cause I showed him the crown tails and he thinks they're just so cool looking). But.. my hubby is a big kid. Him and my daughter got out the Legos and started building caves and castles and bridges and all kinds of things.. for the new tank.

I don't know about this. I mean the plastic shouldn't be toxic, and I know I can make the legos stay down (big flat lego pieces that I can put on the bottom of the tank and cover with gravel) but I just don't know if it's totally safe. Does anyone have any ideas if it's safe? Has anyone tried this before? I mean.. if they're not going to hurt the fish, I really don't see a problem with it, some of the stuff the hubby and kid have made are pretty neat, but I'm hesitant.

I would love to know if anyone else has ever tried making fish toys out of Legos. Or has any information on it. I did a google search and really came up with nothing


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm afraid there would be sharp edges on them that could tear his fins.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

That was my first thought, too. But I don't know if his fens would get snagged on them. Yes, they're sharp, but they're not jagged, and I remember someone said if you get a plastic plant, run it across a pair of panty hose. If it catches, don't use it. Legos don't catch.

Ug.. I just don't know, you're probably right, maybe they'll forget about it before we get the new tank (snowed in right now, so it might be a week >.<)


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## Mecal (Nov 2, 2009)

since its just plastic, and no paint or anything, I imagine it would be fine


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Theres actually a few people who have done this and it looks great. The edges dont seem to be a problem at all and legos aren't toxic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS4Ly3d1jdY&feature=related

http://i40.tinypic.com/34rtwu1.jpg


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## New2Betas (Nov 13, 2009)

When I was a kid we used legos as gravel in my brothers tank.


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## Krys (Jul 28, 2009)

I'd give it a try with Lunch. Watch him carefully. If you start to notice and rips in his fin or missing scales, then take them out and forget about it. But other than that, shouldn't be too big of a problem. But don't use glues or anything if the legos are lose fitting, find a better lego.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Thank you very much for the video, 1fish2fish. My husband's gone off to build a tree house because of it. He has a 25+ year old lego collection in an 80 gallon tub.. when he gets into that thing, you wouldn't believe he's a grown man anymore.

I'm going to give it a try. Just for a day or two, and see how Lunch does with a small bridge in his 3 gallon bowl. Something large enough to swim under. I can keep an eye on him and see if it does any damage to his fins. Happy to say that they're all in great shape right now, I hope they stay that way! *fingers crossed*

We have a few sharks (like the one in that picture) and a couple of octopuses (octipie?) and a couple of pirate ship cannons, which are all soft edges, And the little people are mostly rounded. Especially the skeleton with the eye patch, hehe. I think I might use some of those even if we don't use any of the buildings they've made.

But the fit is pretty tight, no gaps, and I never planned on using glue. I'm thinking a large flat base will be fine as long as it's covered with enough gravel... And now the hubby really does want a betta of his own. I don't think the local pet store has crown tails, though, and that's what he wants.

I guess I'll be uploading lego pics in a week or two. A little brain dead right now, I have no idea what to make for Lunch, Hubby and kid are the only ones building


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

You might want to check the other ornamentation that you're talking about before adding to the tank. If you can scrape paint off of them (test with fingernail or lightly with a butter knife) leave them out. 

There's no real way to know if the "pretty" tank ornaments are really safe from toxins. I have a feeling that the piece o crap that I had in my crowntail's tank did him in. I just didn't realize it until after I cleaned his tank and went to scrub off the painted cave. All the paint came peeling off. Grrrrrr!!

Can't wait to see the lego caves and tree house LOL.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

I know how you feel. The fairy he has in with him now had me worried. I scrubbed and scrubbed it to make sure the paint didn't come off, even though the guy at the pet store said it was safe. With the little shark and octipus and cannon, there is no paint. They're all made of the same plastic as the legos. The eyes are little penholes, and the cannon is just colored plastic. In fact, none of the lego peices we plan on useing have paint or stickers, so they won't flake off.

I have a mini bridge in with him right now. Put it in while I was doing his 100% change today. He's loving it!! He's been hiding under it for a while. I fed him earlier, and as soon as he was done eating he swam through the hole 3 or 4 times all happy like. He's not shy, Oh no, he comes right up to you when you look in the bowl, but he's really loving a cozy hiding spot. And so far, no damage, but it's only been a few hours.


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

What a neat idea, I would have never thought of that. If it all works out well, then that rocks! My hubby and my 3 (soon to be 4) year old LOVES legos too. :-D


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

So, 4 days and 2 water changes later, he's fine. No rips, no scratches, and happy fishy all around.. Well until tonight, when I screwed up, and now he can't have his bridge back til the snow is gone. 

I was doing a 100% change tonight and the bowl slipped out of my hands... He wasn't in it!! Thank goodness! He was in his cup waiting, so all I lost was the bowl and a lot of rocks. He's in a little 1 gallon now, til I can go out and get something bigger. The heater is too powerful and keeps taking him up to 82-83 before I have to pull it out.. so it's under the bowl and barely keeping him at 75 right now. He's just got plants, no room for anything else. But at least he's safe!

I was at walmart 3 days ago looking for silk plants for him.. and there was this old woman and this little 6 or so year old girl, getting an aquarium. They where looking at one of those 1/4th gallon hex betta kits and I was talking to the kid about the snail ornament she had. She was telling me about her Betta, Bonny, and her new home cause she's just in a jar now (Yes, Bonny is a boy, but tell that to a 6 year old, lol). So I talked to the older woman and told her what the betta needed.. and she ended up getting a 5 gallon tank with a bridge and heater and... the last silk plant in the store. Oh well, I did something good for another fish, I guess.

So Lunch still has a plastic POS plant in a 1 gallon bowl.  I'mma see if I can make anything small enough to fit in a 1 gallon out of legos. After the experiment, I'm not worried about his fins, there's been no damage at all.


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

Aw that sucks. Glad no one was hurt from the incident! 
You could always monitor with the heater in. Some people put them on timers to make sure they don't over heat the tank, or you can just unplug it if it gets too high.

That's awesome that you were able to educate them on the Bettas. It's nice to see people try to keep their fishies happy! :-D


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

Yeah made me really happy that she listened. She walked away with a 5 gallon tank, one of the starter kits walmart has, a heater, a bridge, silk plant, the right food (she had grabbed gold fish food) and the little girl still got her snail ornament, which was pretty cool. Bonny will be in good hands. I also wrote down the name to this site for the woman, but she said she would have to give it to her son (the girl's father) because she doesn't mess with computer.

I called my brother and he has.. get this.. a 29 gal. tank, a 15 gal. tank, a 12 gal. hex tank and like 4 smaller hex tanks, he says prolly 4 gals..... So I'll be picking up a couple of the little ones this weekend if it's not snowing. Apparently he wasn't supposed to tell me about his old tanks. Hubby wanted them to stay a secret so I wouldn't spend every penny we made on fish. Dun dun DUN!!


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## ScuitoAmi150 (Nov 19, 2009)

I definitely want to make a lego cave for Drina now!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

sounds great, I am a lego freak, you wouldn't believe it, I have tired a lego chain on a skeleton on akiro it worked fine, akiro didn't mind it, it looked great untill the skeleton sank to the floor., so it should be good


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## ChristinaRoss (Sep 4, 2009)

thats a unique idea, get pictures!


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

I should have got pictures in his 3 gallon.. now I can't . We're snowed in right now, so no new tank til we can get out of the house. Ug


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## veganchick (Jan 10, 2009)

should be fine! My little bro and I set up a t-rex mountain (http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/381/201854381.jpg <those are the peices it comes with) tank for his betta, and it turned out really cool!


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## KappaFish (Feb 6, 2010)

I jusy put up a post asking the same question. I built a cave for my tank last night.


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## Little Veiltail (Nov 16, 2009)

This sounds like a fun idea. I think I know what I'm gonna make for my fish for our anniversary in November! ^_^


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## JeanLuc2 (Feb 25, 2011)

So I just found this thread today and this is great because I was thinking about new decorations for my boy's 2 gallon bowl.

I have a bunch load of old legos from when I was younger and is there anything cool I could make? How hard would it be to make like a big ring or would a castle be a bad idea?


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

This thread is a year old... you could have made your own thread :/


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## JeanLuc2 (Feb 25, 2011)

I have but I just thought I would comment. Sorry.


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