I already had a large lava rock with three nice size "caves". The largest one was my blue gourami's favorite, so I thought that the two near the bottom would be good for the clowns.

But, that wasn't good enough for me, because I also found out that they like to "root" in the gravel, and sleep on their sides.

So I decided to build them a house....

I asked a neighbor if she had one, and she suggested using a colored glass.

I thought for a minute, and then realized I had an octagonal, cobalt blue, high ball glass I could use.

This worked with my color scheme, because I added some smaller blue, and white gravel and sand to make like a little beach.(and something softer for them to sleep on if they chose)

The colored glass still let in too much light, so I attached some shells to it to block out more.

I set it at the edge of the beach, planted an elodea densa at the entrance, and an amazon fern in the "backyard".

It was perfect, and the clowns didn't go anywhere near it.

I didn't get too frustrated because they seemed happy being out in the open. And, I liked the little house anyway, I just wished it would get used.

Yesterday, I noticed my male red velvet swordtail
inside the house. I thought he may have just gone in there for a "visit".

Later on, he was still there, and not really ready to share with his mate(who had tracked him down).