As the fish spawn, eggs drop through the mesh to a space in the outer cage that the adults cannot reach. Tools required include pliers, glue gun, medium steel shears, hotplate stirrer, large file, razor blade, and carbide-tipped blade on a table saw. Melt the plastic to the mesh in a fume hood, in case of smoke. The edges of the mesh should meet the outer edges of the cage walls for a proper fit. With a hot glue gun, temporarily glue the wire-mesh to the polypropylene cage bottom in about six places.
Excess glue provides a handle for subsequent glue removal.
We use a Corning PC-320 hotplate stirrer at a setting of about 4, and hold the cage at both sides at an angle of approximately 30 . Cooling may be accelerated on a cold surface. When a lip of melted plastic forms on the outside edge of the cage, one can push the plastic over the edges of the wire using a flat tool.