Color Help

[AMS]

I currently own a 29 gallon aqaurium, housing Brachygobius sp. among other brackish fish. I am planning on moving these fish to a 55 gallon planted. As a lot of these fish have black colorations, what should be the color of the background and subtrate? I was thinking black as I will have some rich green plants such as java moss and java fern ect etc. The "driftwood" is old fallen branches (they actually look quite stunning) from a tree in my yard. The wood turns a kind of brown blotchy color with some areas a light tan, some a coffee color ect etc. Do not worry about the wood, I use the bleach recipe the make it safe for aqauriums, and have done it for years without a single problem or change in water chemistry. If you use brittle wood it seems to hold quite well when submerged.

 

[Jen]

if you want the fish to stand out from the substrate, then I would go for a natural beigey colour. Depending on how many plants you have in the 55, you may not need to worry about the background (say if your back wall is mostly covered by the plants) You could then use a plain blue background.

If you want to make the tank darker so they blend in more, then deffinatly black and black.

It really depends on what you want to accomplish in the tank.

 

[AMS]

What I want from this tank is for the plants and fish to stick out as much as possible, also for the colors to blend and into a basic scheme. To acheive this I think a black background and subtrate would work best, as Im trying to picture the layout in my head, I really doubt a blue background would look appealing. The problem that I may run into is many of the fish have black colorations, which wouldnt allow for an eye appealing scheme if they blend into the background and subtrate. But perhaps if there is enough vegetation, the fish will stand out more when compared to the rich green of the plants. I want this tank to look as natural as possible, I will run a pressurized c02 and around 2.5 watts per gallon of full spectrum lighting.

 

[Jen]

Have a look at the tanks in this post. They are all decently planted tanks... some with lots of plants, some with only a few. gf225's tank is black substrate and black background with very little plants... if your fish are mainly black, the would get lost in there. My tank is 'white' sand and black background, but I have tons of plants, so you barely see the background. There, you would see your fish. Have a look at the different tnaks in there, and figure out which combination you are going for. It really does make a difference with the number of plants you want to have.