Fish interact with their environment...

[Magnum Man]

I'm sitting here this morning watching my small school of Denison barbs interacting with one of the big 20 inch tall resin pagodas, in their tank... fish aren't picky, they have adopted one of the 2 pagodas in this tank, as their home... some adopt hollow logs, some plant rood balls, some a chunk of driftwood... I remember @GaryE ... saying they were catching fish among the human trash, along the rivers in Africa ( and some of the stuff they sell in pet stores, resembles "trash" at least highly unnatural looking... the fish don't seem to care... I've seen Starwars themed tanks, that looked cool... what do you give your fish for structure???

 

[GaryE]

I'm not going to put polyester laundry in, as I saw in Gabon. I try to go with decor that matches what I know of the natural set up. I just spent an hour drilling into the fishroom ceiling to hang inexpensive but good growlights down over plants with roots in the tanks. There are two species that are primary targets of that roots in set up (for now, spider plants and a peace lily, but once the rain eases, a boston fern will occupy the leftover space after I hose the dirt off its roots). We found Neolebias cf trewevasae in dark, overhung waters, and Epiplatys huberi had a brighter sunlit but similar environment.
What we saw was a little false, as the fish we caught were near the road, where the canopy was cut open. Farther up the streams it was a lot darker.
I'll also keep my Microctenopoma in a similar set up, as I work to cut down on real sunlight and go more to artificial, because of algae, and because I want too many terrestrial plants on top of the tanks. So there, roots from plants will be a big part of the decor.

I cut and clean coconut shells for my dwarf Cichlids. The coarse fibre hold moss well, and while they do look unnaturally like huts, they are accepted by the fish, and take about 15 years to break down. You can use driftwood and plants to semi-hide them.

I'm 50 metres from an ocean beach, and have a sturdy bag I throw on my shoulder when I walk the dog, in case the tide has offered gifts. The sea provides a lot of basalt and granite, as well as green limestone (which I avoid even if geologically, it broke off from North Africa (!) as part of continental drift. I don't keep fish from that region of the world - mine are from softwater Central zones).

Kayaking provides hardwood driftwood pieces.

When I was a kid, I had a Spanish galleon shipwreck in my tank, and I loved it. Now, I have no bought pieces. Out in my front yard garden, I have no gnomes either. It's not a look I like, but that's purely personal. Some people can have some cool whimsical tanks with odd decor, but I prefer to attempt natural looks. I generally fail, but I keep trying and avoid buying.

 

[MaloK]

The last piece of artificial decor I bought was 45 years ago, as soon as I saw a flake of paint peeling, I trowed it out and never again...

I made plant pots from coconut shells 2 weeks ago and it sure looks a lot better than terracotta. I'm trying to keep it natural looking, but not to the "biotope" level and use what "works" well in my setups.

I paid for rocks in the past but ended not using a single one... In fact last week I returned them to nature loll.

I love the jungle style of a tank that is overwhelmed with plants. One of my biggest problem is not over cluttering the decor and leave swimming space.

But I love it when your not able to see the back of the tank.

 

[Herpin Man]

I use mostly driftwood and rocks- primarily because I struggle with plants.

 

[Fishkeeper123]

I'm sitting here this morning watching my small school of Denison barbs interacting with one of the big 20 inch tall resin pagodas, in their tank... fish aren't picky, they have adopted one of the 2 pagodas in this tank, as their home... some adopt hollow logs, some plant rood balls, some a chunk of driftwood... I remember @GaryE ... saying they were catching fish among the human trash, along the rivers in Africa ( and some of the stuff they sell in pet stores, resembles "trash" at least highly unnatural looking... the fish don't seem to care... I've seen Starwars themed tanks, that looked cool... what do you give your fish for structure???

I just use driftwood and plant pots. Yesterday I managed to get a large piece of wood into my tank with placing to plant pots filled with gravel on it. I’m awful at aquascaping so the tank is pretty simple but I’m no happy that I only keep live plants and no fake ones anymore, eventhough the acara( until I rehome him) continues to pull up the plants.

 

[Magnum Man]

30 years ago, I had a 55 gallon tank, with plastic pot plants, guarded by a school of adult red breasted piranha... I thought it interesting the pot plants were guarded by the piranha... the fish didn't seem to mind...

 

[Back in the fold]

I’m with @MaloK here . All natural . In the olden days most ornaments were ceramic and I think that’s fine but this painted resin stuff just doesn’t seem quite right to me .

 

[CassCats]

I like more natural approaches, so I stick to rocks, plants, and botanicals.

But you are correct, fish will utilize many things. Fake decor still serves the purpose of offering shelter and sight breaks for territories. It offers biofilm growth for grazers. It offers caves for cave spawners.


I am of the mind that our tanks should be equipped with the fish's needs first and foremost. It does not matter to me how, provided they're given: space, shelter, and enrichment. Those matter to me when it comes to scapes. An iwagumi scape is beautiful, but it is way too open with minimal shelter due to it nearly always consisting of a few low rocks and a carpet plant. It offers no shelter or sight breaks and most fish will feel stressed in this setup. These setups do better with fish that are more open water oriented rather than the fish scapers usually put in them. In this aspect, I'd rather see a fish put into an artificial shipwreck decor and colorful gravel over an iwagumi if the species is not selected properly. The artificial setup meets the fish's security needs more and would provide a better home.


So if anyone ever harps on you for using artificial decor, they can kick rocks because you are meeting your fish's needs by offering them shelter and sight breaks.

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW... If certainly wast implying, that Africa was any worse than the rest of us, as far as pollution / trash... in fact, typically lower income areas have less trash, as those more poor, find a way to use more of the things other more affluent throw away...

just that the fish don't seem to care if their surroundings are "natural" or not... I, myself prefer a more natural look for my fish, weather they desire that or not...