Improving The Look Of My Tank

[sevenleaf]

This is my tank. I'm looking to get a smallish bit of bogwood to put in it for my plecs and I've got a dark background to put on it, but I was wondering what you lot would do to improve the look of the tank?

 

[SPLiSH]

I think those plants are Cabomba... good stuff. The tank looks nice at the moment but here are a few things that I would do:

- Have the Cabomba in several groups, maybe one in each corner. It would look more natural.

- Replace the skull with a nice piece of driftwood, maybe with some java fern or anubias nana attatched. Both very eay plants to grow, tie them to the wood with clean fishing line. Don't plant them in the gravel, their rhizome (root system) will rot. Would make a lovely centrepiece.

- Try a black background on the tank... hold up some black bin bag or similar to see what I mean. It will make the fish a lot more noticable.

P.S: What kind of plecs are in there? If the are common plecs, you should know that they grow easily longer than 30cm.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I'm with Splish. Dark background, lose the skull, group the cabomba, add some bogwood. Tie some Java fern to the bogwood. Then one more plant, a bit of a feature plant, like an anubias towards the front of the tank. The problem with the present look is that it is all flat, like a piece of lawn in a new housing estate. Bogwood would help with giving the illusion of space.

 

[sevenleaf]

I think those plants are Cabomba... good stuff. The tank looks nice at the moment but here are a few things that I would do:

- Have the Cabomba in several groups, maybe one in each corner. It would look more natural.

Yeah, they are Cabomba. I'm gonna have a shuffle about with the plants, I have loads of Cabomba so that sounds like a good idea.

It's not clear on the photo, but there is a different plant in the left corner, a long, thin leaved plant in the right corner, and a tiny little plant that you can see better below by the skull.

- Replace the skull with a nice piece of driftwood, maybe with some java fern or anubias nana attatched. Both very eay plants to grow, tie them to the wood with clean fishing line. Don't plant them in the gravel, their rhizome (root system) will rot. Would make a lovely centrepiece.

I suppose the skull is a matter of taste! It's got an air stone thingy in but I haven't bought a pump for it yet. I am looking for a smallish bit of bogwood though for the plecs.

P.S: What kind of plecs are in there? If the are common plecs, you should know that they grow easily longer than 30cm.

Yeah. Well. I bought them from the marvellous 'Pets At Home' who told me that a) they only grow to the size of the tank, and B) 2 in a tank would be fine. I later find this to be untrue on both accounts. Unfortunately I didn't find this site quite in time!