What To Do With My New Tank

[Seal36]

I am having trouble deciding what I want to decorate my new tank with. I will be getting rid of all the plastic plants in the tank and the vase at the front of the tank but they are just in there as no fish shops were open today and did not want to leave it with nothing in.

1. What would you do if it was your tank
2. Would you use a big piece of wood or rock to go into the middle of the tank.
3. What type of plants would you put in.
4. I was thinking of pushing some small rocks into the sand just so the tops of them is sticking out of the sand.

Thanks for your help as I really have no idea what to do with the tank from Tom

 

[CoryFever]

1. If this was my tank I wouldn't do anything unless I had everything I needed. Rocks, faux décor, plants, wood, etc.) Maybe go with an biotope (SA), or maybe a valley aquascape. A darker substrate (earth tones) suits me, I'm not a big fan of white or any odd colored substrates. (Ex. Red, blue, pink.) Schooling fish as dithers, maybe neons or cardinals. Depends on your taste, I like SA fish. A pair of apistos, maybe apisto cac, or a pair of rams as the centerpiece. A cave for them to spawn in. Some cories, probably corydoras sterbai.
 
2. A nice piece of Mopani or manzanita wood suits me, or a large rock. I like to have my centerpiece off center, maybe a little bit to the left, with the wood or rock on its side.
 
3. Sword plants to add height, java fern for the wood/rocks, ludwigia and rotala to add some red color. I have live plants but I'm not much of a plant guy. 
 
4. That sounds like a good idea, just make sure the rocks are safe. Tying some plants to the rocks adds that touch of naturalism.

 

[Seal36]

Thanks for the suggestions so interesting ideas there.

1. Unfortunatly the tank is all ready stocked to capacity with 7 rummy nose tetra and a pair of kribensis.

2. I was thinking of having a big piece of rock in the centre and then having a piece of wood each side running from the rock to the coconut caves at either end of the tank. They would all be touching but would not block the doors to the caves obviously. All the back behind the big rock I was thinking off having Vallis to add some height. At the sides of the rock I was thinking of putting some plants I like but don't know the name off so will have to find a picture then add it. Then around the caves and at the front of the rock where there are big holes I though off adding some dwarf hairgrass. I'm not sure what small plant I want at the front of the rock so that I don't just see rock wall.

3. I like live plants just not great at keeping them alive and don't really like the Amazon swords.

4. I have some rocks pushed into the sand in my other tank and I make sure that only the top is showing and that the rocks are so small they couldn't hurt the fish even if they buried under them or something.

How does that sound from Tom

 

[Primous]

Buried rocks, large rocks and plants could create dead spots in your aquarium. And by that I mean parts of your aquarium where there is no water movement because of obstructions such as wood or rocks. The same can be said for plant roots so keep that in mind when making your scape. Also, there are a lot of plants of every shade and colour from orange to dark purple with lot's of different tones of green which allows you to side step amazon swords if you don't want them. The key is to plan ahead also take a look at the planted journal section. Hundreds of stunning tanks to be found there and a great source of inspiration as well as an abundance of interesting plants you may not be aware of.

 

[Seal36]

Will defiantly have a look at the journal but I have draw a plan of what I want the tank to look like and if need be can change stuff if I don't like it or it does not look right. I also have a spray bar just below the water so I don't think that the flow should be affected by the rocks or anything as it will move along the top of the water. I am going looking for the things tomorrow and hopefully if I get it all I will post a picture of what to looks like from Tom