How do you tie fishing line to river rocks?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

onebettanewbie

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Messages
88
Location
Northern Virginia
I'm trying to create a more consistent look in my tank by tieing all of my plants to various sizes of river rock. First step is to tie fishing line to the river rock. It's making me crazy because I can't get the fishing line to hold on the smooth round rock! Is there a trick to it? The only thing I can think to do is buy some aquarium silicon and put a dab on each rock.
 
I have used fishing line to tie ferns to smooth rocks. I used superglue to fasten the fishing line to the bottom of the rock. I let that dry for a day or two, then I tied the fern to the rock. I had my husband hold the fern to the rock while I tied the fishing line. I think it's impossible to handle fishing line, a rock, and a wet plant by yourself! The zip tie solution looks good too. I call them cable ties and they can be found at Home Depot or Lowe's.
 
Thanks for the great ideas. I thought about it last night and here's my plan:

- Make tiny hairnet bags, put some aquarium gravel in them and tie them to the Wisteria with fishing line to weight them down.
- Wrap hairnet around a couple of the larger river rocks, thread fishing line through the hairnet and tie the fishing line to the anubias. I don't have a husband so I'll just have to be persistent! I'll let you know how I make out.

Purrbox, I will post a picture of my aquarium again in the Aqua Landscaping thread in a few weeks when I'm done and I've got my Crypt Willisi planted (I haven't managed to get ahold of any yet.) Upon further reflection I probably shouldn't have opened that thread in Aqua Landscaping which is kinda ambitious for what I'm trying to do, but it's already there so I will update it there.
 
one betta newbie, I've also had luck using twisty-ties traditionally used for garbage bags and electronics. I just put em' around the rock and plant, then twist it until it's tight and voila!

Another option might be to use thread. Just cheap black/brown thread you can get at any craft store. This way it blents in so well youc an't see it, and it may grip smooth surfaces better than frictionless fishing line.
 
I presume you mean the plastic twist ties? When I set up the tank in January I tried using the paper ties and the wire ended up being exposed so I took them out. Plastic ties are a good idea but I already have a large reel of fishing line. I've got plenty of thread, all colors, but doesn't it deteriorate and don't you worry about dye in the water?
 
Last edited:
No I mean the paper ties with the tiny metal wire in the middle. The minute amount of metal exposed really can't affect your water quality in any significant way, unless you have A LOT of them in a TINY tank, then I could see it causing issues. Considering the minute amount of materil though, I wouldn't worry at all.

The same is true for any dye in the thread. I've seen other planted aquarists use it with great success and no ill effects.
 
I wasn't concerned with the metal in the wire affecting the water. I was concerned that it might injure my betta if he swam into it.

Electrical/zip/cable ties are fine when hidden but I've used them before and didn't like it when I could see them. They stood out too much. I don't have this really lush tank of plants where everything is hidden.

I just bought the hair net and the weave is wider than I imagined so it won't hold aquarium gravel. I'll have to think about the best approach for the wisteria. I'll let you know what I end up doing.
 
Well, that was fun! :-?

The hairnet I bought was labelled "light." I never bought hairnet before so I was hoping "light" meant clear nylon. It turned out to be a sort of light brown thread that showed up a lot against the black river rock. I had some thread which perfectly matched the river rock so I tried that. Well thread on wet river rock turned out to be as hard to tie as fishing line.

I was going to go back to the store and buy black hairnet but the river rock came in a black nylon net bag so I decided to try that. I tied it to the river rock with the fishing line and then tied the fishing line to the plants. Success! :D I'd post a picture but couldn't get one that showed the netting (black on black).

I really wanted something that disappeared more against the rocks but now that it's in the tank I'm happy with it and, while I'm sure thread is fine, I feel happier using plastic.

Reading what I wrote here, it sounds pretty simple but it was actually about three hours of experimenting around and getting frustrated before I came up with an approach that worked.

Thanks again for the suggestions.
 
Back
Top Bottom