Help me make it better? Trying to achieve Amano look

[ILikeFishesALot36]

This is my 10 gallon tank. I'm really new to aquascaping. I will be upgrading to 2 10w bulbs 6500k. Right now I have 1 black mystery snail, 1 amano shrimp,7 neon tetras, about 10 MTS, 2 aponogeton plants, 4 java fern ribosomes ( only 2 with leaves at the moment), and java moss. Can you guys give me advice on how to make this look 1/4 as good as Takashi Amano?

 

[ILikeFishesALot36]

An that other green stuff are cucumbers.

 

[jetajockey]

It's going to take a plan, figure out which plants you want and how you want to organize them. Once you do that then all you have to do is aquascape them and maintain them.

 

[Scouser]

I'd get a pad and pen and draw the rough shape of the tank and start trying out ideas.

Try things like hilled terrain with the substrate and maybe forest area with tall plants and grasslands with smaller ones?

Good luck!

 

[BigJim]

Try to stick with smaller plants. I've got ambulia in a 20H and it's really difficult to keep it looking good. It grows really fast and crowds the tank. I'd move it out if I had another tank that could support it. Many plants labeled as "midground" will get too tall for a 10g.

I'm also a fan of having a big hardscape centerpiece. A nice piece of driftwood or a rock formation adds a nice focal point. A bonus with the driftwood is you can attach plants like your ferns and add greenery up higher in the tank.

 

[fort384]

Agreed with all of Jims points. Compact plants and some hard scape would be a good place to start.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Here is an article that really helped me out when I was trying to scape my tanks. I'm still not too good at it but I'm getting there.
http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html

 

[RedFlame]

Thanks for sharing the link : )

 

[jcolon]

This is my 10 gallon tank. I'm really new to aquascaping. I will be upgrading to 2 10w bulbs 6500k. Right now I have 1 black mystery snail, 1 amano shrimp,7 neon tetras, about 10 MTS, 2 aponogeton plants, 4 java fern ribosomes ( only 2 with leaves at the moment), and java moss. Can you guys give me advice on how to make this look 1/4 as good as Takashi Amano?

View attachment 59107

Here's a pic of my son's 10gal ... just some slate, one DW, a cichlid rock I had laying around, bamboo (left side) and some other plant in the back left and front right corner. The difference is the background and the one bulb on the left side of the hood ... gives the right side a darkened appearance.