Tank decor - True-to-life biotope or aquatic surrealism?

[QTOFFER]

I'm just wondering how you decorate your favorite tank.

I've read that fish really don't care how we decorate our tanks so long as their basic environmental needs are met.
Schooling fish are just as happy to dive into a fluorescent pink plastic plant as a live java fern.
Corys will happily graze a substrate made of natural stone or clownpuke (my favorite Rex Grigg aphorism ) colored gravel.
Zebra danios will eagerly investigate plastic shipwrecks or natural driftwood roots.

I like a natural-looking substrate, but I prefer the easy maintenance of fake, realistic-looking plants.
I prefer decorations made of natural materials like wood and stone. Castles, shipwrecks, and flourescent decor are not my thing, but carved sandstone, slate, and cholla wood is.

 

[Menagerie]

I don't have one favorite tank, but if it were up to my fiancé, everything would be natural (except the plants ). For instance, the 80 gal Mbuna cichlid tank--all lace rock in the middle, a piece of wood for the pleco and smaller gravel substrate for the Mbuna to move around (and a fake log--a carry over from days we could not find lace rock). 50 gal community tank has two larger pieces of driftwood, many smaller pieces, large and small gravel, and many fake plants (one giant, two large, two small and a plant mat).
Total opposite--my BW tank has black sand and I am awaiting my 18.5" long by 10" high castle.

 

[Christmasfish]

I have fake logs in most so I don't have to hassle with ph changes. I prefer peat that I can add/subtract amount easier.

It goes without saying that the dutch tanks are "all natural"

But I use a mix otherwise. Not all plants I like the look of, like my soft water and low light.
And it is so nice to grab one up and use it in a new tank without it dying ^_^
Almost all of my hoodless tanks have a stand of bamboo. It is so nice for keeping my water perfect Zero (and such a PITA in another way because it lays down silicates..brown algae is a scourge in two tanks, though it isn't present in any of the dutch for some reason.... :? ) I have to switch out the bamboo soon, getting to big and fluffy after nearly 2 years of barely growing.

I refuse flourescent colors and marine coral castles (it just aint right for FW..heh)
Otherwise I am less critical. I do uses silks to prevent defects from tearing fins on fish like the bettas and the ghost knife and the scaleless loaches.

 

[purplestarfish]

I like it natural, for the most part; in fact, I'm plotting as to how I can convert my rather blah-and-algae tank to a SE Asia paradise. (almost all the fish I have come from that region, and as i have very few, if I finish - start? - decorating it correctly and get a new light fixture and upgrade my CO2 system and add the right plants and a few more fishies, it'll be complete. With the exception of 2 tetras and a rubber-lipped pleco, that is.) I just appreciate the idea of recreating their natural habitat. However, I have absolutely nothing against the otherwordly kinds. In fact, I checked out this one book from the library called "Aquarium Style" with some awesome ideas; the only problem is that the author knows very little about fish and therefore completely overstocks the tanks etc. But it's great fun to browse through, highly recommend it and all that. It's got great pictures. I actually want to set up a surreal-ish tank or something off the wall . . . just haven't got around to it. (Hmm, "surreal" makes me think of recreating Dali's "the Persistence of Memory" [melting clocks] - but yeah right, I don't have the time! someday . . . )

 

[Allivymar]

None of my tanks, except for the QT, have anything "fake" (fake being a relative term of course; its still an artificial environment with plastic intake tubes and heaters). They all have real driftwood, gravel (natural, not colored)/sand/Onyx sand substrates, live plants and real rocks (slate and petrified wood). While I realise none of my fish live in biotopes correct to their original place of origin, I love watching the fish swim thru the plants, and watching the plants change as they grow. I don't do well with sameness, and having live plants helps keeps things ever changing. Especially when the flagfish eat them *sigh*

 

[shawmutt]

I used a fake tree root in my amazon tank, but the jaguar skull (my avatar) is a genuine faux skull! As far as fake plants, I've considered using them in my current tank, just easier to deal with.

 

[QTOFFER]

I naively entered the hobby thinking, "All I want is a nice looking tank full of active, nice looking fish to complement the decor of my livingroom."

HA HA HA

Now, I find myself rearranging my belongings and my schedule to fit around my aquariums.

The 58 gal in the livingroom has become the focal point of the room (not what I had originally intended, but I am not complaining). It's decorated with plastic plants and resin driftwwod to recreate an Amazon biotope. However, I have some beautiful pieces of sandstone in it and I would like to make the tank fit in more with my livingroom which is very desert southwest. I don't think the tetras will care whether they hide among resin bogwood or real cholla wood; nor will they notice the difference between plastic water sprite and plastic agave plants.

My QT tank is barren for reasons of convenience - tho I may move some plastic plants down there when my main tank goes southwest.

The 7 gal betta tank presents the greatest decorating challenge due to its size and its occupant. I'm thinking of going totally real - real plants like java moss and a few big smooth river rocks.

I wish I had more room for more tanks. I would have a blast decorating them thematically or according to the season. Who wouldn't want to have bright kelly green gravel for St Patrick's Day?

 

[oscarbreeder]

My 55gal community tank has natural colord gravel and all live plant and driftwood.
My 10 gal QT tank has naturel colored graval and live plant also.
The 5gal cray fish tank has green gravel and a live plant(My lil girls tank).
The 180 when it comes it will have sand , large rock and driftwood.

I dont really care for the cheesey fake look.
JMO

 

[TankGirl]

I am with Alli on this - my tanks have real driftwood and real plants, and the ARLC tank is a biotope with valisneria the only plant (amazing how the same val plants were so/so in the 55-gal with high light, ferts and CO2 and all that groovy stuff, and they just took off and are taking over the rocky, sandy, high pH, hardwater African tank with crappy light!).

When I first started keeping fish in my late teens I liked to create a wacky scene with plastic dinosaurs, plastic clowns with balloons (cake decorations!), marbles, and anything that did not leach into the water but looked cool. Those tanks were mostly goldfish and it was fun, but now I have "grown-up" tastes and prefer a natural look. Before long every single one of my tanks will be a biotope, most likely. Somehow it is more rewarding to me currently. Fake wood is actually a great thing, hassle free, and the casual observer doesn't notice it is fake. Plastic plants are wonderful for covering up intake tubes and heaters until the real plants fill in, and then they get relegated to the Rubbermaid container marked "Aquarium Stuff." Well, actually containerS, plural, for me.... Gotta find a place to put all of the stuff I upgraded and ditched, but can't seem to get rid of, like air pumps, bubble wands and standard light hoods. I need to have a yard sale.

 

[millipede]

All natural for me... I despise the fake look... no offense to anyone who likes it... I don't think everyone should go natural... I just can't stand the look of fake things, especially fake plants... no matter how real looking fake plants might be, they still look fake... The non-aquatic fake plants really bother me too... when I go into a resteraunt or business and see fake plants everywhere... it really doesn't look good to me... If I had it my way I would live in a biosphere or something... A really large greenhouse with lots of plants and ponds and stuff... anyway... all my tanks are natural... I have several pieces of driftwood and a few coconut shells, different sized rocks and a few sea shells... quite a few years ago I had a glow in the dark fake plant that I bought only because I like things that glow in the dark... I don't have it anymore... I like the glow in the dark look but when the lights are on... ughhh no thanks... well, that's how I feel about it anyway...

 

[peterp]

I don't mind fake so long as it looks like a naturally occurring object.

I wonder if that would now include tires, beer cans and other junk that seems to be a natural part of modern lakes

 

[trenac]

I used to have fake plants intil I tryed my hand at live plants and I became a addicted. So now I have 2-20G & 1-12G live plant tanks & getting ready to setup a 55G. I will never go back because the fish seem to be happier & act more natural, so in turn they will be healtier and live longer.

 

[fearlessfisch]

heh heh....If you'd asked me before I got a tank, I would have said natural all the way. But I was given this 55 gallon and part of the decor came with it....big, resin Roman ruins and a background with Roman or Greek statue and columns on it.

I ended up building around that and found I actually like the way it looks. I don't think I'll change it anytime soon. But I also have natural sympathies with those who prefer a totally natural decor.

 

[AdamsZoological]

I like to keep everything as natural as I can. When I'm doing larger tanks, I like to try to get rocks from the same area too, but, have to improvise on that sometimes

 

[ChileRelleno]

Our tanks are a mixture of live and faux plants all natural colors, both natural and resin wood/rock for structure, and natural colored substrates.
We prefer a more lifelike/natural look with a minimum of hassle.

 

[patryuji]

In my 29 gallon the only fake decor is the "clown puke" covering half of the bottom. I wanted a nice dark substrate to give a more "calming" area of the tank due to the bright lighting required for my plants. The other half is natural gravel over flourite. Everything else is natural mainly because I am too cheap to spend money on many decorations and have no sense of "decoration coordination" to have a nice looking setting with fake components.

The 10 gallon was my QT so it still has plastic plants and a man made decoration to provide a hiding place.