Aquascaping Advice

[darkdep]

Ok folks, it's time for me to consult the whole club on a problem I have...I can't aquascape worth beans.

I love my fish, I love my tanks, but man, I go to some of your places and your setups just look AMAZING...I just don't seem to have the knack for decoration.  I'm admitting my faults and hoping some of you will take pity on me and tell me how you go about aquascaping your tanks...

I don't know if it's a thought process, if there are some colour schemes in your heads, or what.  I saw RoxyDog's planted mbuna tank last night and it was fantastic!  So colourful and interesting.

I have Africans and am looking for good looking rocky/planted setup ideas.  Maybe some examples, or sites that focus on this, I dunno...all I know is I need help

Thanks for your pity

[adam_ottawa]

I have that problem too.  Whenever I see something I like or visualize something, I have trouble actually making it happen.

Sounds like a good theme for a party! 

[NjOyRiD]

white sand, big rocks, if you can put a piece of drigwood between rocks so your eys not only see rocks in the tank, i would put some anubias on the driftwwod, valiss betweens rocks, u can add more world wide plants also..that would be my set up

[PaleoFishGirl]

Sounds like you guys should hire RoxyDog to aquascape for you

[RoxyDog]

Thanks for the compliment APW, I'm glad you liked it.  It's the best I could do with 1 wpg. 
If you do want any help, I'd be glad to offer. 
It's not like you can just plant whatever you want if you have africans.  There's that one high light planted tank out there which some of us have seen pics of, but the chances of making that work out and the maintenance involved is not realistic for most of us.

[darkdep]

Most of the problems I've had with plants have been with them being pulled up, but I've dealt with that in the past by wedging rocks around them.  I've also decided I really like the look of mature Java fern. 

The thing that struck me about your tank Roxy was the colours...very well defined backdrop overall that made the colours of the fish jump out.  That's what I'm looking for. 

[RoxyDog]

Mature java fern is your best friend.  I love it, the africans hate to eat it, but love to play/hide in it. 
I have multiple people on the forum to thank for my large javas (thanks!) as I sure as hell didn't manage to grow them big by myself.     Val is great too and as always, anubias.  Crypts didn't work for me, I tried 2 different kinds, they melted/got eaten and never really grew back again. 

[PaleoFishGirl]

I think the red lava rock in Roxy's tank really contrasts with the green of the plants, too (not to mention all the colours of the fish!).

I know you have a 'thing' for Texas Holey Rock, APW, but what think you of obtaining some lava rock?

[darkdep]

Although I have a Thing for THR, I still don't have any.  I like Lava Rock too.  Maybe instead of looking at all my tanks I'll start with one and see where it goes.

Lava Rock and some Java fern might be a good start.

Now, what about placement?  Any guidelines for effective display?

[PaleoFishGirl]

You can plan all you want, but IMHO there's no substitute for just putting it all in there and seeing what it looks like.

Go for it, APW!

[nissannx]

can you guys post pictures of your setups

[Chinaman]

You can plan all you want, but IMHO there's no substitute for just putting it all in there and seeing what it looks like.

Go for it, APW!

I ditto that!  My take on this is we are reproducing/re-creating a section
of a river, lake, or biotype... It should be naturally natural. However, that
said, for better visual effects for the keeper, tall weeds at back and short ones
fore-ground.  Fish don't care!

Sam

[yellowtang]

darkdeep since you asked this is what my 55g looks like.
Not as good as some of the ones I've seen before at some members
houses,but for me this is the best I can do.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Aquafreak2]

Darkdeep

If you are interested, I just so happens that I was just about to sell quite a bit of Java Fern.  As you can see in the picture I have a tank full of this stuff and it's fairly large.  I was going to bring it to the next meeting for the auction.  But I'll let you have some in advance if you want for $3.00 a bunch.  PM me if you want some. 

I also put a picture of my 55 Malawi tank in here for you to see.  I like it.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[StylinT]

When I decorated my 225 I took drift wood an siliconed it to the top of the tank so it looks like tree roots are hanging down an the Dovii Loves it

[Mettle]

One thing I'll say about aquascaping your tanks...

I am a total stickler for a good looking tank and I've done lots of research and reading on different ways to set up tanks and styles and such. There's a LOT out there. Because truly I think every tank should be a show tank. But that's just me...

...anyway...

A big thing to consider on your part, or at least I think so, is that all of these tanks are situated against the same wall. And so when you look at it they will all jump out at you at the same time. So even if you have GORGEOUS tanks, if there's no continuity or theme between them (decoration wise) then they will still look 'not quite right'. So in thinking on how to aquascape one tank I would suggest thinking of the entire wall as a whole.

This may be a bit daunting... and you may want to experiment with different looks in different tanks... but I think there are some ways you can make it fairly continuous. Some things that come to mind are the use of the same gravel and plants in each tank while changing the rock types and positions for interests' sake. Keeping the same rock colour would also be good. Like lava rock and then using a deeper coloured slate that mimics the same hue. Different textures for different tanks but there's something continuing there.

As for placement... This can be experimented with more. There are a few classics from a U shape with the front center being the free/open swimming space to a bunch more. I would simply google this to get some good ideas on placement.

For the plant issue... Try using fishing line to tie them to pieces of rock. I've kept plants with my maturing flowerhorn for months now using this method and he doesn't bother. I've been successful with vals, anubias of varying types and java ferns of varying types. (I will probably have some pieces for sale soon.)

Anyway... I'm just rambling 'cause I'm sick and hopped up on Nyquil that is starting to kick in so I better get to bed. But if you want some help or advice feel free to ask. I can always send you pics of tanks I've done in the past as reference - though none have been rocky mbuna tanks.

[Demasonian]

I really like Mettle's advice. However, let me preface this with the fact that I've never done anything like you are trying here, so I can't speak from experience.

I think you could create a really eye catching effect if you created some sense of continuity on your wall. Treat each vertical level of your fish wall as a continuous window broken up by dividers. That way, you end up with three stacked horizontal bands of tanks with similar substrates, backgrounds and plant life.

For example, in your top tanks you use aragonite and grey slate in each tank. Middle row with texas holey rock and tahitian moon sand and bottom row with a brown pool filter sand and round river rocks...That way you could create the illusion of having three biotopes as opposed to nine individual ones.

Can't wait to see what you do in any event...

[darkdep]

Well, I decided to start by putting backgrounds on the tanks and working from there.  Heavy planting will ensue after the OVAS meeting

Cost me $95 to buy backgrounds for all these tanks...OMG

[Laura]

I do like Demansonian's suggestion of a few different themes - it will provide variety without it looking hodge-podge.
You could create more continuity by trying to keep the same few species of plants with the similarly themed tanks.
Not that I have any experience aquascaping African cichlid tanks, but I think lava rock would provide a better surface to tie plants to than river rock.

[adam_ottawa]

So would Texas holey rock