Aquascaping

Aquascaping is not just for us human aquarium keepers, but the inhabitants of the tank benefit greatly from it too.

Aquascaping provides variety in their otherwise monotonous life (no offense to my fishy friends here). The varied landscapes, er seascapes, or whatever you want to call it, gives them an opportunity to stretch their muscles in swimming through, around, under, over the various 'obstacles'.

If a cave is built, it provides them a place to feel secure if they somehow get spooked. For some fish, knowing that a place of security is there is all that's needed to help them feel secure in their tank with the result that you'll see them out and about more often.

If you plan on turning that empty tank into a beautiful piece of aquascaped art, then here are some design tips for your aquascaping success.

When planning the layout, remember the rule of thirds. You want the focal point to be at any intersection of the lines that split the tank into thirds both horizontally and vertically.

When grouping items, remember that odd numbers look best. Instead of two rocks, have three.

If you want to see how your tank will look with different layouts, then the AquaSketcher is a nifty free tool that will help you. It's got a good database of plant images and other decorative elements. Give it a try!

You can view the tank that I did in 3D by clicking here.

Here I'll present some pros and cons to using either live or plastic plants. Great aquascapes can be achieved with either.

Let's start with live plants.

Pros:
1. Provides oxygen during daylight hours
2. Fin friendly; won't tear fins
3. Helps filter the water
4. Provides another food source for the fish
5. Grows
6. Helps keep algae in check

Cons:
1. Produces CO2 during nighttime hours
2. Grows - needs regular pruning

Now for plastic plants.

Pros:
1. Doesn't produce CO2
2. No pruning needed
3. Will always look the same, doesn't grow

Cons:
1. Doesn't produce O2
2. Just another surface for algae to grow on
3. Always looks the same, not dynamic
4. Not fin friendly, could possibly tear fins if fish gets too close
5. Doesn't filter water

I will leave it at that. Live plants do require a bit more maintenance and care than plastic plants. I've maintained tanks with all live plants and tanks with a mix and tanks with all plastic or silk plants. From my fish observations, most fish (the ones that have been bred in captivity in tanks) don't really care one way or the other if the plants are real or not, they just like having something akin to their natural habitat as long as their water is kept in pristine condition. Some fish though really do care and will not do as well in a tank with no real plants.