First Phase Completed, Fish Happy. What Is My Tank Missing?

Well after using this forum to great effect, my community tank is taking shape. About 3/4 stocked so far. Changed gravel to sand over last week, and replaced plastic bogwood with real bogwood. Got another piece of bogwood soaking to be added in a few days. The stones were from the local forest (washed and boiled). The plants are only silk. I'd love some ideas about what my rather sterile looking tank is missing - already planning a school of 8 cardinal or blue tetras, and maybe a pair of rams. But I guess some hardscaping and/or real plants should be my next project! Any constructive comments very welcome! Thanks.

Wow that tank looks beautiful! Where did you get your silk plants? I can only find the biorb ones with the ball on the bottom which is quite hard to hide in a normal tank

I think your tank looks beautiful
From an aesthetic point of view, it has a lot of interest at the mid-level depth, but perhaps not so much at the top and bottom of the tank. I would consider adding taller and shorter plants, either real or fake, to give differnt levels of interest. Just my thoughts

Thanks for the positive comments. I agree I need something extending into the top level of the tank. Those silk plants were all from one seller on Ebay - search "aquarium silk amazon". They were the most realistic looking fake plants I tried, and I tried a few! They waft around gently in the current too, which is nice, and have a shallow dark grey rough natural looking base, which is mostly buried in one inch of sand.

The sand, bogwood and stones only went in 24 hrs ago, and today I added two more shrimp and the moss ball. Pretty pleased with the way it's cleared so quickly without water changes necessary!

Why dont you try and use a veriaty of high ornaments like plants etc

Really struggling to find authentic looking tall silk plants that won't just droop; so thought it was about time I started my real plant project, now I'm confident that I can look after water and a few fish; maybe one at a time to see what works. What would make good, robust, tall, attractive, easy to look after plants that wouldn't need more than an inch or so of sand? Not looking to add anything that needs ferts or CO[sub]2[/sub] at this stage.

If you're not after the prettiest, showiest plants, vallis. I have the most ungreen fingers possible, bought some bunches of vallis, stuck it into the sand, and it's growing so fast I have to chop a few inches of the strands each week...

Though having said that, I bought some swords two weeks ago, and they've grown a lot since then, without any special attention. May be early days yet though

Thanks. The swords are probably a good option for me; to replace the silk swords I have in my tank now!

The folks over in the planted section can give you some great ideas for natural plants. Personally, since I've gone with real plants, I'll never go back. In reality, they are about the same price as the silks, maybe even less, and the real ones will grow and fill in the tank more.

Easy plants to grow in low light levels:

Java fern - tied to the bogwood could really add some height and interest in the middle of the tank. Nearly foolproof.
dwarf hairgrass might be worth looking into adding in the very center floor area to break up the front floor area a bit.

Amazon swords are also very easy to grow. They could very easily fill a full corner of the tank.

Anubias are another easy plant to deal with and also would look great on the bogwood. Anubias and java fern can also be tied to the rocks as well.


BTW, take your time adding more fish to the tank, especially the rams. Rams are much more sensitive than the others and depending on which rams you go with require much different water chemistry from the platys.

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking into all those plants suggested. I'm taking my time with more stocking, and had decided against rams, as you say, they prefer softer acidic water. I'll probably leave it a few months, then assuming all is good and pH stays around neutral, will go for a school of 8-10 cardinal tetras to complete the stock.

I would have to agree with everyone - your tank looks stunning, and bravo for making it look so good! And yes, some taller plants would look good.

I notice you have a moss ball, what exactly does that do? I've never had one before... do you put it in the tank, wait a while and then does moss begin to spread, or is it just a ball of moss?

I only added the moss ball last week when I added two more Amano's - it's just a ball, don't think it spreads. It's my first low maintenance venture into real live plants!