Where to get aquascaping ideas?

[Beastije]

So, I am in the planning stage, but I am already stuck.
I would like the final tank to look natural, but also to not look like the other tank I have. Unfortunately I picked the same "biotop" for both.
This is what I have, it is sort of south american, not the plants though

What I want is to remake a smaller tank to house apistogramma and some dither fish (most likely my hatchetfish, so for them, only few surface plants are needed. For that I will need some caves, but I dont want to use flower pots or coconuts unless I can hide them, because I dont like the look of that.
I found some fike hideouts that sort of look like stones, those may work

or fake wood hidey holes, that maybe I can use, though who knows how it looks like in real life.

The current tank looks like this

I plan to get one longer than this, but just like 10cm longer and wider and maybe taller, not sure yet, but it wont be that different from this. The filter will stay, the contraption in the middle, I sort of want it to stay too, since I recently bought it and it is filled with anubias and java fern. It is plastic though.

How do I combine this, maybe more wood, the caves and some plants in a manner that looks at least a bit natural. Where do I get the inspiration for this, I know apistogramma tanks are mostly wood, leaves and more wood, not rocks, and I dont want to end up with the same tank as I have in the other one.
I ofcourse tried googling and also the biotop website but I am not sure if I have the brain for that

I will really appreciate any tip you can give me. I even saw the planning app website, so I will use that one to get the final feel.

 

[Colin_T]

YouTube and do a search for cichlids in the Amazon.

A lot of them don't have plants and are found in areas with driftwood, leaves and a sand substrate. There might be plants along the banks but very few in the water.

 

[Stan510]

On the tube? MD for lush aquariums with no Co2. George Farmer for high tech and sometimes low. Biotopia has gone from vids of wild rivers in Brazil and the underwater flora and fauna to now doing aquariums to resemble rivers in species. MJ (not to be confused with MD) specialty is high tech nano aquariums. To him over 20 gallons is a large plant aquarium.
Others are hit and miss..some great setups and then not so great. Or,they've only done one vid. Dennis Hong had a great channel..then stopped a few years ago making vids.
The vids are there.

 

[itiwhetu]

Whatever you like the look of is fine, this is your tank and needs to be what you like to look at, forget everyone else.

 

[Beastije]

Yeah since then i watched hours and hours of videos and changed my does for the tank four times ) i need to get a new cabinet to hold the tank first..
I love md channel but would like to see the tank after few months. He overplays them and they look nice when he starts but how does it look in actual use?

 

[GaryE]

I keep it simple. You have to work with perspective, because you can fool the eye into seeing a larger tank, etc, with inverted V layouts.Background colour is good. Kayaking gives ideas if you want a natural tank - I'm going out for aquascaping ideas this morning.

 

[Beastije]

Took your advice, went river wading yesterday with the dogs, picked up some stones. I like hillstream idea, but not the muddy thing that is actual river )

I also need to carry vinegar to these pickups, so I dont carry the stones that wont do in a fishtank, since my boyfriend complained about it being heavy or something

 

[GaryE]

I've been using a field guide to rocks and minerals to pick my rocks. No need for the fizz test. Vinegar doesn't always work, and unless we're master criminals, we tend not to wander about with stronger acids.