aquascaping question...

brandelion

when I bought my current aquarium (20 gallon high) - my PLAN was to make it look as 'woodsy' as possible

so the question is... I'm trying to figure out a way to create something that would look like an actual tree - almost bonsai-ish I suppose

any ideas as to how I might do such a thing... with zero live plant experience? haaa

JohnnyD44

do you have pieces of driftwodd? there are some plants you could tie to the DW to make it look 'woodsie'?

what other plants you have in your plans?

subtrate and backdrops can make for a great addition to a aquascape!

brandelion

it's a brand new, newly cycled tank with only one sad little cory sniffin' around in it - it currently has generic black gravel, rocks (most of which are from my yard) and icky fake plants - some plastic some silk

I've never had the guts to brave dealing with live plants but I'd really like to have things be as natural as possible so I'm psyching myself up

I don't have any driftwood at the moment either... I'll basically be doing everything from scratch so I'm trying to figure it all out - but I don't want it to just be typical like I just threw in some plants and fish, ya know? I thought it would be neat to make it look like a landscape but under water

JohnnyD44

aquascaping is half the fun of setting up a new tank!!!

don't be scared of setting up a planted tank! it's really quite simple and is awesome to watch a tank progress as it fills in and the plants take shape.

first things first, draft up a plant list, see what you like...put together a list of plants you would like to see on here, people on here are willing to help.

then I would draw up a "floor plan" so to speak and arrange the plants on paper to avoid the stress of re-rooting several times once the plants go in.

i would read byron's 4 part thread on in our planted section, it goes into great detail about setting up a low-tech, low-maintenance planted tank.....

before you do any of that though, pick up 5-6 more corrie cat fish.they are schooling fish and need to be in groups of atleast 6, you may want to consider picking up some more hardier fish to help keep the bio-load in check.

~ Johnny

onefish2fish

thats wood with moss tied to the wood. just some ideas for you.

zof

I would like to point out, that is awesome... I was thinking of the same thing with moss at the beginning of the post then got to the end and there it was!!!

brandelion

I definitely plan on rounding out the cory population - I had more in there foolishly using them to cycle the tank (thank you petco :/) only one survived... the tank is FINALLY cycled now and I'm working on a fish plan that includes more cories - I love them they crack me up!!

as for plants - I'm not really sure why it scares me but I'm sure once I plant the first one I'll be over the fear - but I have a serious black thumb when it comes to any other kind of plants (except philodendron haaa) I don't suppose there is an aquatic version of a philodendron? hehehe

anyway... I was at the fishy store today and the butt weasle working there (who's been there for like 20 years) sold me two plants... I came home and looked them up and everything I read says they aren't true aquatic plants and should be avoided - so now I'm kinda pissed!! they weren't terribly expensive ($4 for the two of them) but still!! now I don't really know what to do with them

he called them green hedge and cherry hedge - they're pretty enough but if they're gonna be a problem I'd really rather not bother putting them in there :/

I wish I would have had a chance to read this before I went to the store... but I didn't actually intend to buy plants today - I shoulda stuck with my plan - grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I like your idea of mapping it all out... I would do that with my yard so why not my fish tank :)

brandelion

THAT is pretty much EXACTLY what I had in my head!! AWESOME!! now I just have to figure out how to get a piece of wood to stand on end like that hehehe

JohnnyD44

mapping stuff out always works for me....somewhere in the plant section is my plant build, probably about 3 pages deep by now...from scratch, inlcluding my floor plans and step-by-step pictures showing the changes...

i plan on adding some pictures this weekend....if i can find some time.....

Inga

I agree with mapping things out. Believe it or not, I did that but then with everything floating, melting and me panicking, I ended up with stuff, not quite where I originally wanted it. I don't know why it feels so scary the first time around but it did. Things are starting to grow now in my tank and I am becoming more comfortable with the idea of planting things. I have added a few more plants each week. I am getting full now.

Here are a couple of other plants that I think have a look you might like.
http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4...ed=0CDcQsAQwAw
Now that I put a little more light on mine they are growing wonderful and getting sooooo Green. They are a special favorite of my plant eaters but I got a few extras to keep them in business and still fill out my tank.