Decorating for a Fancy Goldfish Tank

Rue

I get my 'new' 55g aquarium this weekend! It's for my 2 Goldfish and the dojo...

...and likely for 1-2 more fancies...

I'm also planning an Amazon biotope tank (or pseudo-biotope)...so that will be decorated 'naturally'...

...so I was thinking that fancy Goldfish have been bred so long...they're not remotely natural anymore...so really...anything goes...

However, I'm long past having an interest in any kitsch aquarium decorations...(such as skulls, divers, bubbling treasure chests...or ANYTHING to do with Little Mermaid or Nemo... )

...anyone have any ideas of classy tank decor for the fancies? So far I haven't come up with anything satisfying...and I have to pick up new gravel tomorrow...so I need an idea of what to do...

musho3210

well use black ornaments, the black will really bring out the white and gold coloration they have.

Rue

...a good idea...my almost 15 yr. old daughter wants to continue with the black gravel we currently have in the 10g tank...I could try something like that...

...esp. seeing that MY fish tank will be in THEIR rec room!

I was wondering if I should decorate the bottom alla beer bottle...kind of with a 'pollution' theme...

...hardly classy...but might actually look okay...

musho3210

hmm if your doing the beer bottle make sure it wont break and have sharp pieces of glass everywhere, if it does infact break and the Goldfish ingests a piece of glass it wont be pretty.

Maybe use a plastic bottle for the safe side, maybe make it like

\|/ Three plastic bottles lined up here like that

But also plastic may leak toxins into your water, so im not sure, there might be some fish safe bottle type things for sale

reverendred

peel the labels. and cap em. other than that, it could look pretty cool

Rue

I won't do anything not safe! And it doesn't have to be beer bottles either...

...wine or whiskey bottles would do just as well...

leifthebunny

Or Champagne, they might hold up better. Just remember to "safely" dispose of the contents. That's the best part. ;)

Rue

...heh...now I'm craving a nice glass of sweet white wine...(my favourite!)...

I bought 50 lbs of black gravel today - and some of the least artifical-looking artificial plants...so I've committed!!!

I'm gonna try bottles...if it doesn't look nice...haven't lost anything...

Falina

i think the bottles sound like theyd look quite good. if you wanted to keep the labels (i think itd look cool if the fish were jim beam "drinkers" for example, could you perhaps just give them a quick slick of epoxy paint to ensure they dont come off? just a suggestion, not sure if it would work

Rue

I am gonna go with the bottles! Now I have to start collecting a few...or I can start with the beer bottles and replace them if I find more interesting ones!

Took a while to clean everything and fill it it with water...hubby decided to haul city water for the tank instead of using our well water...

...I plugged the 2 Emperor 280s in and that was interesting! The first one wouldn't prime and was making an awful racket...so I fiddled and fiddled and finally got it going...

...the second one wouldn't even start...but I managed to 'unstick' the impellor and it's running...but it's still too noisy.

I don't know how long the filters were unused before I got them (not THAT long, because they still had water in them )...

I'll let them run for a while and see if they 'settle in'.

I only used half the gravel I bought too...25 lbs covers the bottom completely and will be easier to vacuum then twice the amount...