My Tank Looks Ugly But I Don’t Know How To Fix It.

I like the way you moved the Driftwood.

Something leafy..a crypt or sword...would look really nice in the front right, and something taller at the back. I like Wisteria too, and in a 10-20 gallon, it reaches the surface Tetras love it as a hiding spot, and it's low-maintenance. I'd definitely add some more anubis, it looks great on that particular piece of driftwood

Edit: Nevermind, I took too long to type, and was late to the party lol

I love your plan, it's going to look great!

 

All these Betta profile pics XD

 

All these Betta profile pics XD

haha right? all I see in this thread is betta profile pics lol

 

More rocks than me?
I’ll have to show you my rock choices.

I want some seiryu, and dragon stone.

Who ever built the house I’m renting the upstairs to had a thing for rocks and flowerbeds. There’s 2 huge flowerbeds lined with rocks diner plate sized and then a rock “stream” along the edge of the fire pit with basketball sized rocks in the gravel. Yard is gonna look amazing hopefully. It was never maintained for probably 3 years or so. Everything’s pretty grown over. There are a couple really nice rocks, but I like them outside and don’t know what i’d do with them. And if you say you live next to a quarry or something that’s cheating. I live in town.

haha right? all I see in this thread is betta profile pics lol

I will never fall to peer pressure!!

 

Who ever built the house I’m renting the upstairs to had a thing for rocks and flowerbeds. There’s 2 huge flowerbeds lined with rocks diner plate sized and then a rock “stream” along the edge of the fire pit with basketball sized rocks in the . Yard is gonna look amazing hopefully. It was never maintained for probably 3 years or so. Everything’s pretty grown over. There are a couple really nice rocks, but I like them outside and don’t know what i’d do with them. And if you say you live next to a quarry or something that’s cheating. I live in to

Rockhouse.
My front yard has a ditch, it's lined with rocks. Which I am not supposed to take from, but I steal them anyway.

 

Its so nice to live in a rural area. All my aquarium decor came from my backyard. I laugh when I see plastic driftwood at the pet store for 50 bucks.

 

Rockhouse.
My front yard has a ditch, it's lined with rocks. Which I am not supposed to take from, but I steal them anyway.

Its so nice to live in a rural area. All my aquarium decor came from my backyard. I laugh when I see plastic driftwood at the pet store for 50 bucks.

I got weird looks from my grandpa when I asked if I could go out into his freshly tilled field and get rocks. My dad was slightly alarmed when I asked if I could use his truck to do so. I’m still trying to figure out how I can get a washing machine size rock onto my front yard. I am dying for one. I miss living rural SO much...

 

I got weird looks from my grandpa when I asked if I could go out into his freshly tilled field and get rocks. My dad was slightly alarmed when I asked if I could use his truck to do so. I’m still trying to figure out how I can get a washing machine size rock onto my front yard. I am dying for one. I miss living rural SO much...

Wow, yeah.
You've beat me by a landslide...

 

Here’s how it looks with everything settled down

 

Here’s how it looks with everything settled down

I like this, but it feels like its missing something.

 

Wow, yeah.
You've beat me by a landslide...

Don’t have one yet but I know where to find a honking big rock even have access to the equipment to move it. It’s getting it on my yard that’s the problem.

Oh yeah! And the four shoeboxes full of snall (ish) rocks in my closet. got some from Banff, Arizona, Nevada, and my grandma even brought me some from Europe.

 

I like this, but it feels like its missing something.

Perhaps some vertical features? Corkscrew vallisneria in the back and some chain sword in the front?

 

Ok I have some clean fishing line (Irony?). I will try attaching a plant and I will post a pic.

Don't use fishing line, it doesn't degrade and can become a hazard to your fish. Use cotton sewing thread. It breaks down slow enough to allow attachment.

 

Perhaps some vertical features? Corkscrew vallisneria in the back and some chain sword in the front?

Yes those would look good.

 

Don't use fishing line, it doesn't degrade and can become a hazard to your fish. Use cotton sewing thread. It breaks down slow enough to allow attachment.

Not just using it to tie stuff. It’s when people throw clumps of it out of boats or they have hooks attacked. People have been recommending fishing line for ages.

 

Get some more plants, (I love packing my tanks with plants).
Move your driftwood around, until you find the perfect place.

 

paint the rear of the tank or get a planted or rock themed back drop all see through tanks look ugly imo and it makes the fish feel more secure

 

Ok, will do.

 

paint the rear of the tank or get a planted or rock themed back drop all see through tanks look ugly imo and it makes the fish feel more secure

I’ll use black construction paper for my smaller tanks.

 

So I have 5 neon tetras, 3 ghost shrimp with some driftwood and Anubis, but it looks ugly to me and I was wondering if you had any recommendations?

Take out the Driftwood make that smaller,
You need a pretty background that you
Get from the pet store, goes on the outside of the back of the aquarium and get some pretty neon decorations and some plants
If you do all this it should look great. Oh and some pretty bright gravel or sand for the bottom floor covering.

 

I will use construction paper when I get home. I don’t want to take the whole driftwood out. I might just snap off the long skinny part that is resting on my pot and put it in my planned shrimp breeding tank

 

Remind me what’s in the tank?

 

5 neons, and 3 ghost shrimps

 

Ooh black will make the neons pop.

 

Landscaping yards are excellent places to find cool rocks for dirt cheap no matter the size. I've gotten over 70 pounds of rocks for just over $20. Just be sure not to get any that have sparkly bits since they may have metals that will leach into your tank. Also, put a few drops of the strongest acid you can find on the rocks before you put them into your tank - generally that's muriatic acid, but if you can't get it then you can try white vinegar though the white vinegar isn't as reliable since it's not as strong of an acid. If the rock fizzes on contact with the acid, then it will probably mess with your water hardness and you shouldn't use the rock (unless you have african cichlids or something). If it doesn't fizz, go ahead and use it. I've used this method many times and it's never given me any issues. I use landscaping yard rocks in all my tanks. Plus it's a lot of fun to hand-select rocks and fill up your wheelbarrow/dolly.

As for your aquascaping, would you consider flipping that wood upside down to make an arch? That might really "fill the space" so to speak, and create different zones in your tank where you can cluster different plant species. Try using the "rule of thirds" when you plant. It's a concept from photography, but it works well for aquascaping too. The idea is to cut your tank into a 3x3 grid, and then place visual points of interest in some of the points where the lines intersect.

When you're placing things, be sure not to put anything dead-center or make it symmetrical. Symmetry looks very unnatural. You also want to put wide and tall items in the back and small and thin items in the front. That applies to plants, woods, rocks, anything. So if you flip the wood, you'll want to put the wide knotty part in the back corner and have the thin side angle toward the front glass.

Also, consider using a lot more substrate, provided that won't cause gas buildup concerns with your sand. Substrate is one of the simplest and easiest ways to get a dramatic look for a tank. The idea behind good aquascaping is that you want to make your tank look bigger than it is, so you want to slope your substrate so it's much higher in the back than it is in the front. I usually build up substrate to be no less than 1/3 of the way up the back in at least one spot. You have some room, so you could also build it into two large hills with a valley somewhere ideally in the middle (though, since you want it to look natural, just don't put anything smack dab in the middle since perfect symmetry and centering won't look right). You can look up aquascapes from the ADA competitions for good examples of how substrate makes for the basis of some really great visual depth.

Java ferns, as others have mentioned, would also do well here. You can put them in the substrate no problems as long as you only bury the roots and you leave the rhizome fully exposed. Note that the variants, like 'windelov' and 'narrow leaf', get to slightly different sizes than standard java fern in case you're looking for different heights to give visual interest.

Also, yes, more plants will probably make your neons more active. My small fish, at least, tend to be more active when they have cover since they feel more secure.

Sorry I went on for a while there. Aquascaping is my passion, and it's what my hobby focuses on (though I do love fish too!).

 

I’ll use black construction paper for my smaller tanks.

sounds good to me

 

Take out the Driftwood make that smaller,
You need a pretty background that you
Get from the pet store, goes on the outside of the back of the aquarium and get some pretty neon decorations and some plants
If you do all this it should look great. Oh and some pretty bright gravel or sand for the bottom floor covering.

I wouldn't use neon-coloured decorations or a printed background. Those will only compete with the neon tetras' looks. As stated before a solid background will make their colours "pop".

 

Thanks, I am getting my yearly cash flow soon. Birthday, Christmas, end of tri, etc. When I get home, I will use some black construction paper, flip the wood, maybe try to buy some sand?

 

HI Zennon, first thing I'd do is get rid of the urn or what ever it is behind the drift wood. That's an interesting piece of wood, try moving it around to see if it would look better at different angles, try & get a couple of larger rocks in or just one with the wood resting on it, then more plants & try different colours, you can attach things like Java Moss to the coconut with superglue just make sure it's fish safe I use Loctite & it's fine, attaches plants better & looks better no bits of line to worry about camouflaging. Try a mix of higher & lower growing plants to break up sight lines for the fish to make it more comfortable for them.

 

Here’s how it looks with everything settled down

Looks nice...I’m thinking a tall plant in the center or something...

 

I would add more plants, tall and short to give some color!

 

As for the broken pot decoration from the store, the fish love hiding in it currently, and it is holding up my log, so I am going to keen it until I get some more plants and a large rock.


Update:

 

guppies will chew each others tails and the fish will eat your shrimp. I learned that about the shrimp the hard way
What do you all think about plastic plants? I got a ton on them at the Dollar Store
Kyleaz

 

These aren’t guppies... These are neon tetras. I have 2 plastic plants as fillers, but I plan to replace them with plants and fill the empty space.

 

shrimp can work if its heavily planted with lots of hiding spots.

guppies will chew each others tails and the fish will eat your shrimp. I learned that about the shrimp the hard way
What do you all think about plastic plants? I got a ton on them at the Dollar Store
Kyleaz

I don't like them very much I find them very ugly and fake looking. I prefer live plants but its all a matter of opinions

 

Looking good so far! As others have said, adding some tall live plants will help even more.
I have found that black garbage bags work better than construction paper for backgrounds, they are harder to apply but they don't fade and they are waterproof.

 

shrimp can work if its heavily planted with lots of hiding spots.

I don't like them very much I find them very ugly and fake looking. I prefer live plants but its all a matter of opinions

Agree as soon as I switched to live plants I decided never to use fake ones again.

 

you could also paint the background black but not sure what paint to use

Agree as soon as I switched to live plants I decided never to use fake ones again.

right? they are so much better looking are very beneficial. I can't bring myself to get fake ones anymore

 

What sand depth do you recommend?

 

right? they are so much better looking are very beneficial. I can't bring myself to get fake ones anymore

And....real plants make baby plants for you.

What sand depth do you recommend?

An inch to an inch and a half.