Please help me aquascape!

Oh my goodness, I may just be the worst aquascaper of all time. I've got this 55 gallon tank that has hornwort and anubias in it. It just looks so barren in there, and I can't think of a single idea to make it look better. Obviously, getting more plants or waiting for them to fill in would help, but I think I need to do more than that. I will take any help I can get! There's fantail goldfish in there right now so I have to be a little selective with the plants I can get.

 

I think a good-sized piece of driftwood would look good in there.

 

Driftwood, a background, and a cave of some sort would look nice.

 

I've got this manzanita branch soaking in my bath tub right now! Do you think it'll look nice in there? Where/how should I place it in the tank?

I plan on getting a custom background made with the three stooges on it. A little tacky, I know but my goldfish are named after them so I figured it'd be fitting.

I also have access to a lake with lots of rocks of many different sizes (I make sure they're safe and clean them before I use them in any of my tanks). Could I make something with those? I've been wanting to do something with rocks but I'm not sure how to make it look nice.

 

Only one way to find out! Try out different positions and see which you like best. And you can tie some of your anubias to it as well. Then I'd get a lot more plants and fill it in some more.

 

Oooooh, anubias on driftwood..... how pretty would that be! I'll definitely do that. Does anyone have any ideas on how I could incorporate rocks into my tank? I'd like to do something with them on the left side of the tank where the filter is, but I can't think of anything except for setting a few on the sand. I've seen some tanks with really beautiful rock work and I have no idea how to do it!!!

 

You could attach the rocks together and make a rock cave. You could also make a pretend path with them.

I think your drift wood would look nice upside down so all the branches are close to the bottom of the tank and can be a small thing for your goldfish to swim in and out of.

 

You could attach the rocks together and make a rock cave. You could also make a pretend path with them.

I think your drift wood would look nice upside down so all the branches are close to the bottom of the tank and can be a small thing for your goldfish to swim in and out of.

Oh my goodness, I'm gonna do all of those things! Should I use silicone sealant to connect the rocks together?

 

You can use sealent as long as it's 100% silicone, shouldn't mention anything about mildew resistance. May take a while to cure outside the tank too. I bet you could find some tutorials on google too.

 

Alrighty, thank you!