Saltwater decor in Freshwater aquarium... tacky?

I'll never be able to afford a proper reef tank, but I love the way they look (who doesn't?). Would it be tacky to decorate my tetra/live bearer tank with fake corals and reef background? Please be honest, I can handle it. Right now I have a Halloween theme and it's time to switch it up. 20 gallons. 1 adult gold twinbar platy, 1 baby gold twinbar platy, 1 juvenile red Mickey Mouse platy, 7 neon tetras, 5 black neon tetras, 6 glowlight tetras, 3 baby guppies (they haven't developed their colors yet), 1 gold mystery snail, 1 blue mystery snail, 1 banjo catfish (spends most of the daytime under a rock). None of the fish really school much anymore. I guess they've gotten more comfortable with one another since being introduced to the tank. The downside is they've lost that sense of visual appeal schooling brings.

 

Its your aquarium, you can do what you wish to it!

But If you ask me, freshwater look is also magnificent. There are many species of plant's out there that are colorful, attractive and beneficial. There are many of driftwood out there that also give benefits and make your aquarium natural. Lots of safe fake plants that can provide cover for your fish and decorations to create fun to it. The point of keeping fish is that we try to create a similar habitat that the fish has in its natural enviorment, putting a Freshwater fish in a Saltwater enviorment seem to take them away from what they naturally call "home".

 

I personally love my planted tanks and driftwood. I find a lot of the plastic corals tacky and ugly. Some of the higher end ones do look realistic and really nice. But then I feel the fish would look out of place. It's your tank and if you like how it looks go for it.

 

I think live plants are beautiful as well. OMG aquascaping! Only thing is I do water changes twice a week (downside to having so many fish) so those frequent gravel vacs would probably destroy a lot. I'm looking for some big substantial pieces that remove and go back easily. Any specific suggestions?

 

If you like the look, go ahead and do whatever you want

Honestly, IMO it depends on the presentation. If you decide to go full out with the blue coral lights, white sand, coral decor, and reef rocks, I'm sure it wouldn't look bad. But a few fake-looking decorations scattered randomly would just look weird.

Do whatever you want!

I think live plants are beautiful as well. OMG aquascaping! Only thing is I do water changes twice a week (downside to having so many fish) so those frequent gravel vacs would probably destroy a lot. I'm looking for some big substantial pieces that remove and go back easily. Any specific suggestions?

If you have a ton of live plants you wouldn't need to vacuum. The detritus produced by the fish will serve as fertilizer.

 

If you want to remove the plants you might want to consider putting them into pots.

Like in these:

Or these: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rQYzRmR4SgY/maxresdefault.jpg

But honestly If you have plant in your substrate all you have to do is hover all over them, get some detritus and water then your good. Plants will feed on detritus for you, its a natural fertilizer for them.

 

Also sand and driftwood can look pretty cool. I have a lot of Java moss on a massive driftwood "tree" with a play sand bottom. Cost me 10$ to decorate and I really like the look.

 

I think it would be hard to find one that looks realistic, unless you really want to spend a LOT of money. The ones I've seen, I'm just not a fan of them. I even tried one in my tank for a bit, and it just really didn't sit well with me. It just looked too fake for my liking.

As others have said though, it's your tank, so go based on what you and your fish like You may have something really cool in mind that the rest of us aren't thinking about, and it may look awesome.

If you have some time and energy to put into it, maybe you could mimic the reef look with rock and plants? That could be fun. I'm thinking maybe get lava rock or something like that, attach plants in various places around it that don't need to be planted in the substrate (java fern comes to mind as a fun idea) to mimic the anemones.

 

What are some good natural plants for starters? I've had bad luck with anacharis that was free floating in a Petsmart tank so I never tried again after that. I have LED lights.

 

What happened with your anacharis?

Hornwort, anubias, amazon swords (but they're heavy root feeders so you may need root tabs), java ferns, java moss, some crypts, vallisnerias, water wisteria

 

What happened with your anacharis?

Hornwort, anubias, amazon swords (but they're heavy root feeders so you may need root tabs), java ferns, java moss, some crypts, vallisnerias, water wisteria

The anacharis brought pests with it. Caused a major snail infestation that took months to get rid of.

 

The anacharis brought pests with it. Caused a major snail infestation that took months to get rid of.

Ooh, that's not good. It doesn't mean you'll always have bad luck with it, though. Try the plants that come in the tubes, those are more expensive but they're advertised as snail free. I haven't had a problem with those.

Only thing about the plants in the tubes is that some are not truly aquatic and will eventually die in the aquarium. Research each species before buying.

 

OP, I personally think that a freshwater aquarium can also look really nice when decorated to look like saltwater. My dad has glofish and they really pop with his faux-coral ornaments! It's not a "natural" look in any way, but I do think it still looks visually appealing if that's your thing.

 

I think if you like the look of Saltwater go for it. My tank is natural looking substrate, created driftwood, and rock. My daughter has bright plastic plants and black gravel, and my boyfriends tank is very small white polished coral looking gravel. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My best friend uses absolutely nothing in his tanks, he just wants to see fish and glass. Saltwater could look really awesome. Hope you post some pics when your done.

 

I agree. it is your tank and you can and should decorate it the way you want. I think you could make a very attractive salt water decour with fresh water fish. I like natural looking tanks and I also like fantasy type tanks equally.. Alison

 

I think if you like the look of Saltwater go for it. My tank is natural looking substrate, created driftwood, and rock. My daughter has bright plastic plants and black gravel, and my boyfriends tank is very small white polished coral looking gravel. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My best friend uses absolutely nothing in his tanks, he just wants to see fish and glass. Saltwater could look really awesome. Hope you post some pics when your done.

Right now my tank looks like your daughter's. Bright decor (glow-in-the-dark!) with black gravel and black background.