Thoughts on changing up tank decor

HI guys!
As the title suggests I'm interested in knowing your thoughts, opinions and experiences in changing up the decor in your aquariums! And I mean really changing it up to look like a completely different tank set up. How did your fish/inhabitants react?

I'm thinking of redoing my 75L. I loved it when I first set it up but am now finding it to be a bit underwhelming. I was told that doing this can really stress out the fish? I've changed minor things in my tanks such as adding or removing plants for various reasons but pretty much all my tanks have had the same hardscape and general layout since setup. I want to add something from another tank into my 75L which is a peice of drift wood (tree stump style) covered in plants. It also happens to be the center peice for the current tank that it is in, meaning 2 x tank re decorationings!

What are your thoughts? Is it too stressful for the fish? Or beneficial as it keeps it exciting for them? Do you remove fish while doing it or leave them in the tank?

 

I actually just posted a bunch of my different tank themes lol

I switch things up quite a lot in some of my tanks, though not as much in others. For me it kinda depends on the fish in the tank. If they're mostly fish don't seem to care much when I change things, I don't do it often. If they're more inquisitive, like my bettas, I switch things up more often. I personally have never experienced any fish getting stressed from it, though most of my fish are pretty hardy. I could see how certain fish may get stressed if they're particularly territorial or something.

As for actually executing the changes, many people will advise against removing your fish (just like for water changes and stuff) but if I'm making big changes, I do remove them as I get nervous I'll accidentally smush somebody

 

I actually just posted a bunch of my different tank themes lol

I switch things up quite a lot in some of my tanks, though not as much in others. For me it kinda depends on the fish in the tank. If they're mostly fish don't seem to care much when I change things, I don't do it often. If they're more inquisitive, like my bettas, I switch things up more often. I personally have never experienced any fish getting stressed from it, though most of my fish are pretty hardy. I could see how certain fish may get stressed if they're particularly territorial or something.

As for actually executing the changes, many people will advise against removing your fish (just like for water changes and stuff) but if I'm making big changes, I do remove them as I get nervous I'll accidentally smush somebody

They are both Betta tanks! And yes, they are very inquisitive I don't know what I'd replace the tree stump with if I were to remove it from the current tank so will definitely have to work that out first before making any changes haha.

Okay, great to know! Iwas thinking of leaving them in the tank, they are pretty big for bettas, 60L and 75L so figured they can move to another spot in the tank as they generally do when I do water changes for them!

How often do you change your Betta tanks up?

Dewclaw83 oh! I just looked at your post with the Betta themes, each month you change it!? They are all cute!

 

Dewclaw83 oh! I just looked at your post with the Betta themes, each month you change it!? They are all cute!

Thanks!
My male's I change every month, and then I've got a sorority tank (It's still pretty new) and a community tank with 2 females in it, those I change (Or plan to change) every other (Or every 3rd if I'm lazy) month. But I also just love aquascaping so lol

 

Thanks!
My male's I change every month, and then I've got a sorority tank (It's still pretty new) and a community tank with 2 females in it, those I change (Or plan to change) every other (Or every 3rd if I'm lazy) month. But I also just love aquascaping so lol

Haha yeahh designing new tank layouts... one of the best thing about keeping fish other than the fish of course

 

I know you mentioned you had a stump, so I thought I’d share this tank I (literally) just finished decorating which has a kind of stump thing in it lol
I tried to go for a very red and gold kind of tank (I’m not a fan of red live plants though so those are green. It’s mostly hornwort, which is tucked away and needs to grow some more before it’s visible lol)

Best of luck with your own tanks

 

In my experience it does stress them out a bit but nothing life threatening. Typically keep the filter media the same, and keep about half of the previous water, rescaping shouldn't cause a huge issue. I f you have territorial species, this can reset their territories and behavior and lead to some short-lived bickering until they get it sorted out.

 

View attachment 645342
I know you mentioned you had a stump, so I thought I’d share this tank I (literally) just finished decorating which has a kind of stump thing in it lol
I tried to go for a very red and gold kind of tank (I’m not a fan of red live plants though so those are green. It’s mostly hornwort, which is tucked away and needs to grow some more before it’s visible lol)

Best of luck with your own tanks

Aww, this looks great!! I ended up buying a decoration online of some faux driftwood - so when it arrives I will decide if it will go into the 75L or into the 60L if I end up removing the stump from this tank!!

Thanks so much It will probably be in the new year depending on how long it takes to arrive but I'll post a photo on here of the before and after!

In my experience it does stress them out a bit but nothing life threatening. Typically keep the filter media the same, and keep about half of the previous water, rescaping shouldn't cause a huge issue. I f you have territorial species, this can reset their territories and behavior and lead to some short-lived bickering until they get it sorted out.

In the tanks are just a Betta in each plus a snail or two! I am thinking of firstly just Adding to the tank if possible as opposed to a full revamp now - so hopefully can get the best of both worlds of not stressing this fish out too much hopefully and having a refreshing looking tank!

 

Okay so really unfortunate plot twist.. I just came home last night from a one night holiday and my betta in my 60L was dead !!!? No idea why but he was just on the bottom of his tank, well dead. His face was all discolored but not really sure what that means. He was completely fine before hand, behaviour had not changed and he was active and eating. I'm so so sad! But in reference to the thread topic am thinking I should not move the peice of driftwood into my 75L as I was originally thinking of? I drained the 60L this morning and put all plants and the drift wood into a bucket of tap water. Is there anyway to disinfect the decor? They are all live plants. Or should I just scrap the idea of using the drift wood in the 75L for fear of spreading whatever killed my dear little Anthony to Elvis ( 75L betta)?

 

Here is the new tank set up!
Before


After


I ended up bleach disinfecting all the plants and decor of the 60L tank due to the sudden death of my betta mentioned above and put most of it into the 75L! Elvis is so happy and constantly explores his new surroundings! I'll add a few more plants in time but I really like the way his tank looks now!

 

Here is the new tank set up!
Before View attachment 646432

AfterView attachment 646433

I ended up bleach disinfecting all the plants and decor of the 60L tank due to the sudden death of my betta mentioned above and put most of it into the 75L! Elvis is so happy and constantly explores his new surroundings! I'll add a few more plants in time but I really like the way his tank looks now!

Ooo it looks great! And I’m sorry about your other fish

 

Ooo it looks great! And I’m sorry about your other fish

Thanks so much on both topics