The art and nature of aquascaping combine in fascinating ways, allowing hobbyists to create mesmerizing underwater worlds. A lesser-known aspect of that world is the use of sunken decorative elements. These undoubtedly add a sense of enigma, an appearance of age, and even adventure to the acted-out scene within the tank. In this post, I will walk you through what I’ve learned while placing many orphaned ornamental pieces into my aquascapes with the hopes that some ideas might be useful for those adventurous souls who might want to try something different than placing unwanted fish into an overpopulated aquarium only to condemn them afterward to a lifetime of imprisonment.
I didn’t include images because I am not very proud of most of my efforts and because adding militia-grade quantities of fish pictures would only serve to make this post seem like it’s promoting bad aquatic husbandry.
The first thing to do when setting up an aquarium with submerged decorations is to pick the right kind of decoration. The decorations should enhance and not overpower the tank’s theme, visual appeal, or the natural elements within. You’re spoiled for choice in this regard, with many fantastical options available that can turn your aquatic world into a legitimate work of art. There are shipwrecks you can buy that will give your fish something to swim through and around, actual swimming tunnels, if you will, that add both visual interest and a dramatic element to your tank.
Pirate-themed decorations and treasure chests can give your aquarium an adventurous look. Lots of decoration items, such as the treasure chest in this picture, have purely visual appeal and serve no other purpose. They are decorative and demand space that could be used better by fish or plants.
In my opinion, hides are far more important and better-looking than caves. While both provide places for fish to hide, hides fit much snugger around your fish and generally look nicer doing so.
When picking sunken, ornamental pieces for your aquarium, remember to consider the overall theme of your aquascaping. Choose decorations that mesh well with the natural elements you’re working with and create a cohesive look for your tank. Here are a few theme ideas to get you started:
• Use plants like Java fern and Anubias to make ancient ruins seem recently recovered.
• Combine them with mosses (like Riccia) and Queen Anne’s lace (Carlasaatia psammophilia). The undulating forms of those etiolated moss capsules really do enhance the overgrown, mature feel one might get when poking around an old couple’s abandoned mineral-enriched hot springs up in Southern California; these thermally stressed softies pour out from between rocks making for an easy colony-forming situation.
Mature mats of Vampira gracilis work nicely here too as this pseudo-poison toothwort grows shades of green unfurled on their stems past where most aquatic plants would be content to live. Plus it’s got poisonous shoots!
To make an aquascape both colorful and lively, I mix caves, grottos, and plants. I choose brightly colored fish to enhance the atmosphere. My personal favorite tank is the one where I created a “Lost City” theme using ancient sunken ruins, bright green Java fern, and mossy rocks. This was visually stunning because it looked like a forgotten civilization buried deep beneath the waves. Of course, not every aquarium can pull off total realism like that one did (partially thanks to the kind of decorations available in certain pet stores). But even seemingly simple arrangements can be eye-catching if you pay attention to detail, use some imagination, especially when it comes to plant life and experiment with different ideas until you find what works best for you.
To begin is to visualize. With a layout sketched out or an aquascaping software program at my fingertips, I can see what I’m getting close to and what aspects of the design are faltering. That’s with any aquarium, but it’s particularly important when working with hardscape pieces that need to interact in just the right way for the whole scape to work together seamlessly. In one tank, I have a pirate theme going on, with a large shipwreck as the centerpiece. Here again is another instance of much intense fussing and fiddling that happened during setup, where different placements of various rocks, driftwood pieces, and plants meant totally different things, visually speaking.
In one instance, this was really exciting, that meant using five separate plants (including three Bucephalandra spp., which grew outward from the shipwreck) around one set of open seashells that stacked up inside the wreck proper; alongside some succulent-like stems of Cryptocorynthus walkeri ‘Wijaya’; two open-ended sea caves behind that same centerpiece; some coral-stone formations above and behind those sea caves; parting waves in otherwise tightly rolled-fisted strands of China xong ferns around yet more rocks above all else, a crazy amount going on for so-called “natural” beauty without being too obvious or contrived because aquascapes largely succeed when they’re seen across any old part of them (as opposed to along their entire length).
The art of placing decorative items in an aquarium is not simple. It requires finesse and a decent eye to create the illusion of depth and perspective inside the tank. You have to put the larger decorations deep within the tank and the smaller ones near the front. The naturally occurring rocks and driftwood within help create natural barriers that guide one’s eyes through what otherwise would be a visually monolithic space filled with water.
If you look at ancient sea floors portrayed in prehistoric cave paintings, you’ll see that even those early artists attempted to capture some kind of perspective, ombre and ligature, for instance that lead the eye deeper into “recesses” (or apparent recesses) within their pictures, creating an ilusión de profundidad or “depth illusion,” as painters of later centuries might call it—a way of connoting or suggesting something figurative without actually drawing it figuratively.
Arrange the treasure chests in a tank’s center, near its back, or on either side to make them easily visible. Don’t place them too deep and ensure they’re standing upright so that your fish can swim all around them, especially since you’ve gone to the trouble of putting the treasures in those chests.
Avoid creating a cave aquarium by placing caves and grottos near the front of your tank unless you will be using very mild requirements that don’t impact my beloved fish. Don’t put plants in places where your fish might get stuck while trying to ascend from the depths to the surface (top) of your tank. In my pirate-themed tank, I placed a sunken ship at an angle just behind my cichlid couple; it figures into their storyline, a common theme for many aquariums when we consider what kind of environment we’re providing for our aquatic friends.
After placing your decorative elements, it’s time to put the plants in and make sure your aquascape remains both healthy and visually stunning. This phase is all about selecting the right plants for the job, making sure they’re planted properly, and maintaining a consistent care routine. The first order of business might seem obvious: you choose the “right” plants. Yet many hobbyists forget that placement, too, is an art. If you put flowers or foliage in front of certain key ornaments in your aquarium the ones that do most of the visual heavy lifting, you’ll create layers and undermine their natural appearance.
Adding height, texture, and a variety of forms to the midsection of your aquarium ensures visual interest leading up to and beyond the plants selected for background duties. This is where interesting foliage plants like Anubias, Cryptocorynes, and Java ferns work best. You can attach these to sinister-looking rocks or a derelict shipwreck to create the appearance of growth in unlikely places.
Background duty is awarded to tall, exportable plants that help frame an “entry point” (the ship’s wheel) with leaves well above the water’s surface. Thanks go to companies like Rotala or Hygrophila for producing such exportable plants with desirable shapes and colors. A combination of these two textures plus colored Dwarf Hairgrass forming what I call an aquaflower worked marvelously as my pirate-themed tank’s background in addition, serving as canopy coverage for my ships swimming overhead and didn’t crowd out any swim pathways or gill intakes for my fish. Sea dwellers may not recognize shape except when viewed against light; in shade (electrolyte donors included), your aquatic plants won’t be far behind in lack-of-shape disillusionment either, thank goodness for most aquarium LEDs!
Ensure that plants in an aquarium with decorative items are securely rooted in the substrate. You can use tweezers to place them deep enough into the sand or gravel so they cannot be easily dislodged and sent swimming through the water. In one of my tanks, I used tweezers to seed Java moss around a sunken ship. Yes, you read that right: I planted hair algae in a details-only appropriate situation around a sunken ship, making for natural-looking seaweed growth within my artificial reef community!
Don’t let your plants get too wild and unruly! Besides making the tank look messy, the plants might even start to compete with each other for resources. So it’s better to stay on top of things—pruning in particular. Use clean scissors or pruning shears and make sure you are cutting just above a node (where a leaf divides) so that your plant will grow back healthily. Try not to leave any part of the plant sticking out from between two stones if you can avoid it.
Water changes are absolutely key in maintaining water quality and preventing algae growth. To do a water change, first turn off the aquarium heater and all circulation devices. Then carefully siphon some water out of the tank using an aquarium vacuum attached to a suction-cup ANCHA/Secura-tank twisting neck cup/glass tube scraper/large sponge via a long tube cleaned after use and only occasionally used (to remove no more than 20 percent of tank water). Water tests taken before changing half of this much would show a bad combined odor; meanwhile none from neat, clean-tank situations shown here or elsewhere allows us to say that our waters are habitats for several species we have introduced as well as habitat-factors limited amount and kind of food available for four different aquatic monster commissions waiting to happen.
When it comes to maintaining the beautiful display that is an aquascape, there are three key tasks that are vital for keeping everything ship-shape: plant maintenance, glass maintenance, and water changes. These keep the environment clean and free of any harmful buildup. But what about the aquatic animals themselves? Which types make good companions for an aquarium featuring decorative rockwork, spicy plants growing on (>140-degree curved) leaves, or even just colors?
Besides cherry shrimp (Neocaridina davidi), a classic choice for such communities due to their ability to breed in large numbers without clouding up the water (in part because they do not “spawn” underwater but actually inside a foamy sculpture at the water’s surface), there are plenty of other peaceful fish (<1 inch long) as well as snails and other invertebrates that can be added both to enhance ecological balances within such communities (“natural neighbors”) and visually, specifically in terms of alimentary illicitness.
The tank remains clean due to the activities of its inhabitants. The hardworking algae-eaters keep the glass surfaces clear and free of algae drift, and occasional dredging with a magnet or pipette definitely maintains things on an even keel. Yet it’s tough to top the delights displayed for interesting and winding about within. Some experienced aquarists might be tempted to take their topspin exiting abilities for granted—after all, who doesn’t like watching “dance” performed by fish swimming just beneath the water’s surface? Elderly armor-plated catfish do a remarkable job of keeping the bottom-dwelling area clean. They’re also good tail builders if you’ve got young fizzers in your tank.
You can turn your tank into a secret world by cleverly choosing and arranging decorations, plants, and livestock. The result will be an imaginative space that tells a story, that’s almost guaranteed. And even better than that, it will be incredibly fun to watch your imagination come to life in the aquascape and see how it changes over time. My own experience with this technique has given me many moments of delight, everything from watching newly introduced fish make their first moves through the setup to seeing one plant grow into another takes place in what feels like “real” time (save for the part where you anxiously look on hoping that everything is going according to plan).
