Aquascaping, Planted Aquariums and Successful Fish Keeping
Introduction to Aquariums
An aquarium is a mimicry of a natural water body, where we want our fish to thrive the same way they're thriving in the wild.
This means there are a lot of factors that contribute to a thriving aquarium, ie, nitrogen cycle, plants, substrate, water changes, lighting, and obviously the type of fish we choose.
The nitrogen cycle is what makes an aquarium suitable for fish and plants.
Then the rest come under aquascaping.
Aquascaping
It is a personal choice; some people just like to have fish as the focal point, hence a minimum scape or not at all. Some people love to have a scape plus a fish focal point, sort of look in their fish tank. Some people like it to be jungle-like, so it looks even more natural for the fish with lots of hiding spaces and breeding grounds.
The type of Substrate that you choose, the types of rocks that you choose, everything needs to be right for the inhabitants as well. For example, if a tank has been scape with seiryu rocks(let's take an example of iwagumi), it would be great for shrimps in a small tank, but will the shrimps survive? Answer is yes! But you need to choose the right type of shrimps, which are not affected by buffered pH levels like neo-caridinas. However, if accidentally caridinas are chosen, they will have a very hard time in the aquarium. So, lots of research is also needed.
We like to ask/think what is going on in the aquarium before we start to aquascape something. If we are uncertain what fish to get before looking at the scape, we try our best to choose the most suitable fish to go in there.;
Live Plants and Planted Tanks
Does your aquarium have a light? To grow any sort of aquarium plants, lighting is essential however, intensity requirements vary from species to species.
Fertilizers, CO2, and nutrient soil are other keys to successfully planted aquariums. However, you can certainly deal with just fish poops and fertilizers for the plants, and without CO2 or high-tech lighting, you can easily get into a lovely planted aquarium that has lots of easy to grow plants that need minimum care and do not need too much light as well.
Come Visit us at 4/52 View Street, Pascoe Vale 3044 and we will help create even more ideas, provide even more information face to face.