Aquascaping

Aquascaping means building your Fish-Tank into a Small Scale Ecosystem that combines beauty with Biology. Aquarium setup is the most exciting phase of your fish tank. However, because it can be tricky, the best way to approach it is with some important biological facts. Most of these ideas were taken from books like “Reef Secrets” by Nilsen and Fossa. Step 5 in "Aquarium Setup" also gives you more specific information and some ideas on how to decorate your tank.

See our commercial aquarium website at www.Aquatic-Design.biz and see our listing in www.PlanoTxGuide.com our Plano city directory.

For habitat plans, take the habitat requirements of the livestock you intend to keep into serious consideration. If your centerpiece tropical fish species will need caves, open swimming spaces, or deep sand beds, be sure to plan ahead. Click here if your choice is a freshwater tank instead of a marine or reef tank.

Reefscape

Your goal should be to provide your fishes a reefscape that mimics the habitat they evolved in for millions of years. That is the best way to ensure that they will settle in and display their natural behaviors. The menu window background on your left is what fish would see underwater, taken at the famous large scale Atlantis Resort Oceanarium in the Bahamas in the Caribbean. Also that is where you will find their predatory fish pool in the picture on the right. The snapshot was taken through the glass petition in one of their underwater caves.

The large numbers of animals kept in hobbyist aquariums have very particular demands for their own space and appropriate physical surroundings. For instance, some animals will never acclimate to an aquarium without ample hiding places. Hiding places includes sea plants, caves and natural little nooks and crannies. These are places that give them security and the cover they once enjoyed and instinctively expect from a real reef. Other animals have little or no use for such shelter. But instead they need plenty of open swimming and roaming space.

Some reef animals need soft bottoms in which to burrow, grub for food, or hide at night. For instance, those that build tunnels do best in a substrate of sand. Even some corals do best in sand rather than attaching to a reef stone.

Aquascaping or how you put together the various elements of an aquarium reefscape can significantly influence light intensity, water flow and turbulence. During the planning stages you can make stable foundations for attaching specific corals in a favorable location.

Most corals are sensitive to light and like to reside in open places on rocks that extend up to the top 1/3 of the tank. However, many corals need dark or shady growing areas. In their case, strong lights are detrimental to their health. If these kinds of challenging creatures are in your livestock plan you might consider a large cave as major feature of your seascape.

Or, it may be necessary to construct plateaus in the upper third of the tank, close to the light source for those shallow water corals that like as much light as they can get. In nature some of these may actually stick out of the water during low tides.

Aquascaping or how the reef tank is configured also influences the ability of certain animals to get the food they need.

Freshwater Aquascapes

Mimicking a stream somewhere in the Amazon for your freshwater livestock requires obtaining decorations usually found in their natural environment. Wood, round smooth river rocks and underwater plant formations can bring real life to adorn a stunning aquatic freshwater environment.

Our next newsletter will feature more about Freshwater tanks.

Copyright © 2004 Aquatic Design Aquariums. All Rights Reserved. No part of the contents
of this web site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without
the written permission of Aquatic Design Aquariums or Kokopelli Flix.

Website Design By:                                                

 Kokopelli Flix - September 2004