Aquascaping Inspiration
Planted Aquascapes
Planted aquascapes are incredibley popular and for good reason, bright green plants brighten the appearance of an aquascape and make the fish stand out. Planted aquascapes are usually considered to be either 'low tech' or 'high tech'. These are common phrases in the hobby reffering to the equipment, setup and ethos behind the aquascape. Low tech aquascapes usually have less intense lighting and no CO2 injection meaning they require less pruning, these setups are normally catered towards easy to grow plants such as cryptocoryne, microsorum and anubias. High tech aquascapes usually have stronger lighting, CO2 and faster growing plants species. Planted aquascapes are a great option for beginners and can also challenge advanced aquascapers. Pick plants and fish you like the appearance of, make sure they are compitable and try to make the layout as eye pleasing as possible!
Biotope Aquascapes
Biotope aquascapes are becoming more popular in the hobby. A biotope aquascape refers to picking a location and mimicking it as closely as possible in terms off appearance, plant species and fish species. This involves a lot of research choosing the correct fish and plants to stay as true as possible to the biotope you are choosing to create. Hobbyists usually choose to setup a biotope aquascape due to their passion for a specific area in the world or perhaps they really enjoy a species of fish and hope to breed it. Biotope aquascapes can be a fun challenge!
Fish Focused Aquascapes
This is a broad term we use to define aquascapes which mainly focus on hardscape (such as rocks and wood) and fish. Plants are usually more of an after thought. This type of aquascape can still look very striking although care should be taken when choosing the hardscape materials as these will be a big focus. An example of this would be setting up an aquascape for Tanganyikan cichlids with pale sand, grey rocks and minimal plants. This allows the fish to exhibit their natural behaviour but still keeps the focus on the fish and hardscape. We find setups like this tend to have a longer life as it is much easier to refurbish this type of aquascape. Although redoing a fuly planted aquascape every few years is always fun!
Final Bit of Aquascaping Advice
Remember an aquascape is for you to enjoy so sometimes following the crowd may not be the best option for you. Aim to keep livestock which you enjoy and ensure you take the time to appreciate your aquascape. By all means try new things but what ever you do make sure you are meeting the requirements of your fish. Please contact us if you have any aquascaping questions. Our friendly team is happy to help!
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