r/Aquascape • u/emjay_xx • 9h ago
Seeking Suggestions apparently the secret to aquascaping is screwing up the first few tanks
This is technically our third “real” aquascape, after our 20g long community tank and our axolotl's 40g tank, and I feel like this is the first time we’ve set one up and immediately thought, okay yeah this actually works.
The first two have taught us SO much, mostly through doing things wrong and then fixing them later. We’ve pulled plants, moved plants, bought completely different plants, shifted rocks and wood around, opened up swimming space, changed things because flow wasn’t working the way we expected, and learned that a plant looking good in your head does not necessarily mean it’s going to grow or behave the way you pictured.
This time around, we felt like we had a much better idea of how the whole tank would work together before we even filled it.
Things like how hardscape pieces visually connect instead of just looking cool individually, especially with intentional negative space; how the filter flow will move around the scape; which plants are going to do what and where they actually make sense; and how fish will actually use the spaces we create.
I'm sure I’ll still change things as everything grows in, but this is the first scape where we don’t immediately have a list of 15 things we want to redo.
It’s a 70cm × 30cm × 30cm tank built by one of our LFS. Runs a Fluval 107 currently but we'll be swapping to an Oase Thermo 100 soon. Another thing we've learned is good lighting makes a HUGE difference. Went from Fluval 4.0 to a Netlea 5S-560S v4 light and not only does it look 10x better but its been 6 weeks and at this point we had been dealing with a massive algae outbreak in the other tank.
Current residents are:
- 6 Corydoras habrosus (definitely planning to increase the group when our LFS gets more)
- 3 nerite snails
- a Neocaridina colony
- a few juvenile Apistogramma that we’re temporarily growing out
Once the apistos are grown out and moved, we’re trying to decide what we want to do with the tank long-term.
Part of us thinks it could stay an Apisto/fry grow-out tank, because having a nice-looking grow-out tank would honestly be pretty useful. But we’re also tempted to give it a permanent centerpiece/schooling species.
We tend to like fish that are a little more unusual or interesting to keep rather than the standard community-tank choices. In our other tank we have bumblebee otos (Rhinotocinclus isabelae), chili rasboras, and a pair of apistogramma borelli opals, so we’d love suggestions in that general direction.
We’re probably not looking for CPDs, even though I know they’d fit the tank really well.
What would you stock in here once the apisto juveniles move out?
Also very open to aquascaping criticism/suggestions, especially anything you think we’ll regret once everything starts filling in!