Bare tanks

I agree. Bare tanks look ugly to me, as well as boring. Others may disagree, that is just my opinion.

I think it's cruel personally a single fish in a bare tank would be bad. The lack of appropriate stimuli might drive it "crazy" in a way. Give it something within the tank to interact with

Sent from my VS840 4G

Aesthetics aside, IME fish likes structures to feel secure, especially during the night time. It doesn't have to be driftwood or plants, it can be a shoe for all they care. If it provides cover, they're fine with it. I feel this applies to both and preys and predators.

When I set up my 135 I had bare bottom, I loved the ease of cleaning. Easy to tell when it's dirty and just a net and you could scoop all the poop out. I did have drift wood in it, But it doesn't look right to me So I added sand. Now I have to use my gravel vac and add water back in.

Crazy mike said:

I think it's cruel personally a single fish in a bare tank would be bad. The lack of appropriate stimuli might drive it "crazy" in a way. Give it something within the tank to interact with

Sent from my VS840 4G

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This may applies to humans since we are for the most part social creatures. Many fish/animals do not care for the company of any kind, except for the purpose of mating, and when that task is done they go their separate ways....sometimes departing violently.

last time I looked where no glass bottom lakes or rivers with no plants, rocks, old wood and roots and algae. Clean rooms are for making pc chips and medical research. not for keeping fish. IMHO fish need decor, need gravel or sand to dig in and just the ability to be fish, with a bare tank IMHO you are really missing out on the instinctual behaviors of your fish. folks that keep a straight glass aquarium with nothing added to there natural habitat as best you can are not fish keepers. they are fish owners and feel they can do as the please, the fish itself really not mater,

pops said:

folks that keep a straight glass aquarium with nothing added to there natural habitat as best you can are not fish keepers. they are fish owners and feel they can do as the please, the fish itself really not mater,

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If you're going to go that empathetic route, then you should not be keeping anything, since aquariums are just glass cages after all.

xraycer said:

This may applies to humans since we are for the most part social creatures. Many fish/animals do not care for the company of any kind, except for the purpose of mating, and when that task is done they go their separate ways....sometimes departing violently.

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But that's still something to interact with. In nature there is always something to react to. The stimuli doesn't need to be another living animal just something that allows for somewhat normal behavior like hiding spots, territory to set up

Sent from my VS840 4G

Wow lotta hate for bare tanks huh? I can go either way on them on one end I can see where the fish might not get much to interact with, but who thinks their decorated tank is anywhere near as interactive as their wild waters? It isnt. Maybe .0001% so you could call any decorations somewhat pointless. On the other side bare tanks tend to be cleaner so you could argue if you arent doing everything possible to provide your fish with the best water by having decoration which tends to hold junk that dirties the water.

To each their own. I try to be somewhere in the middle. I want simple setup for good water quality and to make fish the center of attention but want the fish to have a little cover too.