How Can I Do A 'Home Makeover' To This Mess?

[NotReallyCatfishGuy]

It's a 10 gallon, no issues with the fish, they're doing great except for my male betta. He's had stress stripes ever since I moved him in. I'm gonna post a thread on how to go about rehoming the other fish. How can I make this look good? Here's the pictures of the tank:

 

[elemental0619]

Black background, swap substrate to something darker, and add more plants and wood.

 

[Lars6]

Yeah I’d go with a black background as well. For a 10 gallon, it won’t be expensive at all to replace the sand with quality aquarium soil such as ada Amazonia or tropica. Get rid of the decorations and look into aquascapes with seiryu stone or dragon stone. Maybe some manzanita branches if you want that kind of scape. Do research and find out what you like

 

[NotReallyCatfishGuy]

Yeah I’d go with a black background as well. For a 10 gallon, it won’t be expensive at all to replace the sand with quality aquarium soil such as ada Amazonia or tropica. Get rid of the decorations and look into aquascapes with seiryu stone or dragon stone. Maybe some manzanita branches if you want that kind of scape. Do research and find out what you like

Dragonstone is way too expensive for my budget, I decided to text a friend and study over this, I've decided on slate and smooth stones, making it mostly stone based with one big manzanita branch and a lot of java moss, anacharis, java fern, and anubias. Substrate MIGHT get replaced, but the Background and any non plant decoration in there is defo getting replaced.

 

[Lars6]

I highly suggest changing the substrate if you want to have plants rooted into the ground. For 20 bucks you get an 8.8 pound bag of fluval stratum (which is a perfect size for a 10 gallon). That 20 bucks will make a huge difference if you decide to get root feeders.

 

[elemental0619]

I highly suggest changing the substrate if you want to have plants rooted into the ground. For 20 bucks you get an 8.8 pound bag of fluval stratum (which is a perfect size for a 10 gallon). That 20 bucks will make a huge difference if you decide to get root feeders.

I have to agree, or if budgeting more some root tabs