Natural habitat simulation decor

[duanes]

Some aqaruists like colored gravel, fancy colored rocks, even un-naturaly blue backgrounds one would only sea in deep ocean depths.
To me, none of those appear normal, and some actually (seem to me) to compete with, and to take away from (what I consider to be) the focus,the fish, or flora.
Some perceive drastic light or dark substrate to be an enhancer.
I find a too light substate makes certan cichlid species colors wash out, taking away from natural beautyand too dark substrate force them into very dark aberations to feel comfortable.
In most cases the most common cichlid predaros come from above with birds, so many of their natural camoflage refect that .
A good example might be Herichthys carpintus, from above on sandy substrate they appear almost invisable to hide from predators, (there are 3 carpintus in the left photo below)
but from the side where it counts to attract a suitable mate, they stand out.

Most natural substrate is not colorful, it helps them to blend in when necessary, but also enhances color and does not compete when attraction is needed.

There is an Andinoacara cichlid in the lower right corner

From the side that species stands out to prespective mates.


A river in Colombia above, what I perceive to be a natural tank below.

 

[neutrino]

Don't want cartoon colors in my tanks, nor bubbling divers and treasure chests, nor Greek ruins, nor clay pots for that matter. But natural creek and river bottoms can be light, dark, in between, or mixed, and, depending on water color and clarity, you can see underwater blues in some places on sunny, blue-sky days... so what's "natural" looking can depend on the location you might be trying to emulate.

 

[neutrino]

The underwater park at Bonito Springs, Brazil, a favorite of snorkelers and videographers, so there are a number of videos similar to this one.

 

[jjohnwm]

A lot of people tend to forget that a natural environment is always much, much larger than even the largest home aquarium. So when you try to emulate a particular site, including the elements which comprise it such as boulders, logs, thickets of plants, perhaps a gradually sloping bottom, etc...but are trying to jam all these elements into a tank only a few feet long...you are simply not going to achieve the desired effect. It's a question of scale.

Of course, when you choose rainbow clown-puke gravel and a couple of day-glo plastic plants...you're starting out at a huge disadvantage from the get-go...

Recent studies have shown that glo-fish are actually not a man-made phenomenon as has long been thought. Instead, glo-fish evolved on their own, right in the tanks of hobbyists all over the world who buy that gaudy decor; the fish are simply evolving to blend into a day-glo environment.

It must be true; I read it on the internet.

 

[neutrino]

Unless you're Takashi Amano. Some of his tanks look like natural worlds in miniature, some like fairy tale worlds in miniature, and some like a slice of the real thing.

 

[jjohnwm]

Unless you're Takashi Amano. Some of his tanks look like natural worlds in miniature, some like fairy tale worlds in miniature, and some like a slice of the real thing.

That's the exception that proves the rule. And I'll be honest, I don't recall seeing any of his tanks that I would describe as a "slice of the real thing"; they're always, IMHO, miniatures of either natural worlds or "fairy-tale" landscapes.

In nature, a landscape that size (i.e. really, really small) that looked like one of his tanks...didn't look that way three weeks earlier, and wouldn't look that way three weeks later. Without maintenance by a trained artist armed with a practiced eye, a lifetime of experience and a pair of pruning snips...nature grows out of control and then dies back; there is no stability, no stasis, no "balance of nature". It's always in flux, and Amano's tanks represent a snapshot of one moment of that flux; a moment when it happens to be at its aesthetic peak. His skill prolongs that moment; most mere mortals aren't capable of that artistry. That's why we know his name and his tanks; he is the best of the best.

If everybody could do it...everybody would be doing it!

 

[RyanScanner]

Unless you're Takashi Amano. Some of his tanks look like natural worlds in miniature, some like fairy tale worlds in miniature, and some like a slice of the real thing.

But they only look like that for the moment they photographed. The level of maintenance required to keep a tank looking like his photos is a full time job in itself. Pretty unachievable and usually takes months to get to that stage. duanes tanks look great and natural and probably a lot lower maintenance.

 

[neutrino]

If everybody could do it...everybody would be doing it!

I don't even aspire to do what he does, as much sculpture as anything else. But even at that, I can tinker all I want and only occasionally do I get a tank I'm content with or that looks like what's in my head. Still, I've had some fish, including wild, behave differently when there's enough there to make them feel "at home" to a degree vs an environment lacking what makes them comfortable.

All of that said, what's "natural" in many habitats isn't pristine sand, crystal clear water, or no algae anywhere.

 

[esoxlucius]

I'll take this discussion on a bit of a tangent. Ideally you'd want to replicate the natural habitat for your fish, so you find out what they like, and do similar in your tank.

My recent tank revamp has seen me stock it with European perch from a local reservoir. Below is a picture of the reservoir in question. It is very low at the moment so you can see the type of habitat my perch have been living in.

It is totally devoid of overhanging trees. The bottom is just sand and rock. No marginal reed beds whatsoever. This barren environment is so far from what perch require, and yet here they are in huge numbers in this reservoir.

So, do I replicate this environment in my 360 and just put a plain substrate of sand and rock in there, or do I put lots of sunken structure in there to give the perch something that I know they'd prefer? I opted for the latter and in doing so I believe I've out trumped nature in this case!

 

[jjohnwm]

Well...yes and no. I agree that you have absolutely created an environment that is closer to natural than that reservoir...but then a reservoir isn't a natural water body. When you posted that pic in the perch thread, my first reaction was dismay at how desolate and foreboding the place looked. It's a testament to the adaptability of perch and many other fish species that they can make a living in a place like that.

It's sad that those are the kinds of places where we must go for much of our fishing nowadays. My favourite fishing spot for big channel catfish is on a major river that runs through the city of Winnipeg, a city of roughly 800,000 people...all of whom, apparently, seem to use the river as a combination garbage disposal and toilet. When the water level is low, as it is now, the amount of trash exposed on the bottom is astonishing. And we fish just below a dam, where the river bed has been unnaturally altered and shaped and modified by man to keep it navigable (the dam is equipped with a boat lock to allow travel).

This ugly, unnatural spot has some of the best fishing to be had for some species, like channel cats, carp, freshwater drum and others. Lots of other types are caught there as well; the fish don't give a hoot how it looks. They have well-aerated water, loaded with food items in the form of small fish that are killed as they are trapped and flushed through the dam gates; and there is plenty of cover, even if much of it is in the form of shopping carts and rusted bicycles.

The fish in our tanks likewise don't care about the aesthetics of their surroundings. They want the same things they always seek in the wild: food, clean aerated water and protective cover for security. Aside from those basics, the fish...like many of their keepers!...have very questionable taste with regards to details of decor.