Aquascaping, A Never Ending Issue
Aquascaping, A Never Ending Issue
Written by Wednesday, 04 July 2001 01:00
Aquascaping never ends. The number of fish may have changed, or your fish may have grown bigger but the point is always the same. You may see that the current aquascape doesn't suit their needs anymore. It is then time for a minor or major intervention to make your tank a better place for them. I recently observed that my big diggers (F. rostratus) were too large to play with the sand in the places where sand was accessible, so it was evident that some rocks had to be removed. In the series of photos on this (and subsequent) page(s) you will see how the rocks were removed and an extra play room was created.
Lots of rocks which didn't serve any purpose. In contrast, the empty sand surface was immediately appreciated by the diggers.
If you look carefully in the current aquascape you will definitely find some spots that could be readily improved (without tearing apart your tank).
Lots of rocks which didn't serve anything. In contrast, the empty sand surface was immediately appreciated by the diggers. The female F. rostratus was the first to visit it. Minutes later a spawning attempt took place in that same spot.
When you rearrange your tank, your fish will be stressed to a degree. Special care should be taken to minimize this stress. I assume that you have first washed your hands and let plenty of water take away the soap. Then you should work with smooth movements while in the tank. If you manage to keep a smooth, continuous movement fish will not even care about what you do (provided the tank is big enough). In the photo below you can see a red blood parrot (right top corner) within 15 cm from my hand curious to see what am I doing. After removing some rocks, most of the fish started to play with my hand (Ok, biting my hands). When I removed the last rock some males tested it to see if the space allowed it to become their favorite spawning site.
Cleaning and keeping rocks is a big issue. I want to make sure that if I want some rocks to form one more hiding place in any of my tanks, I can have one on the spot. A clean, disinfected one. After removing the rocks, they are immediately cleaned and disinfected and then stored in old briefcases (see photo above). Thus when I need them they are always handy, dust- free and disinfected.
Photos by John Reclos.
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