What is your oldest piece of decor or your favorite you no longer own?

[nabokovfan87]

I am trying to find this piece of decor we had from decades ago.  It was a white brick wall/castle wall (think, eastern style) and it had a very small cross section.  The gap inside was only something like 1/2-3/4", but It was this white brick / wall shape and it had some sort of dragon-like creature on it.  Back in the day, when I was a kid, it was the one piece of the tank I loved because it was where my favorite fish would hide. I would love to see it or find it again, but searching for "castle wall dragon decor" tends to offer a massive amount of results.

This puts me towards a slightly fun question, what is your favorite piece of decor you remember, but may not have anymore?  What is your oldest piece of decor you do own?

For me, my oldest stuff is simply some pieces of mopani and red lava rocks.

[Cinnebuns]

I have been keeping fish for less than a year so not long enough to have a piece I no longer have but I still wanna participate so I will!!  

First off, I guess I kinda have one. Per conversation in another thread I sold off some mopani wood I could use right now lol. 

In terms of decor pieces though the very first one I'm madly in love with. It's from Walmart so it's nothing fancy but I'm addicted. It's the only piece in my tank that isn't natural looking but I think it adds a little spark. I kinda imagine my tank as a fairy forest and it's the fairy's house. I imagine him leaving his house to go visit the other places in the tank. 

I noticed. It looks like the tree in his backyard fell over lol

[nabokovfan87]

@CinnebunsI feel like those plastic plants would definitely hurt some fish, but I do love the house itself! Nice.

[Cinnebuns]

On 6/3/2022 at 2:05 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

@CinnebunsI feel like those plastic plants would definitely hurt some fish, but I do love the house itself! Nice.

Yeah I agree tbh. The piece on the far right I've been pulling off the fake and putting on live. Might not be as easy to do with this hut because of the color but some of.them might be worth considering taking off even if not replaced. 

[drewzero1]

When I came back to fishkeeping six years ago I tried to save money by pulling some of my childhood aquarium supplies out of storage, one of which was a plastic hornwort which I ended up using as an anchor for some java moss. After a few years I couldn't see the plastic plant any more, but I was reminded of its presence by the needles that would constantly break off and drift around the tank. (How lifelike!) I've since completely drained and scrubbed that tank, but somehow I still keep finding those plastic needles.

[Brian]

I have some corals from around 1980-81 (yes dead corals- there was a time we bought these and nobody was keeping corals alive) and some old slate from the bottoms of old aquariums I use for breeder different Fish.  

[Flumpweesel]

This is the first thing I bought for my goldfish (from the pet shop in the town market) approx 30yrs ago. It moved with Mr Pib to every single aquarium it had. If we took it out Pib would sulk until it was placed back in even thought after 20+  years he was unable to swim through it. 

So I doubt I'll ever throw it away now

[Guppysnail]

I used to toss old decor due to moving for work but I do have one. Oddly it was not originally for aquariums.  It was my grapevine outdoor basking log for my bearded dragon. When he passed I put it in mom n dad BN plecos tank which was my bearded dragons favorite tank to sit in front of. I think it is in the neighborhood of 10-15 years old. 

[Scapexghost]

I've had this piece of petrified wood since before i started keeping fish, so its been underwater for about four years now. Not that impressive and you can barely see it behind the swordtail juvies and the hair algae and anacharis.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Cinnebuns If you wanted to: Most of the time the plastic plants are glued on or easily cut off- then you could glue some Java Windelov (which is whimiscal enough to match that cute little house) and/or anubias nana- would make a cute "tree" for the house.

@nabokovfan87 download an app like Etsy, save a search for "vintage aquarium castle" and look every now and again. I've found many things I'd remember from childhood lurking on sites like that. If it was something mass produced- it will definitely pop up sooner or later. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Cinnebuns]

On 6/3/2022 at 3:11 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

If you wanted to: Most of the time the plastic plants are glued on or easily cut off- then you could glue some Java Windelov (which is whimiscal enough to match that cute little house) and/or anubias nana- would make a cute "tree" for the house.

That's what I've been doing with the structure on the right and anubias Nana worked perfectly in it. I like the idea of Java windelov as a whimsical look. I've always looked at that plant as "how would I ever use that?" but you found the answer!

[Taco Playz]

The Sphinx in my Axolotl tank, he always loves to hide in it.

I've had it for about 4 years now and it's still in great shape

[PineSong]

I have oh, let's just say "a few" pieces of mid 20th century vintage tank decor, which I started bringing home when I began keeping bettas decades ago. I love the look of vintage ceramics with an old-fashioned looking fish like a fantail goldfish or solid color old-school betta and old-school plants like corkscrew val.

Here are a few that I don't have packed away. Made in Japan, dates unknown. The white castle is probably the first one I bought--love the swim-through designs.

 

[Brian]

On 6/3/2022 at 4:10 AM, drewzero1 said:

but somehow I still keep finding those plastic needles.

Kinda like finding Christmas tree needles in July.   

[Odd Duck]

My oldest is definitely a few pieces of petrified wood I’ve had since somewhere around the very late 60’s or early 70’s.  I don’t remember when I got them but I got them from one of my older brothers before I ever had a fish tank.  I’ve used them in so many tanks I can’t even remember.  They went into my new angelfish tank.  They’re piece 2, 3, and 4 from the far left edge.  I also have a piece of wood that I think is mopani that is every bit of 40 years old, from the very early 80’s.  I don’t remember where I got it.  It still leached tannins into a QT tank last time I put it in one.  Decades ago I drilled and dremeled out the middle of it to take a plant.  It didn’t work very well since I only had fluorescent lights (before HO fluorescent was a thing).  I’ve wedged plastic plants into it and more recently a ceramic base plastic plant.

Edit to add slightly better pics, including one of the wood piece.

 

Edited June 4, 2022 by Odd Duck
Typo and a correction.

[Tihshho]

I'll need to do some digging, but the oldest pieces of decor I have came from my Dad and from my Grandfather. My Dad has picked up some ceramic pieces from either in Thailand or China on a business trip before I was born and had them in so many tanks as I gre up. One being a ceramic pagoda and the other a bridge with a jade glaze finish on them. They are spectacular pieces of craftsmanship. The piece from my Grandfather is a mini terracotta pagoda that he had as a kid when he was growing in in Okinawa. It went from being an aquarium decoration to a pond decoration sitting at the edge of a lavarock fountain he had on his pond. I always used to look at it as a kid and it was a reminder to me of all the craftsmanship he put into his gardens and ponds. Once he passed, for years I meant to pick it up and bring it home every time I went back home to keep it going and to clean up the calcium scaling that built up over it through the years. Only a few years back did I remember to grab it as it was getting lost in the overgrowth around the pond as no one was keeping up with it like he used to. Since then that piece has been the only piece of non natural decor that I've rotated around in shrimp tanks. It's nice having a reminder that this hobby has run generations in my family. 

In terms of natural decor, I had a great piece of wood years ago that made a perfect centerpiece. I probably had it for 12 years. It hopped from a 15, to a 20L, to a 40L and was a great piece that looked great with epiphytes growing off of it. Sadly, I made the mistake of getting into some of the more raspy plecos in the last setup with it and they slowly dwindled it away over the last 5 years I had that tank running. I think I have the skeleton of it left somewhere, but it's no longer in the glory it once was.