Guppysnail Aquarium Journal

[Atitagain]

My thought process starts with “what if?” My 125G what if this was an Amazon river, a 55G what if a tree root busted through a rock formation 

a 20G what if the Incredible Hulk had to escape under water 

so maybe in this tank it’s “what if” this was a place where someone dumped a ton of pots? Use fragments, 1/2 pots , plants spilling out of tipped over full pots. I am not claiming to be an aquascaping authority these are just how I approach my tanks. I am always telling myself a story about what is happening then if that translates when I’m done to me or others great if not I’ll tweak it .

always a story, that sets boundaries that must be obeyed.

[Guppysnail]

On 1/8/2022 at 9:32 AM, Atitagain said:

always a story, that sets boundaries that must be obeyed

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 I can do this! 😁

[Guppysnail]

WOOHOO I DID IT!

@Odd Duck when you said limit the types it made sense. I can have that many plants if they are the same without it looking chaotic. @Atitagain when you said tell a story it hit me like a brick. Off the side of the dock where hubby goes fishing is an alcove I sit to watch baby catfish school that grows some type of thick Val/seaweed looking plant that tangle lines but flows gracefully mixed in closer to the edge is wild green and purple cabomba (we call it foxtail). As the Val stuff sways you see peaks of foxtail. Along the bank among the rushes are orange lilies for pops of color and broadleaf ivy. 
I took ou: elodea, narrow leaf ludwiga, APL, Chinese ivy and pennywort. I put in more broadleaf ludwiga from the guppy tank and the broadleaf APU. I still have to vac up debris and spilled gravel. This is the type of look I wanted I just couldn’t figure out how to get there  

when I pulled the ludwiga from the guppy tank I found this majestic monster hidden in back

I also pulled the incongruent AR cups and pennywort out of the Pygmy tank so now I think it looks right

🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

[Torrey]

On 1/8/2022 at 5:16 AM, Guppysnail said:

Do you have any helpful links I can use to learn?  My fish are placed in tanks the same way so I never thought about a regional Biotope theme. I’m not even sure where most of my plants originate from. I I would like the grapevine log to be the focal point and not the terra cotta pots. in this tank because it is where mom n dad spend their time. I have the two tiny swords tied to it and the Java fern stuck between the branches. Do you think it would help highlight the log to move those or make it more obscure

When I decided I wanted a more intentional approach to plants, I received the recommendation to watch the ADA and fish club presentations made by Josh Sims.

I have branched out since then, and I still recommend new people to watch Josh because his passionate love for aquascaping is contagious, and he does a great layman explanation of the various styles and the guiding principles. 

He's as knowledgeable about how to have fun aquascaping as Cory is on how to enjoy business as well as fish.

If he has a YouTube channel of his own, I have not found it. A Google search will yield at least 6 presentations. More importantly, he shows various scapes and breaks down exactly what each component is in almost every presentation he does. 

This is Josh.

[Levi_Aquatics]

Looking good! @Guppysnail

[Atitagain]

Lovin it! Both tanks are telling me stories the 40G (right it is a 40?) is straight up display, can easily see and identify all types. Very balanced but not in a way that makes you stare at a single point. Everything is so beautiful and well manicured I want to move around and get deeper more detailed views of each section. 😁

the Pygmy tank look, is a more common aquascape of a river/ lake/ pond setting. To me it flows well, on the bottom everything draws my eye right to left then up as the corner plants ascend. Pushing right to the floating plant and back down to restart the circle. And even if your eye is initially drawn left to right you still ascend with the corner plants. After circling a couple times I wanna get closer see details😁 This tank is beautiful and I’m not saying you need to change anything just as a suggestion to think a little different. 

Intentionally or not you all most are following  the rule of thirds and rule of circular flow. on the left if you were to grow the corner plants long enough to touch the 1/3 line on top of the water. The floating plant is where you are breaking a major rule of 1/3s. It’s floating in the center of both the the up and down and side to side boxes. Focal points should always cross lines preferably on the +crossing point. 
If your eye catches the floating plant first it could get stuck there. Being in the center peoples eyes naturally don’t wanna cross the focal point lines so you have to cover them. If you have the 4 focal point crosses covered eyes naturally wanna hover then move along in a circular pattern. And this will create a central empty space , this will help with keeping the eye moving and giving a reference to make plants to look fuller. And perfecting this is what separates the George Farmers from average beginner aquascapers like me.

I really hope this makes sense, this is how I understand and apply aquascaping. And I try to practice everyday. I want to and hopefully I will research and learn much more

[Guppysnail]

On 1/8/2022 at 1:58 PM, Atitagain said:

Lovin it! Both tanks are telling me stories the 40G (right it is a 40?) is straight up display, can easily see and identify all types. Very balanced but not in a way that makes you stare at a single point. Everything is so beautiful and well manicured I want to move around and get deeper more detailed views of each section. 😁

the Pygmy tank look, is a more common aquascape of a river/ lake/ pond setting. To me it flows well, on the bottom everything draws my eye right to left then up as the corner plants ascend. Pushing right to the floating plant and back down to restart the circle. And even if your eye is initially drawn left to right you still ascend with the corner plants. After circling a couple times I wanna get closer see details😁 This tank is beautiful and I’m not saying you need to change anything just as a suggestion to think a little different. 

Intentionally or not you all most are following  the rule of thirds and rule of circular flow. on the left if you were to grow the corner plants long enough to touch the 1/3 line on top of the water. The floating plant is where you are breaking a major rule of 1/3s. It’s floating in the center of both the the up and down and side to side boxes. Focal points should always cross lines preferably on the +crossing point. 
If your eye catches the floating plant first it could get stuck there. Being in the center peoples eyes naturally don’t wanna cross the focal point lines so you have to cover them. If you have the 4 focal point crosses covered eyes naturally wanna hover then move along in a circular pattern. And this will create a central empty space , this will help with keeping the eye moving and giving a reference to make plants to look fuller. And perfecting this is what separates the George Farmers from average beginner aquascapers like me.

I really hope this makes sense, this is how I understand and apply aquascaping. And I try to practice everyday. I want to and hopefully I will research and learn much more

Yes your drawing a graph and explaining certainly helps. I actually have much taller moneywort I can replace the shorter ones with to achieve that in the corners. Unfortunately the floating hornwort is what it is my dual filters push it there but I’m hoping it grows to cover a lot more for the Pygmy. I’ll swap out the moneywort and take pics later. Thank you again personalized help is invaluable. 

[Torrey]

ORD 🥰

On 1/8/2022 at 7:26 AM, Guppysnail said:

you guys are so awesome! You have helped me to look outside my box and unstick me from my roadblock of how to make it different. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. 

You help so many people in here, returning a little help to you is a drop in the bucket.

[Streetwise]

I tend to place wood, and then add around it, like if you were doing bored doodles in school. A little tall here, a little short there, fill in the gaps. When I get a new plant order, I try to avoid any pressure to add all at one time.

[Guppysnail]

@Torrey and @Streetwise thank you I’m ORD. 

@Atitagaini think I fixed what you were describing with the taller moneywort.  I’m going to move the alert tomorrow to the side. The pothos roots will grow down and the Java behind the anubias will grow to hide the filtration.  The rule of three that I spoke of came from an interior decorator 35+ years ago that told me the eyes sees odd numbered groups more pleasing than even numbered. I never knew there was a rule of thirds. I’m learning. I also want to say when you said I was a plant first girl it shocked me. I’ve alway said and felt I was hardcore fish first with plants being a fun side hobby that tied to my terrestrial gardening and kept my fish water cleaner as filtration.  That’s why I never used co2 or fertz or learned to aquascape. It was always about the fish to me. I wonder if anyone would recognize themselves seen through others eyes?  I have gotten much more into plants in recent times. The mystery of keeping fish healthy is no longer there it has just become routine I guess. I always did lousy with “easy” plants and started figuring well if they are going to die anyway I might as well enjoy the pretty “hard co2 fertilizer needed” plants while they die on me 🤣. Surprisingly those are easy for me. Then having my eyes opened to a ton of different plants that are not available locally by this awesome forum…well yeah I guess I’m now a plant girl 😁

while I was fussing in tanks today I really noticed something with my manzanita wood  I removed all my Java moss in May of last year  I then removed the manzanita to a drawer dried out in august  in September I put it back in 3 tanks  I thought it was dead dried out moss and would disintegrate after being dried for months  it growing 😯

HAPPY ADVENTURES…I TRIED SOMETHING NEW 😁🤗

 

[HH Morant]

OK, @Guppysnail, I have been too stingy with reactions today, so I gave some to @Torreyand @Streetwise for you.

Thanks for the pics. Beautiful.

[Guppysnail]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:30 PM, HH Morant said:

OK, @Guppysnail, I have been too stingy with reactions today, so I gave some to @Torreyand @Streetwise for you.

Thanks for the pics. Beautiful.

Thank you. You are totally awesome 😁🤗

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think you’ve gotten some great advice @Guppysnail. Beautifully said @Torrey,

@Atitagain and @Odd Duck! 
One of the things I do is when I see a tank I like I take a screen shot or download the picture to my phone. I’m always taking photos and videos of my tanks and fish etc and when i go through those I see these tanks and it then inspires my builds. The best example is the current iteration of The Sad Bowl I totally stole from a Rachel O’Leary video. When I showed that to my wife she put it together that I essentially had all the plants in the video and said yeah you have to do that. 
Dutch style will play to your strengths. From there a Nature style aquarium would make sense as you’re just trying to take a piece of nature you’ve seen outside and put it in a glass box. Then if there’s still an itch and you find a fish, a plant or a piece of hardscape that really inspires you build a biotope around it. The beautiful part is that someone’s probably done the biotope before so you can get plant and stock lists from them and you can build from there. 
This is the joy for me in the hobby: the planning; the procurement of the hard scape and plants to fill the need of the vision; and then the execution. I feel like you’ve got all these skills you’ve shown them to us countless times. you’ve gotten to the point in your hobby where it’s time to put it all together. I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Thank you for being such a great part of our community. 

[Torrey]

On 1/8/2022 at 11:53 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

when I see a tank I like I take a screen shot or download the picture to my phone.

You are not alone!

This was the tank that really inspired me to see aquascaping as an artform. I'm still looking for the perfect piece of wood for this.

This one made me think of the landscape in New Zealand where they built the LOTR set. Sadly, I couldn't get a shot w/o the kiss. Hershey photobombed😏

Finally, Josh Sims is the person who really pushed boundaries with upright hardscape ('trees staying upright instead of looking like fallen logs didn't happen before JS). I fell in love with the concept of "painting" a picture in my aquarium, using plants and hardscape to act as paint 

[Odd Duck]

@Torrey I love every Josh Sims tank I’ve seen!  And I agree that he has some excellent presentation videos out there.  He’s how I learned to tie mosses.  He has such amazing unbalanced balance to his tanks.  Just enough asymmetry to look completely natural while being perfectly cultivated at the same time.  Your mind can believe his aquascapes are really a slice of nature that he’s imitating perfectly.  It’s like somebody is duplicating a photograph in paint, but he’s using hardscape and living material to do it.  Amazing skills!  Josh is also the one that really started doing the forced perspective thing where he has bigger stuff at the front and moves to much smaller stuff at the back to make it look like the aquascape has almost infinite depth.  You can see this so well in the last picture you used  with the upright “trees” effect.

@Guppysnail Tanks are definitely looking good!  More clustering of the plants gives even more impact - fewer types of plants in bigger clusters gives you the most impact and looks the least chaotic.  The smaller the tank, the fewer the species it should hold or it will look more jungle.  Nothing wrong with jungle at all, but you should know that’s what you’re going for when you choose that look.  Does that make sense?

I admire Josh Sims’ style but don’t have the patience to do that, so I tend to stick with kind of a blend of Dutch and naturistic.  I usually try to find a focal piece and build around it, whether that’s wood or rock.  Then I cluster plants in big blocks (big being relative to the size of the tank).  My 6 G volcano tank is still one of my favorites I’ve done and it’s all about the rock with very few plants.  It currently needs some work, but that’s another day.  😝 

Keep going with reading and looking at pics, watch the Josh Sims videos - sooooo worth doing.  You’ll be getting inspired to do all kinds of things next!

[Guppysnail]

Thank you folks. All this made sense to me. I do not have patients to do any Dutch styles unfortunately it would make me enjoy it less although I love the look. The Josh Simms videos I will hopefully get to watch today when the cable company comes out to fix whatever is making us slow and wonky. I really like the naturalistic look I’m seeing best for me. 
@Torreythe tree pic made me think. I have the spiderwood in the guppy tank going into the 20L panda tank and the mopani that’s already there. I’m going to resist te urge to tie a gazillion plants to them so they remain exposed. I bought a bronze Aztec gravel. I’m thinking spider wood on the left tall maybe with some of my river rocks and I want to let the wood exposed. And the mopani on the right @Beardedbillygoat1975the picture idea is great I’m going to use that idea for the panda tank. @Chad posted a picture of his tank in his journal and I’m awed by that specific look. I want to make not a copy but a me version of it using Torreys tree idea. 
@Odd Duck I have more APU bulbs growing out I think I will use to create more grouping affect in mom n dads tank. The ludwiga is all sending a ton of side shoots so I hope it gets a bushier look so I can separate the APU more and expose it giving it the grouped look. Also in the guppy tank I love  your volcano tank. I’m thinking maybe with the spiderwood upright in guppy tank put the APL at the bottom  and let it grow up through and tie the AR to the top.  I unfortunately I kill all floaters duckweed included. if the AR does not work I have some more Tiger lotus bulbs in nursery maybe that would work in mom n dads tank I liked the way the APL entwined with the lotus. 
 

I no longer have MTS I suffer acute MPS (multiple plant syndrome-I have more plants than fit into tanks 🤪) @Atitagain I think you are right I’m now a plant girl.
My mind is going 100 miles and hour. With not putting every type of plant I have in every tank I’m going to have enough left over to crowd a 50 gallon tank. New 9 month old hyperactive rescue kitten that knocks EVERYTHING down makes me think wet plants is not a great idea. I think I might try converting some to terrestrial growth for potted arrangements since I have a bamboo plant stand to protect them. I’m not even sure it’s possible but might be fun to try. 

A new day a new adventure begins ☀️ 🌈 
 

[Isaac M]

@Torrey people make and sell “Bonsai Tree Driftwood” if you are looking to make an aquarium with a tree like Josh Sims. I showed my girlfriend that picture before when I was making an aquarium with her and she was amazed as was I! Haha So we made a 5 gallon going for a similar look but that I modeled/ took inspiration from the “The Lone Cypress” in Pebble Beach, California. Here is the first day where you can see the piece of wood and how it grew in:

@Beardedbillygoat1975 that is a great point about the plant lists from biotopes done by others. I find Amazonas magazine is a great resource to get these lists and inspiration for new aquariums. 

@Guppysnail the tank is looking great! If you are going to try to grow aquatic plants out of the water, it may require a fairly high humidity set up. I would even try growing it out of the aquarium like a riparian plant and just spray it with water every once in a while sort of like a wabi-kusa setup. That should help keep the kitten away too 😂

[Chad]

Well my ears are burning, or should I write my eyes are burning? Nope that’s just wrong ;), but what exactly did you like about my setup @Guppysnail? I’d be happy to offer suggestions but my tank is really just me throwing things in there, going “nope” a few days later. Basically a lot of trial and error, so I made sure nothing was rooted (almost nothing) and everything was slow growing.

[Torrey]

On 1/9/2022 at 5:00 AM, Guppysnail said:

New 9 month old hyperactive rescue kitten that knocks EVERYTHING down makes me think wet plants is not a great idea.

Wet plants, in a house with a kitten, is actually more doable (and less likely to be chewed on or knocked over) if you go a little larger.

Other options include a hurricane glass lamp (will maintain moderate humidity) or a 'glass bell' (full glass lid). For a variety of ideas, you can check out Tanner's terrarium and paludarium builds on SerpaDesign.

I suspect that Aquarium Co-op has helped many of us move from fish focused aquarists to plant focused aquarists... including me.

When answering someone about what plants I have last night, I realized that I now have a wider variety of aquatic plants than I have ever had a variety of fish at a single time. I even have 3 tanks that are primarily plant grow out, and the fish are there to provide ferts (and endlers multiply like crazy, so this allows me to separate males, females, and juveniles until I see their full coloration).

I mean, I slowed down on the 4' dining room build specifically waiting for plants so I could replicate exactly what I see in my head.🤷‍♂️

I guess this is the point we roll out "welcome to the planted side" (Aquarium Co-op could make a series of Co-op stickers like "welcome to the snail side" etc, lol).

Have a wonderful Sunday!

[Guppysnail]

On 1/9/2022 at 11:03 AM, Chad said:

Well my ears are burning, or should I write my eyes are burning? Nope that’s just wrong ;), but what exactly did you like about my setup @Guppysnail? I’d be happy to offer suggestions but my tank is really just me throwing things in there, going “nope” a few days later. Basically a lot of trial and error, so I made sure nothing was rooted (almost nothing) and everything was slow growing.

I like the open middle and “cleanness of the look. The symmetry of the exposed wood on either side appeals to me a lot. My centers are always full…well everywhere is 🤣. The lack of being cluttered is so dynamic. I’m not sure I can achieve that my pandas like floating plants and their terra cotta tunnels but it is definitely the baseline for that tank. It also inspired me today thinking of it to maybe not put my spiderwood plant volcano in the center of the 29 guppy tank. For as chaotic as all my tanks look my visual preference is that crisp simple “clean” uncluttered look you achieved….I will always be envious of your watermill though 😁

Edited January 9, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think Josh Sims and others embody what Amano referred to and others do as well “wabi sabi” a sort of intentional randomness that won’t make your eyes leave the scape - appreciation of the imperfections and randomness of nature. It’s funny but the Dutch rules in a way help you to try to achieve this by not letting you blend the same colors and textures these techniques lead  your eye to appreciate the random collection of plants in a non-random way that as a collection lead your eye a certain way ie. The street, the moss walls, the heights. In nature the rule of 3rds and triangular composition help us do this naturally in an artificial way and in a good aquascape whether a diorama like Josh Sims or a Dutch scape like@gjcarewthey do this in abundance. 
Ive tried to achieve this with The Sad Bowl with a plant in Madagascar Lace that’s supposed to only be in a large tank but yet it’s in a bowl and the random beauty of the lacy large leaves flowing along the curves of the bowl along with the random projections of moss, anubias, Buce and large crypts blend it all together. Right now one of my favorite experiments is floating plants like stems that aren’t supposed to be floaters yet baby tears, valisineria and others make leaves into loops and curves while floating you’d never appreciate if they were just planted in the substrate. Not to mention when they start to grow emersed into the top Of the tank it’s like a completely different plant.

[Guppysnail]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:01 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

supposed to only be in a large tank

All morning I’ve been struggling with what to do with my 25-30 in elodea. I really want my ludwiga to be the only super tall plant along with an APL bulb but I have nowhere to go with the elodea. I cut it in half a week later it’s at the surface growing across the top. I think I’m going to try you Sad Bowl technique and make that the primary plant for my 20 l sorority fry tank. I adore the look you mad in the Sad Bowl. 

[eatyourpeas]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:07 AM, Guppysnail said:

All morning I’ve been struggling with what to do with my 25-30 in elodea. I really want my ludwiga to be the only super tall plant along with an APL bulb but I have nowhere to go with the elodea. I cut it in half a week later it’s at the surface growing across the top. I think I’m going to try you Sad Bowl technique and make that the primary plant for my 20 l sorority fry tank. I adore the look you mad in the Sad Bowl. 

I finally removed the Elodea densa from my tanks as I was suspecting it to be the cause of other plants not thriving. I made a sad flower vase with it. It is alone, and happy. It is the plant I cut off to get instant ammonia absorption for a QT when needed. I think @Beardedbillygoat1975 should patent the "sad" series. 😍

The lights on my tanks are just coming on, and this thread has made me so happy already. WC day, meds day, trying something new day. Happy Sunday everyone, and thank you for cheering me up! 😃

[Chad]

Ah, gotcha. Well let me add some details to the "why" of my decorations then. This wasn't my original idea, but a 33 gallon long is, well, long! As it sat on my table, it looked like a horizon. Which is what I wanted since my latest aim was to get schooling fish to do what they do best and that's swim side-to-side. Starting off, everything was guided by thinking in diagonal angles. Angles add movement and vibrance to a rectangle, they break up the space. Our rectangular tanks are the frame to the picture we're trying to paint. So I started with the driftwood, being smaller than expected, I switched from thinking of an active centerpiece design to that of a quiet valley with busy sides. The pagoda rock on the other side is angled opposite of the driftwood, again vitality/action through opposing angles. By definition it's called contrast. It's also smaller, intentionally. Big and small, smooth and rough. If you think something looks "plain", contrast is almost always the answer. Look at your tank, ask yourself if the objects in there are too similar in size to one another? Maybe add smaller or larger things to it? Also, ask yourself what direction those objects are pointing or drawing your eye. Are they all pointing up? Shifting their placement will add action. Then space, empty space can draw your eye just as much as filled. The sides of my tank are busy (filled), so I opened up the middle, again, contrast. It also directs my schooling fish to swim side to side more often. At it's core though, this works because of how wide the tank/frame is. These are some of the overarching principles at play in my tank. I hope it helps, I certainly owe ya for all your past help.

[Guppysnail]

@Chad thank you, now I understand and I think I understand how I can incorporate the panda terra cotta pots without them being the eye attraction as well as get the open feel and still incorporate the floating pennywort. I always sit everything facing forward so each thing looks it’s best on its own but that makes the whole much less interesting. The angle and different height aspect is most helpful 🤗

I love this forum because each and every person has something unique to them and valuable to contribute. When pooled together it enhances everyone’s hobby and allows growth opportunities 🤩🥳