The utilitarian fishroom issue

[nabokovfan87]

I was watching a video from some content creator on youtube and there was a tour of some kind of a "fishroom" with a half dozen or more tanks.  Every tank was meant for enjoying a variety of fish species, but every tank shown was bare bottomed, no backgrounds, it was minimally scaped, and most often it has one type of a plant that was simply floating.

Looking at this video I had a conundrum.  I was very excited to see what was in every single tank, but I was very deflated by the surroundings and the way things were setup.  For clarity, this was not a breeding setup, this was simply a hobbyist who enjoyed a lot of different species of fish. 

How do we ensure some sort of feeling of awe in every single hobbyist's home?  Well, I think a great way to manage yourself is to have at least one display tank.  A display tank where you make the tank visually enjoyable for yourself.  Substrate, hardscape, plants, clear water, and preferably a few species of fish you really admire to sit and enjoy. 

By having at list one "art tank" I think it can mentally help everyone to enjoy the hobby.  This might be a jar with shrimp, a nano tank with a betta, or some sort of amazing 6 foot long massive community tank, but something you can cherish and hone your craft with.  A sand garden, but the aquarium version.  One tank you can be proud to share photographs of and not just because of the cool creatures inside.

With that being said, please feel free to share your favorite "easy" beautiful tanks.  Whatever you consider that to be.  Something you think is a great tank to visually enjoy and that you wouldn't be intimidated to replicate.

Here's mine.  I'd love to see some moss on the wood eventually!

Here's another that isn't any more complex to put together, similar in style, but just a bit less intimidating.

 

Edited June 2, 2023 by nabokovfan87
added second video

[Guppysnail]

My fabulous neighbor @aqualon56 has a huge fishroom done with minimal plants mostly floating however there is gravel in each tank. 
I did not understand the joy in this until I got to know him. He is a many decades cichlid keeper. Most of his fish would just eat any plants anyway. 
While learning about his fantastic fish and each tank I was amazed. 
Each tank had been painstakingly designed to cater to each species likes down to the hole sizes in stacked rocks and slate for smaller fish to escape the aggression of the larger mates. 
I came to appreciate the true beauty of his tanks were the fish. They needed no scape to show the tank off. 
The joy he found in each species and each unique behavior was just as rewarding as what I get out of seeing my planted (though messy and haphazard 🤣) tanks. 
For someone who has focused on fish that eat plants the plants become a never ending source of frustration that detracts from the joy for those folks. 

I do not trim my tanks for a specific look. I trim or do not trim based on what my fish like. Not what looks like art. Much like my neighbor the fish themselves are what I enjoy not the artwork of the tank. 
Here is some of my moss on wood.
 

After 2 years my Dr. Seuss tree is finally working. 

There is wood under this moss. My anchor cats lay eggs in the moss and hide under the wood. They would prefer the entire tank being a giant moss ball.

This shelf the moss serves as a food dish for my honey gourami. It catches food and worms while my Badis badis love hanging out under the wood so I can see them vs always in a cave when lights are on. 

I have many pieces of cholla with moss for shrimp hides and fry hides as well as egg laying to protect eggs and fry. 

This is a train wreck that is vital. I have a breeding trip of Apisto that are on fry batch # 5. I kept adding things to the center to create a barrier. The girls fight if they can see each other but it still needs to allow dad to travel his territory to visit each girl. Right now I spend the most time sitting and watching this ugly tank because the fish and the behaviors are so enchanting I don’t notice what a disaster it looks like. 

The enjoyment we receive from tanks is unique to each person. Just because I may not understand what someone else sees in their tank does not mean they are not receiving maximum pleasure for themselves. 
 

 

Edit for clarity: most folks keep tanks for the enjoyment they receive from them. I know I do not keep tanks in a manner I don’t enjoy simply so other folks will be wowed and enjoy them 🤗

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/2/2023 at 3:24 AM, Guppysnail said:

The joy he found in each species and each unique behavior was just as rewarding as what I get out of seeing my planted (though messy and haphazard 🤣) tanks. 
For someone who has focused on fish that eat plants the plants become a never ending source of frustration that detracts from the joy for those folks. 

There are 1000 ways to make something aesthetically pleasing. The idea being a variation on the "Enjoy Nature Daily" mindset. On one side of the coin the real crux of that is to go out and to see and enjoy the natural world, but there is this Takashi Amano side of the coin of trying to bring a piece of that natural world experience into our homes. Ultimately, that is why a lot of people keep fish tanks.

Making sure, in some semblance of a way, that you have something you can look at and feel a certain way about, that's wonderful. Necessary.

Here's one I just found this week. Very minimal, but that setup speaks to a lot of what this idea is. By adding little things, like the background and the intense contrast on the substrate, the tank becomes the scene in a film. One little pop of color on the black and white (and sepia tones) stands out so much more because there was a little bit of effort to enhance things.

 

[Torrey]

On 6/2/2023 at 1:16 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I was watching a video from some content creator on youtube and there was a tour of some kind of a "fishroom" with a half dozen or more tanks.  Every tank was meant for enjoying a variety of fish species, but every tank shown was bare bottomed, no backgrounds, it was minimally scaped, and most often it has one type of a plant that was simply floating.

Looking at this video I had a conundrum.  I was very excited to see what was in every single tank, but I was very deflated by the surroundings and the way things were setup.  For clarity, this was not a breeding setup, this was simply a hobbyist who enjoyed a lot of different species of fish. 

How do we ensure some sort of feeling of awe in every single hobbyist's home?  Well, I think a great way to manage yourself is to have at least one display tank.  A display tank where you make the tank visually enjoyable for yourself.  Substrate, hardscape, plants, clear water, and preferably a few species of fish you really admire to sit and enjoy. 

By having at list one "art tank" I think it can mentally help everyone to enjoy the hobby.  This might be a jar with shrimp, a nano tank with a betta, or some sort of amazing 6 foot long massive community tank, but something you can cherish and hone your craft with.  A sand garden, but the aquarium version.  One tank you can be proud to share photographs of and not just because of the cool creatures inside.

With that being said, please feel free to share your favorite "easy" beautiful tanks.  Whatever you consider that to be.  Something you think is a great tank to visually enjoy and that you wouldn't be intimidated to replicate.

Here's mine.  I'd love to see some moss on the wood eventually!

Here's another that isn't any more complex to put together, similar in style, but just a bit less intimidating.

 

Im ORD🥰

 

On 6/2/2023 at 4:24 AM, Guppysnail said:

Edit for clarity: most folks keep tanks for the enjoyment they receive from them. I know I do not keep tanks in a manner I don’t enjoy simply so other folks

Also ORD🥰

 

On 6/2/2023 at 9:39 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

There are 1000 ways to make something aesthetically pleasing. The idea being a variation on the "Enjoy Nature Daily" mindset. On one side of the coin the real crux of that is to go out and to see and enjoy the natural world, but there is this Takashi Amano side of the coin of trying to bring a piece of that natural world experience into our homes. Ultimately, that is why a lot of people keep fish tanks.

Making sure, in some semblance of a way, that you have something you can look at and feel a certain way about, that's wonderful. Necessary.

Here's one I just found this week. Very minimal, but that setup speaks to a lot of what this idea is. By adding little things, like the background and the intense contrast on the substrate, the tank becomes the scene in a film. One little pop of color on the black and white (and sepia tones) stands out so much more because there was a little bit of effort to enhance things.

 

And also ORD🥰

 

I got into aquascaping (versus just throwing plants in the aquarium and seeing what lives, or the hardscape of my earlier cichlid tanks) after going down the rabbit hole of Josh Sims....

Yes, I have had tanks in the past that I treated as a canvas, and attempted to recreate a piece of nature. Josh Sims gave me the "water theory" of art that I needed to have my show piece tank. I practiced with my roommate's tank (with their permission) and played with which plants grow best with minimal input from me, in our water.

Then I started putting together an entire ecosystem in our 4' dining room tank... I bought the tank in Feb 2020 (right before I got covid) and slowly procured the wood, the rock, the UGF parts, and the plants.

It was growing plants and snails and microfauna for 6 months before I introduced shrimp.

Once the shrimp population is breeding faster than it can be eaten (P paludosus have a 6 stage larval cycle, so I need a solid number of 3rd and 4th gen adults breeding) I am getting my native fish.

I wanted a full NANF ecosystem, but the plants didn't all cooperate so I got a little flexible...if I can find invasive species in water ways around me, then they are fair game for Reverse Respiration and then my tank.

This is what brings me joy, creating the healthiest environment possible, that enables plant and animals to thrive, in a way that prevents my health issues from making them suffer.

And it's taught me a lot about priorities, the environment, and the mistakes we humans make thinking we know better than the larger ecosystem we are a part of...

So, no such thing as pests in my tanks, I celebrate the symbiotic green hydra as much as I celebrate scuds, snails, and even planaria.

 

They **all** belong, and have a purpose.

That's what is beautiful to me, recognizing that everything has a purpose, even if I don't understand it yet 

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/2/2023 at 9:00 PM, Torrey said:

This is what brings me joy, creating the healthiest environment possible, that enables plant and animals to thrive, in a way that prevents my health issues from making them suffer.

Beautiful setup.  I'm glad you've found methods and been able to focus on enjoyment given everything. 

On 6/2/2023 at 9:00 PM, Torrey said:

That's what is beautiful to me, recognizing that everything has a purpose, even if I don't understand it yet

1000%.  There's so much to say to this.  I wrote a letter once and it took me ~10 or so years to actually write it.  One of the things mentioned was the phrase "dummy up" and a list of 8-10 things that Grandma did for me.  Things that it took me years to truly understand once I was a bit older and could think about the depth of their meaning.  That phrase was her way of telling me to lighten up, let things go, try to relax, and so many things in a flash.  She was always able to make me smile and bring that out no matter what. 

[nabokovfan87]

Here is another beautiful, simple tank. Looks wonderful to me, especially with the blackwater helping the green to pop on the anubias.

 

Feel free to share any tank you feel is beautiful!

[nabokovfan87]

One piece of wood and some Val. The conversation they have it very interesting.

George talks about tours of the tropica farm. He mentions that they do them as a reminder and to keep enthusiasm for the hobby going for the business mindsets.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think we all enter the hobby for a variety of reasons but then those roads take us to other roads and the multiverse of the hobby can be very linear or chaos. 

In terms of bare bottom, species only or breeding setups and the need for nature in them when I reflect on the videos done in Eric Bodrocks fish room he tried to tailor each tank to the species, but at the same time this is his job and so he’s also thinking about his yields and the practical aspects. It was a nice balance for me. I agree @nabokovfan87that the bare bottom nothing but what will get the fish to breed is a hard look to hold my gaze. I have been heartened to see even Dean change his approach with more plants and better lights and different decor coming from his exposure and touches with the Coryverse. 

We all Evolve differently with @Guppysnaildetailing it beautifully. Both George Farmer and MD Fishtanks had to come to some hard realities with their discus tanks. I’ve basically hit rock bottom with my approach. It’s good fun though and teaches me constantly. Have fun everyone!

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:10 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I have been heartened to see even Dean change his approach with more plants and better lights and different decor coming from his exposure and touches with the Coryverse. 

I noticed this too 🙂

On 6/10/2023 at 9:10 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Both George Farmer and MD Fishtanks had to come to some hard realities with their discus tanks.

Would you care to elaborate? I don't think I know the story.

There was a quote from George Farmer in that video I linked. I highly recommend hearing that conversation and I think it's a great conversation to have as a hobbyist. Be it with your family who doesn't keep fish or yourself.  He was discussing his history and how he got started in the hobby.  Something along the lines of learning to enjoy the process of maintaining your tank.

"One message I'm trying to get across. It's very easy to appreciate the visual beauty. But, I think if you go a step beyond that, dig a bit deeper, there's so much more beauty in in the processes."

-George Farmer

Edited June 11, 2023 by nabokovfan87
added quote

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

If I recall they both struggled with the health of their discus- their plant based approach didn’t take into account the temperature, scape and maintenance needs of the fish so they both abandoned their tanks in favor of what they love which is planted tanks with animals vs animals in a planted tank. They kind of plopped the animals into a beautiful aquascape not really building nature around the animals. 
 

In terms of loving the process absolutely! The planning and setup is just the beginning of the journey. Whether the bumps and or detours in road are big or little or all the in-between you have to balance the wanting to do something with the letting nature take it’s course with layering the components as best you can to create symbiosis. It’s also doing something then waiting awhile before doing something else. Otherwise you’ll never learn the lessons of the hobby.