ROCKS AND WOODWORK

Why rocks and woodwork

   Although this is not a must, these items add beauty to the tank. Rocks and Wood make an additional contrast to the plants and gravel in addition to providing some hiding places for fishes.

Type of decorations

Rocks

Rock work

Rock work

  Water worn natural rocks collected from river beds give the best appearance and are free from sharp edges. However do not over do the decoration as they would occupy the swimming space of fishes. Again be careful about rocks containing calcium. Broken slate can make a very attractive background. Wood again can be collected from your backyard streams, but be careful with wood collected from nature, as they might be harboring unwanted visitors to the tank.

   If you are using gravel or rocks collected by yourself, check if it will affect the water hardness. Drop a few droplets of pH down on the rocks. If you see any fizzing or bubbles, the gravel/rocks are alkaline and will not be safe for your tank. Commercial acid can also be used for testing but you have to be careful about handling such stuff. pH down is preferable and safe. Calcitic rocks and gravel can be benficial to some cichlid tanks where water hardness is important.

Wood work

Drift wood

Drift wood

Drift wood

  Best wood are iron wood, soaked in water for many years and water logged. The best source is to buy from your aquarium shops which sell them. The ones bought in the shop are usually well boiled and dried and come with a heavy slate attached as anchor material to prevent the wood from floating. If you collect your own wood from a river or pond ensure that it is boiled in water and well dried in sun, before placing in the aquarium. This should kill any unwanted creature inside the crevices. The process can be repeated a couple of times. You can attach a piece of slate to the wood by drilling a hole in the slate and using a screw to attach it to the wood. You can make little caves with the rocks and wood and cover them up with plants and this provides good resting and hiding place for some of the fish. In fact some of the fish like to live and breed in small caves.

Other decorations

Pot decoration

Decorative

Decorative

  There are also other decorative materials such as pots, antique houses, forts, bridges etc.. There are innumerable shapes and sizes of objects available. Most of these are made of porcelein and will not affect your water conditions in anyway. There are also baked clay pots broken in ornamental fashion which can provide hiding places and spawning location for many of the fishes. They also add to the beauty of the tank without doubt. But how much decorations you want to dump inside is upto you. Over doing might reduce the swimming space for the fishes. For cichlids tanks, you can also use corals as decorations as they will provide buffer for keeping the dH and pH to necessary levels.