Best stuff for fish hiding places

Question
Hi Karen,

I am trying to figure out what would be the best stuff to use for fish hiding places. I have Bala Sharks, Rainbow Sharks, Buenos Aries Tetras, Columbian Tetras, Scissortail rasboras, Albino Aries, and Cory Cats in my 30 gallon tank. I am just wondering what would be the best thing to use for height and what plants i should put in my tank?

Thanks, Travis

Answer
Dear Travis,
You could use a variety of stuff. Or just one type of thing for creating hiding places for your fish. Artificial decorations in the form of natural looking caves, roots, wood, and rocks are all good. But Driftwood, large stones, and tall and bushy plants (both live and plastic) Work very well. What it all depends on is what theme of tank you want. You could for example, have a river bottom theme. With smooth round stones both small and large placed around with tall and thick flowing plants for good hiding places . Little hiding places can easily be made with stones and rock, and petrified wood works well also.

I use a lot of locally found stones and petrified wood for most of my aquarium decorating. You want to be sure the rocks you get aren't going to slowly dissolve minerals into your aquarium water which would make your water hard and with a high pH that many fish don't prefer. You can try a vinegar test by putting a spoon of vinegar on the rock and seeing if it fizzes. If it does, this could mean that rock is calcarous  and will leech minerals. If it doesn't then you are Ok. If you are unsure, you can always put the stone(s) in a bucket of water that you know the pH to and test the pH again a week later to see if it's gone higher.

Any aquatic plant would be great in your aquarium. Again it just depends upon what theme you want.

Usually it's best to use one type of rock in your aquarium to make it look more natural. Driftwood and rocks are great together too. It's really best to buy driftwood rather than collect it. Unless you can be certain that the driftwood you collect is "genuine" it may still be rotting and most collected driftwood doesnt sink. Driftwood purchased online or at your local fishstore works better for the most part.

Just decide and maybe do some research on some good themes for your aquarium. For example may you want an "Amazon tank theme" With an aquarium nearly choked with vegetation as well as floating plants to duplicate overhead vegetation common whenever the amazon river floods the forest. There is a really great book about decorating aquariums according to real nature called "Aquarium Designs inspired by nature" That might help you out.

I really hope this helps! Feel free to write with anymore concerns!

Best wishes,
Karen~