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Howdy,

I have a Dojo Loach. I know my tank is a bit...small...for him, and he has a few tankmates (6 at last count). He tears up my tank. I don't really mind, but it get's hard to take care of after a while. (I'm also dealing with a slight algae problem that makes it hard to clean the plants completely).

Would a stone and driftwood aquarium (IE, no plants, artifical or otherwise) still look good by themselves? And would it be easier to clean while looking decent with a Dojo loach wrecking havoc since rock and limbs are heavier and can't be moved about? Or would this be problematic for either the other fish (lack of hiding? maybe?) or the loach itself (moving under the substrate and shifting the limbs or rock, making it fall on him?) Or would it not be worth it?

I had a similar problem with an ornery pleco.
The good news is that you can still have plants, but a different kind of plant than the delicate jungle-forming ones you most often see.

Get a bunch of wood and rock like you suggested, and cover them in rhizome-plants like java fern, anubias, or bolbitis. The result can be quite stunning, and the best part is that they are incredibly easy to care for because they don't require much light, no ferts, and you never have to trim them. You simply tie the rhizome to wood or rocks. I use thin fishing line, but thread works as well. If you have a lot of them, they create something of a canopy of leaves hovering above a tangle of branches and stone. It's quite pretty in a sort of primitive way.

And your destructive loach shouldn't be able to do any damage because all of the plants are tied down.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Hm...

Like I said, the tank is still small for a full grown loach, and I won't put any more buddies in until either the loach has passed on or if I find a new home for him. I only mention this because rock and driftwood take up a lot of space...but should be fine, right?

I like that idea of plants themselves in the tank (I'm using artifical ones...heh...dear loachling has already redecorated for me...) Would those kinds of plants aid in any problems dealing with greenwater (mine is slightly tinted, but if I go this natural route it might actually look more realistic...) or with algae? I have a slight algae problem and no room for a bristlenose or pleco to clean it, but plants can help with that, no?

As you can see, I'm really green when it comes to live plants. Any other info you have would be awesome, esp. towards my questions. Thanks for the info so far, this is really neat.

As suggestedJava fern would be good for your situation, they're really hardy and can withstand a beating. You'll want to make sure that you tie it on really well to begin with because in non CO2 tanks java tends to be a slightly slower grower. I've used both thread and fishing line as well. The good thing about thread is that it degrades in the tank whereas fishing will always be there, the roots will simply grow ontop of it.

I once did a tank that was mostly all rock and wood with a driftwood arch covered in java fern. I thought it looked quite nice . Since the loach digs a bit I'd make sure it's large pieces of wood that are very stable and possibly a few rocks that wont shift too much if the substrate shifts under them. Possibly even make sure that both rock and wood are actually resting on the bottom of the tank not the substrate itself

As for the green water issue. Since you dont have live plants right now, I'd suggest giving the tank a blackout for a few days combined with daily water changes. Sounds like you're a bit overstocked and with no plants to consume the nutrients the algae is taking advantage .

^_^

Floating plants such as salvinia are great nitrate suckers and will help a great deal with green water and some algae.

If you're worried about the wood or rock taking up too much space, get lots of smaller branchy pieces and silicone them to pieces of slate or plexiglass, or the rocks in the tank. Make sure there are lots of places where fish can swim through. You can even silicone separate branches to each other to create a more branchy look. Then just put a plant over the silicones=d joint and in a few weeks you'd never know it wasn't all part of the same tree.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Neat.

Will the fish in the tank be at any danger if they attempt to sample the plants? I have 3 rasboras, 1 zebra danio, and 2 dwarf flame gouramis.

Also, how much do plants tend to cost? I have a limited budget. Also, besides tying the plants down onto the driftwood or rocks, is there anything else I need to know about them? Water temp? Specific pream's? Light?

Doe sanyone have a tank decorated this way, or similarly? I would like to see some visuals of other people's creativity and get more ideas.

Thanks for the advice and the ideas thus far guys!

Java ferns are usually pretty inexpensive, though anubais is considerably more pricey due to it's slow growing, so it takes more time to propagate. Both java ferns and anubias are very tolerant of a very wide range of water parameters from hot acidic discus type tanks to hard alkaline rift lake tanks. You don't need to add ferts, and 1-2 watts per gallon will be enough light for them. With more light, you run the chance of algae unless you have a fast growing nitrate-sucker (like the floating salvinia I mentioned).

Here's a shot of my 65 gallon tank decorated with just bogwood and anubias:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/p1010036.jpg

I've started doing most of my tanks with this sort of scheme because they are so easy to take care of.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

"Will the fish in the tank be at any danger if they attempt to sample the plants?"

Nope. If they're true aquatics they will pose no threat, some fish will nibble java fern but almost all agree it's about as tasty as dandilion juice. Some shops will sell non aquatic plants as aquatics, just do your research before you buy .

Oh and nice tank illustrae.

^_^