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I'm looking for some ideas to help tidy up my aquascape.
I was going for a very natural dense jungle look. I think I might have been a bit too successful, it now just looks a bit more disorganised rather than natural.

Actually what's bugging me most is the wisteria, pretty plant but got a habit of growing in a very contrary way. It'll grow vertical for a few inches then horizontal for a few inches and so on. The top looks nice but from the middle down is a mess , it's shading the lower leaves which are suffering and the roots from the internodes are thick and hanging down everywhere. I'm thinking of replacing it with something a little easier to "organise".
I have a few bunches of Cambomba/Ambulia filling the left rear corner which is doing really well (it's very hard to see in the photo from that angle)and is very pretty and bushy, one idea I had was to swap it with the wisteria, i.e. Cambomba in centre back and Wisteria in the rear left hand corner where the bottom half would be hidden from view. But any other ideas you have are welcome.

Also like some input on the front. The crypts did a lot better then I thought and are pretty dense at the front. I knda like the look of it, but wondering if some kind of tidying up will help.

Also I think I went a bit overboard on the number of plant species (the desire to keep adding fish was replaced with the desire to keep adding plants - no pesky inch per gallon rule !)

Basically looking for any ideas that will retain the wild natural look but with a bit more organisation.
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/394934.jpg"]

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Really nice tank!!!! That's the kind of jungle look I love!

Ok these are some suggestions that I think might help accomplish what you are looking for:
-I agree with you wisteria is a really nice looking plant, but it does takes over, I would let the cabomba become bushy and taller, and trim down the wisteria, way down, make it become a mid ground plant, you can control the growth pruning the branches to it may grow in the direction you want.

-I would add a larger piece of wood at the mid ground, that to make like a visual rest, in the whole set up, maybe a tall one and then plant the crypts at the base, in that way the foreground would be more relived.

-To keep that jungle look, don't apply the foreground mid ground and background plant rule, I would leave a couple of tall plants in the foreground (it adds depth) and it's not as "tidy".

-You can do a corner to corner arrangement, from a front corner to a back one in diagonal line, this means, you can plant a tall plant in the front corner and plant towards the back in descending order to the middle (driftwood or rock) then ascending again towards the back opposite corner (even more depth)

-Finally I would get some big round leaved plants (maybe ocelot amazons?), so the ones you already have can come out with the leaf contrast.

Good luck and congratulations!!! great and healthy looking tank!

Thanks Falstaff,

Seems we have similar thoughts. You can't really tell from the photos but there are 2 huge pieces of driftwood at the back of the tank. The wisteria has long since covered them. One piece is so-so, the other is a really nice tall piece that almost reaches the surface and is a nice shape - kind of mountain like. One thought I had was was to bring that more into the center and just remove the so-so piece and consolidate all the java fern onto the big piece.

Really like the corner to corner idea. One of my bugs at the moment is that the tanks pretty good but it all looks like one lump one plants.

Again a sword with different shape leaves is a good idea and I did just see some marble queen swords that were very nice.

Thanks for the input, great ideas.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

bensaf.
The only thing that realy stands out about your tank is "If it a is not broken dont fix it"

You have achieved exactly what you set out to do a full "very natural dense jungle look" Regardless of the plants you have there they all seem very happy, well grown and certainly compatable. I would consider this one of the better fully planted tanks I have seen for some time. There are some excellent ones on the internet and yours is equal or better than most of them.

Finally well done and congratulations on a excellent aquscape. If you have not got a suitable camera (previous thread) get some one to take as many photos as possible for you.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Keith, I'm blushing :%)

Thanks for the comments and the "if it ain't broke....". But actually the photo was a bit flattering of the wisteria. It really was taking over and the bottom half was a mess.

Anyway I've just finished about 2 hours of messing around with the tank. I didn't change too much cut way back on the wisteria, which I'm sure will be coming straight back in days. Brought the driftwood and ferns a bit further forward.

Made a few other small changes but decided to leave the foreground pretty untouched, kinda liked the randomness rather then something manicured.Will probably add some more Rotala Indica at the weekend at the left back for more of a splash of color

Anyway here's a couple of pics. Let me know if I've improved.
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395318.jpg"]

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

one more.
bensaf attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395321.jpg"]

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Wow
As much as I love wisteria (except for the few plants that are doing a great job of not growing in my 20 ) I have to admit that the tank does look alot better after having it trimmed down.

I prefer having my plants gathered together, almost as if they were schooling, I'd say take the "so so" piece of wood you mentioned and get all the java ferns rooted on that.

You didn't mention what size tank it was, or maybe I missed it , but I'd suggest 2 different types of plant per shade of green with maybe 1-2 red plants. Even if they're all plants from your specific region you're recreating you wouldn't see such a wide variety of plants in such a small area. Keeping them bunched together (but not organized :%)) would IMO be more of how they'd look in nature. Have one plant spill over into the other plants section (like the dots of a ying yang) and that will be the one plant that got caught in the current.
Just my $0.02
The rest is for my fish .

^_^





[span class="edited"][Edited by Babelfish 2004-07-13 10:05][/span]

Great looking tank Bensaf! I don't have much to add to the suggestions that already have been given. Personally I'd group the plants a little bit more, but that is just a matter of opinion and if you like them the way they are right now then I'd say stick with that. The plants look like they are growing really good, losts of light, so you probably would have no problem to grow a couple of red plants in there as well, they would nicely break all the grean a bit. A tiger lotus or some Alternanthera would grow very nice I bet.

oh and one last thing, I don't think there is such a thing as a "finished tank" especially with live plants

Thanks for the encouragement guy's

Bonke is correct, it never finishes. 3 months I've been wrestling with this monster. But I like the way it's going so far, just a few touch ups.

I'm picking up a CO2 system at the weekend so I'll probably pick up a couple of plants. I'll try for something a bit eyecatching. At the moment the one thing I'm not so happy about is that everything kind a blends in and there's nothing to really stop the eye. Definately want to increase the group of Rotala that's already there and then maybe go for either a nice Red Rubin Sword or a Red Tiger Lotus as a centerpiece (think the Tiger Lotus may offer a better contrast of leaf shape)

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

bensaf.
OK it does look better with a bit of trimming and movement but it exposes all the other nasties plactics etc.

Here is a cropping and a little touch up which can make a difference. Also try to take the photo so that the base of the tank is parallel with the bottom of the photo.

I will delete the photo if you request it.

Keith
keithgh attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/395954.jpg"]

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Sorry, no advice from me. I just wanted to say that's quite a beautiful tank I really like the first picture with the reflection from the top of the water.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Great job on the photo Keith. Did you enhance the colors also? Your's seem to have to deeper color,your photo's making me proud of myself, can't believe I made that tank You are now officially my "Aristic Director" for the upcoming aquascaping competition.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.