River bed style

[Zoe Naughten]

I was wondering if anyone has any pics oy a realy naturaly themed tanks with lots of weed an rocks an some driftwood an stuff for ideas for a new tank i really like the river bed style setup

Check out the thread "Newest tank" in the gallery for mine. Nothing but real driftwood and plants, except for one hollow log made of resin

My large 3ft tan is set up sort of like a river bed. I used propagating sand for substrate; It's like sand but with small bits of gravel in it. Then I randomly placed a few natural colored stones along the sand. Which gave a nice natural look.
I used large rocks to create caves, and a piece of driftwood forms an arch across the middle of the tank. I planted banana lillies on the driftwood, and a long reedy plant called vallisneria in the substrate. The plants survive in low light so the axies dont have to hide for the light for too long during the day.
I'll try and get some pics, but my camera is playing up at the moment.

This shows the substrate and rocks in one of my tanks.

I think you will be much happier if you either remove the gravel (read food-sized) pieces or cover them with big river rocks. you can read up about why in the forums.
-e

I've never had any problems with the substrate. Bob has been in a tank with this substrate for 3 years, and she doesn't eat it. All my axies are trained to take food from my hand.
I started out with large pebbles, but found cleaning to be difficult as everything falls down between the rocks.