My plans for Leviathan's tank

I'd like to build a slate cave and have the top of it extend to the back of the aquarium, with another entrance coming out of the top. After that, I'd like to grow Lilaeopsis or another ground cover to create 'grass' on top of it. Maybe moss instead, so it would grow down and partially obscure the entrance? After that, I want to create a driftwood tree with the roots forming the entrance to the back of the cave. It looks like most driftwood trees are created using Christmas moss, but if anyone has a better suggestion, I'm open to it :happy:. There'll be a sand path going from the left corner of it to the tree cave, and I think I want to grow anubis or something along the path, but I'm not sure where to place it or if I should use a different kind of plant. Moss balls would be a cool thing to include, but I don't know where I want to place them.

Comments or suggestions? I'm open to them! :happy:

Hard to see your picture but sounds like some interesting ideas. Lilaeopsis needs a fair amount of light if you want it to grow densely - what kind of light do you have on your tank? I think it also needs to be able to root into something so I'm not sure if it would work as a cover on slate (that is what you mean, right?) ... you might be better off trying to get a moss cover on the cave as well.

Christmas moss grows in such a way that it would create a nice tree, weeping moss would probably provide a similar effect and they would both look good. They take a while to grow out but imagine they would look really good as a tree. Java moss wouldn't work because it grows quite messy and everywhere and can be a pain if it gets all over your tank.

Anubias is a great plant and can look awesome in a tank, especially because it will root onto things like driftwood. It grows painfully slowly from my experience, but is worth it.
If you can get marimo moss balls they would be the best thing, don't know how readily available they are in the US (they are almost impossible to find here!) Otherwise I think some aquarium wholesalers distribute what I've seen called "fontinalis balls" which are usually just java moss attached to a ping pong ball on some fishing line and weighed down with a sinker. I've heard these go really gross on the inside when the moss grows out a bit, so I wouldn't recommend them.

I have a P.waltl named Leviathan! Nice!

danchristopher said:

Hard to see your picture but sounds like some interesting ideas. Lilaeopsis needs a fair amount of light if you want it to grow densely - what kind of light do you have on your tank? I think it also needs to be able to root into something so I'm not sure if it would work as a cover on slate (that is what you mean, right?) ... you might be better off trying to get a moss cover on the cave as well.

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It wouldn't be directly on top of the slate, I had planned on covering the top of the cave in ecocomplete. As for lighting, I have no lighting on Levi's tank right now (I was told it hurt their eyes). My plan was to grow all of this in a separate tank, and then transfer him into it once it was all grown out and pretty. Thanks for the feedback! I've been looking into java moss carpets- do you think that would work better?

Niels- Cool It's a good name.

The java moss carpet could work, but as I said it grows quite messy and some of it will come off (no matter how much you tie it down) and end up floating around your tank. I have some growing on some driftwood, I'll attach a picture so you can see the way it grows. You will definitely need something to hold it in place on the ground, were you going to use slate on the bottom as well? Or I guess you could try something like the java moss walls on the ground you find examples of in other threads around the place - only problem I can think of with this is the moss underneath going a bit foul, you'd probably have to keep it trimmed so this didn't happen.

Also, you can have a light on your tank, as long as your axie has plenty of dark/shady space to hide under it's fine to have a light on for a few hours everyday to grow out your plants.

Sorry about dodgy picture, hard to get a photo without any glare during the day D: