Now *that's* and awesome fishtank. Love all the bright colours, and the ornament at centre stage is just perfect!

Thank you!! It took me a while to get it here just because of all the designing that had to be done. I needed a bigger ornament for my striped raphael catfish and so BOOM! Piratey theme~ I'm glad you like it!!

Have you ever thought about doing live plants and natural decor? After about 10 years of using artificial decorations, I got bored of aquascaping altogether and just started doing bare-bottom aquariums with some driftwood as hiding places, but then I decided to venture into live plants with one of my smaller aquariums, and now every single one of my tanks has live plants. I think they make aquariums a lot more interesting and dynamic (plus, they help out with water quality, so the fish appreciate them too).

I've thought about it a couple of times because I do like the idea of live plants and totally want them, but I haven't had the money or time to sink into doing a proper planted tank...

A lot of people overestimate the amount of work it takes. There are a lot of plants you can get that don't require anything beyond what your aquarium already has. Any Anubias species, most Cryptocoryne species (the most common being C. wendtii), Ludwigia repens, Rotala rotundifolia, Bolbitis, water sprite, Bacopa, java moss, brazillian pennywort, and many Aponogeton species would all do fine in your aquarium. You could do what I did when I first started, and just add a couple live plants at a time to see how you like them. Just a suggestion though.

Oh really? See when I researched I was all about CO2 canisters and sand instead of gravel and driftwood and just...way too much work ya know? Especially since I've killed moss balls of all things before XD I'm just worried about taking that risk and then it either not working or all of them dying. Faux plants are just easier. But I might be able to do that. Or try it at least lol.

Yeah, it all depends on what type of plants you're keeping. There are some plants that require special substrate, special lighting, high CO2 levels, and precise fertilization, but those aren't generally recommended for beginners anyway. I've kept high tech planted aquariums, and they're really nice, but they're very high maintenance and difficult to establish. My current aquariums are all running with low to moderate lighting, with little or no fertilizers and no CO2 injection.

Moss balls can be a bit finicky, so I wouldn't be too discouraged by that. They don't do very well at tropical temperatures (best kept below 68F) and they're really sensitive to bright light and sometimes need to be rotated periodically to avoid burning. If you do have random plant deaths with easier species though, it could be an issue with your tap water.

Moss balls are really the only plant I've tried keeping. I was having an algae problem in my tank and was told that live plants help that and the person recommended moss balls. They probably didn't last long because I keep my water relatively warm to avoid stuff like ick and I didn't know they didn't like lighting.

I'm not sure what kind of lighting I could classify my tank as having, but the gravel substrate isn't moving for a while. If you think my tank would do well with some easy plants though I might be willing to try! What kinds would you recommend>

Anubias would be a good plant to start with. They take their nutrients directly from the water, and can survive under almost any conditions. They'll typically grow at a maximum rate of about one new leaf per month, so they don't require trimming either. Any species of Anubias will do fine, but the most common one you'll find is going to be Anubias barteri var. nana (often just referred to as "Anubias nana").

I'd just suggest that before buying Anubias, watch a Youtube video on how to plant it. They can be planted in the gravel or tied to a rock or decoration, but if you plant them in the gravel, you have to be careful not to bury the rhizome.