I’ll be honest – when I first started getting serious about aquascaping, I thought decorative pieces were kind of… tacky? You know, like those bright plastic castles and treasure chests you see in beginner setups. But then my four-year-old daughter spotted a sunken pirate ship at the pet store and wouldn’t stop talking about it, and I realized maybe I was being a bit of a snob about the whole thing.
That little obsession of hers ended up teaching me something important about aquascaping that I hadn’t considered before. Sometimes the best aquascapes aren’t just about creating perfect nature scenes – they’re about creating stories that draw you in and make you want to keep looking. And honestly? My kids taught me that better than any YouTube tutorial ever could.
The whole sunken decoration thing started when we were setting up what became our “adventure tank” in the living room. My daughter had been going through this intense pirate phase (still ongoing, actually), and she kept asking why we couldn’t have pirates in our fish tank. I tried explaining that fish don’t really care about pirates, but she wasn’t buying it. So we compromised – we’d create an underwater world where pirates used to sail, but now it was taken over by fish.
I spent way too much time researching which decorations would actually work in a planted tank without looking completely artificial. Turns out there’s a whole spectrum of ornamental pieces that can actually enhance an aquascape instead of overwhelming it. The key is choosing things that look like they belong underwater, not like they were just dropped in from a toy store.
We ended up with this medium-sized shipwreck that had really nice weathered details – not too bright, with realistic rust coloring and openings that fish could swim through. The best part was that it had multiple levels and hiding spots, which meant it wasn’t just decorative. My cory cats immediately claimed the lower cargo area, and the tetras started using it as a highway system.
But here’s where it gets interesting – adding that shipwreck completely changed how I approached plant placement. Instead of just trying to create a natural underwater meadow, I had to think about how plants would actually grow around a sunken object over time. Java fern attached to the mast looked like seaweed that had taken over. Some moss wrapped around the railings gave it that overgrown, lost-to-time feeling that made the whole setup feel more authentic.
My daughter was fascinated by the process. She’d sit next to me while I worked on the tank, asking questions about how long it would take for plants to grow over a real sunken ship, whether fish would actually live in shipwrecks in the ocean, why some decorations looked fake and others didn’t. These conversations ended up making me more thoughtful about my choices too.
The trick with ornamental pieces – and this took me several failed attempts to figure out – is that they need to feel integrated with everything else in the tank. You can’t just plop a treasure chest in the middle of some random plants and call it good. The decoration needs to feel like it’s part of the ecosystem, not fighting against it.
Scale matters a ton. I learned this the hard way when I bought what I thought was a reasonably sized treasure chest online, but when it arrived it was basically the size of my filter. Way too big for a 20-gallon tank, made everything else look tiny and weird. Now I sketch out my layouts first – nothing fancy, just rough proportions on notebook paper – before buying anything new.
Placement is everything too. The shipwreck works because it’s positioned at an angle in the back third of the tank, partially hidden by some larger plants. It creates depth instead of just sitting there demanding attention. The treasure chest we eventually got is tucked between some rocks and driftwood, so it looks like it washed up naturally instead of being carefully placed.
What really surprised me was how much the kids’ fish-watching behavior changed once we added the decorative elements. Before, they’d glance at the tank occasionally, maybe during feeding time. But with the shipwreck and other pieces creating little scenes and hiding spots, they started inventing stories about what the fish were doing. The angels were pirates, the tetras were their crew, the bottom-dwelling cats were treasure hunters. It became this whole imaginary world that kept them engaged way longer than just watching fish swim around plants.
I’ve since added decorative elements to our other tanks too, but always with the same principle – they need to enhance the story the tank is telling, not distract from it. My daughter’s bedroom tank has a small fairy garden setup with tiny mushroom houses and bridges that look like they could be natural formations if you squint. The kitchen shrimp tank has some small river stones arranged to look like ancient ruins, which sounds pretentious but actually looks pretty cool.
The maintenance aspect is something worth considering though. Decorative pieces create more surface area for algae to grow on, and they can be harder to clean than smooth rocks or driftwood. I’ve found that having good algae-eating crew helps a lot – my nerite snails do amazing work keeping the shipwreck clean, and the shrimp are constantly picking at moss-covered surfaces.
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Plant selection becomes more strategic when you’re working around ornamental pieces too. You want plants that will complement the decoration without completely hiding it or looking out of place. Anubias works great attached to artificial surfaces because it grows slowly and looks natural on almost anything. Fast-growing stem plants in the background help frame decorative elements without competing with them.
I’ve also learned that less is definitely more with this approach. One well-chosen, well-placed ornamental piece can be the focal point that makes an entire tank more interesting. But three or four decorations usually just look cluttered and theme-parky. My rule now is one major decorative element per tank, with maybe one smaller supporting piece if the scale works.
The kids have gotten involved in choosing decorations for new setups, which has been fun but also required some negotiation skills. My son went through a phase where he wanted every tank to have a SpongeBob pineapple, which… no. But we found a compromise with some natural-looking ceramic caves that satisfied his desire for “houses” without ruining the aesthetic I was going for.
What’s been really rewarding is watching how their understanding of aquatic ecosystems has developed through these themed tanks. They understand now that decorations need to be safe for fish, that they create territories and hiding spots, that plants will grow differently around objects than in open water. These aren’t concepts I explicitly taught – they picked them up through observation and asking questions during maintenance time.
I’m planning our next themed tank now – thinking about an ancient ruins concept with some weathered stone pieces and plants that’ll look like they’re reclaiming civilization. My daughter is already sketching ideas and asking if we can include “princess fish” (which apparently means angelfish). We’ll see how ambitious I’m feeling when it comes time to actually set it up, but the planning process has become almost as fun as the final result.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that there’s room for imagination in aquascaping without sacrificing the health or natural beauty of the tank. Those decorative elements that I used to dismiss actually serve important functions – they create structure, provide hiding spots, give fish territories to claim, and most importantly for my family, they create talking points and story opportunities that keep my kids engaged with the hobby. Sometimes the best aquascape isn’t the most technically perfect one, it’s the one that makes people want to keep looking and asking questions.
Jordan’s home tanks started as a way to teach his kids about nature—and ended up teaching him patience. Between client work and bedtime chaos, he finds calm trimming plants and watching fish. Family life, design, and algae control all blend in his posts.
