Aquariums with beautiful fish are great. However, fish tanks that incorporate the right ornaments can make fish tanks pop. In this blog, we’ll discuss fish tank decoration ideas for taking your fish tank to the next level.
Let’s dive in.
Fish Tank Decoration Ideas to Make Your Tank 1,000 Times Better Looking
Having unique and beautiful fish in your aquarium is nice. But, if you really want to make your aquarium impressive, it helps to have a nice theme or add ornaments to your tank that compliment your fish. Honestly, this can be one of the best parts of setting up your fish tank—designing it.
Simplicity
The best fish tank decoration ideas don’t exactly involve making your aquarium cluttered with tons of ornaments, plants, and that sunken ship bubbler. Actually, setting up a nice looking tank involves not only planning but simplicity. This means, getting nice gravel, and a couple to a few fish tank ornaments, depending on fish tank size. This can help lead to the most visually appealing fish tank for your home or office—a tank that is unique, orderly, and all yours.
Plan Out Your Aquarium and Fish Tank Decoration Ideas
The design of your tank should start with knowing what types of aquatic life you plan to keep in your aquarium. Because the ornaments you select can actually compliment the behavior of the aquatic life you choose to keep.
For example, I have a blue crayfish in my fish tank. So, it makes sense to incorporate ornaments that can serve as hideouts for my crayfish. That’s because crayfish like to burrow. Also, crayfish need a place to hide after molting. This is because after they molt, they are weak, soft, and not as equipped to defend themselves from other fish that may be aggressive.
Do you plan on using a black light or having neon tetras? If you do, you might want to think about selecting ornaments that glow.
The options are endless when it comes to ideas that can work, but let’s take a look at a few.
Aquarium Gravel
After you select your tank and set up the tank itself, the next part is to get started with what will line the floor of your tank. Will you have black gravel, white sand, what will you choose?
Whatever you choose will be an important part of your tank. After you select the gravel and place it in the tank, it’s then time to move on to the ornaments, hideouts, bubblers, and plants.
Fish Tank Decoration Ideas: Selecting Those Ornaments
In this blog, I really want to focus on the topic of ornaments for fish tank decoration ideas. So with that in mind, I’ll give you a list below of some of the coolest fish tank ornaments around. Well, I think they are anyway. Many of these ornaments can be centerpieces for your fish tank.
1. The Moai From Easter Island
I’ve always been into mysteries, aliens, and those types of things. And well, the Moai heads from Easter Islands are one of those types of things.
Moai are huge figures made out of large stones. The big mystery is, who put these things there? Why did they put these things there?
The story of Easter Island is pretty interesting. So, I may be a little biased on this choice, but the Moai fish tank ornament can be great for making your tank pop. It can give it that mysterious look.
2. Egyptian-Themed Fish Tank Ornaments
So, let’s be honest, my list of really cool fish tank ornaments to make your fish tank pop will undoubtedly be influenced by my personal taste. But, I will try to be somewhat neutral and objective with my list.
And, next on my list is an Egyptian-themed ornament.
Egypt has a history that is steeped in mystery. Everything about ancient Egypt is just interesting. So, adding an Egyptian-styled piece to your tank can add some mystery, personality, and really work well.
It appears that it’s not just one of my favorite fish tank decoration ideas in terms of ornaments, Egyptian-themed ornaments seem to be fairly popular these days.
In the picture above, you will see the Great Temple of Ramses II. Also, pyramids and the Sphinx seem to be pretty popular, too. So take your pick and set your fish tank back thousands of years.
3. Alien-Themed Fish Tank Ornaments
Okay, so I already admitted that I love mysteries and aliens. So, it’s time for me to do the one about the alien-themed fish tanks ornaments.
Aliens need no introduction. I mean everyone seems to know about alleged abductions, UFOs, Area 51, J-Rod, the Majestic 12, well, I think most people know. Anyway, alien stuff is pretty popular these days. And, there are some pretty cool alien fish tank ornaments for you to choose from. Personally, I liked the crashed UFO aquarium ornament. If you notice, It also makes the perfect hideout for fish or even a crayfish.
I would have really gone for some crop circles in my tank, but I don’t think that would have worked too well.
4. Skulls as a Fish Tank Decoration
Skulls. Skulls have always been popular. For example, people, every person out there has a skull. Sorry for the lame joke. Anyway, there are lots of different skull types of ornaments to choose from when it comes to your fish tank. Skulls just because of what they are, provide a place for your fish or crayfish to hideout. They can also make your tank look like your fish are rock n’ roll enthusiasts.
5. Old Cars for Fish Tank Ornament Decorations
Old cars can be really cool for an aquarium. And, there are lots of different options to choose from. There are more cartoonish types of cars, rustic looking cars, mini coopers, and even Beatle bug cars. Most of these types of ornaments provide fish and other aquatic life a place to hideout in the fish tank.
6. Great Fish Tank Decoration Ideas: Ships
An old ship is obviously very fitting for a fish tank. It’s something that can look very natural in a fish tank. Also, if you let your tank get too dirty, it can look very authentic. However, I don’t suggest keeping a dirty fish tank.
Some of my favorites are the ship pictured above, and the old sunken pirate ships. Take your pick, there’s a lot of ship out there to pick from.
7.Star Wars in Your Fish Tank?
In my opinion, adding Star Wars to anything can make it better. And when it comes to fish tank ornament decoration ideas, Star Wars is required to be on the “best list.”
Now, the picture above is an ornament listed as a “Resin Robot Dog Aquarium Ornament.” But come on, man. We all know this is anything but a “robot dog.” This ornament decoration is a knock-off of the AT-AT Walker from Star Wars. And even though it’s a bit of a knock off, I think it could still look pretty rad in a fish tank.
8.Buddah Fish Tank Ornament Decorations
If you look around, you’ll find that Buddah fish tank ornament decorations are extremely popular. There are tons of variations of the Buddah online and in pet stores. Personally, it’s not my favorite (it’s not a UFO or alien), but I thought should be on the list.
9. Bubblers for Your Aquarium
Bubblers are great for tanks. They keep water from sitting stagnant and also help with distributing oxygen throughout fish tanks. And many bubblers can also be a great fish tank decoration. There are ships with bubblers, volcanoes with bubblers, and even diver men that bubble. So bubblers can be another great addition to a fish tank.
10. Fish Tank Decoration Ideas a Little More on the Cute Side
In this blog, I’ve touched on a lot of cool ornament ideas that include ships, cars, UFOs, Star Wars, etc. However, not everyone may be into that. Some tanks might be focused more on kids in the home and that sort of thing.
I mean, I think every kid should like Star Wars. But, there are some other cool fish tank decoration ideas out there for children. Take for example the ornament above. That’s Destiny from Finding Dory.
Other tank ornament themes for children include Sponge Bob, Finding Nemo, and mermaids.
11. Simple ol’ Fish Tank Ornament Ideas
Now, back to the whole simplicity thing I talked about earlier. Maybe you want your tank to be as simple as possible, and that’s totally fine. However, you may still want to give fish or crayfish places to hideout. And, you can do this in a very simplistic way. The resin hideouts above are pretty straightforward; they give your aquatic life places to burrow and hide.
Plants for Decoration in Your Tank
Plants can also make a fish tank look very nice. Some people choose real plants while others go with plastic plants. My tank has all plastic plants, mainly because of my crayfish who like to destroy everything. But, plants can definitely add depth and color to a fish tank. So add something “plantish” to your tank.
The Importance of a Clean Fish Tank
Aside from selecting the right tank, gravel, fish, and fish tank ornament decorations, comes the importance of keeping your fish tank clean. When tanks are not cleaned regularly as they should be, they can get pretty nasty looking. Dirty tanks can be unhealthy environments for your aquatic life and can lead to an overgrowth of algae on the glass of your tank and on your ornaments. However, once established, keeping a tank looking nice and healthy is fairly easy. You just want to be sure to do your water changes roughly every two weeks. Personally, I change 15 to 20% of my tank water every two weeks.
Recap
Setting up a fish tank is very exciting. You have the chance to plan out your perfect tank and be creative. It’s important to remember that fish tank ornaments can complement your fish. Ornaments can double as hideouts and give your aquatic life a place to burrow and hideout. This can be important for crayfish when they molt and for other types of freshwater fish.