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FISH TANK ORNAMENTS: TWO APPROACHESIf you’re a careful aquarist, you’ll already know the importance of fish tank ornaments. Yes, it makes for an eye-pleasing display and will impress your friends. But the first role of fish tank ornaments is making your fish happy. Just as you would be miserable living in a pure white room with no furniture or other objects, your fishes will be extremely uncomfortable in a bare or sparsely-decorated fish tank. Remember, they’re used to having all kinds of rocks, plants and other objects that help them hide from predators and provide shelter for night (yes, fish do sleep). So fish tank decoration is almost as important as clean water and healthy food. Regardless of the way one’s taste run – from the classically modern to the truly cheesy – there are fish tank ornaments to meet the needs of any owner. Natural Fish Tank Ornaments Currently, one trend in aquarium design is a realistic or naturalistic approach. This “theme” is perhaps most common in saltwater tanks which are designed to more closely mimic the natural environment of the fish the tanks contain. Fish tank ornaments used in these types of aquariums include sponges, gravel or sea rocks and driftwood. These ornaments may be either real specimens gathered from the ocean, or for more conservation minded consumers, synthetic replicas of these ornaments are available. Adding faux plants to the aquarium environment also increases the realism of your display. Although older artificial plants used in aquariums tended to be stiff and bulky, newer generations of ornamental plants are designed to gently sway with the current of the tank to look more realistic. Constructed of silkier materials, these new fish tank ornaments are also more attractive to the fish that live in the tank. "Hollywood" Fish Tank Ornaments Some aquarium owners prefer to take a less realistic approach with the tanks they maintain, which results in a more “fantasy focused” theme. Fish tank ornaments commonly employed in these types of tanks include sunken ships, pirate booty, mermaids, military aircraft, and various cartoon characters (most notably, SpongeBob SquarePants who is a prominent character who lives underwater). These ornaments are obviously all synthetic, and are usually made of molded plastic. Newer fish tank ornaments incorporate lighting to enhance their impact. Some sea anemone ornaments glow in the dark, and some reef ornaments feature LED technology to simulate the luminosity of other underwater creatures. These fish tank ornaments may provide a good addition to lighted hoods and may more naturally mimic the lighting patterns found in nature. Regardless of the theme you’re going for or the type of tank you’ve set up, rest assured there are fish tank ornaments to meet your needs. Visiting a local pet store or aquarium shop might spark your creativity, as could browsing through the ornamental sections of your favorite aquarium website. |
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