# Need help with fish and plants choice



## Mississaugafish35 (May 8, 2019)

Hi everyone I have this 8 gallon cube that I just finished aquascaping. I am in need of plants and fish choice that goes well with this aquascape colour. Thanks for your help, see pictures


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## alphaparrot (Nov 28, 2017)

The choice of fish is really going to depend on what kinds of plants you're willing to have in this aquascape, and whether you're willing to have floating plants. It looks like you're aiming for an Iwagumi-style design, which suggests to me you probably want small carpeting plants rather than big stem plants--that might be something like dwarf hairgrass, monte carlo, mosses, etc. The challenge with fish is that you probably want to stick to very small fish: your tank's footprint isn't that big, and the combination of teeny plants and big, looming dark rocks means big fish are going to look out of place and will clash with the design aesthetic. Tiny fish are going to integrate into the design much better, and will be much more comfortable in a small aquarium than larger fish (and getting tiny fish means you'll be able to get more of them, which means more natural schooling behavior).

Here's the problem, though: most tiny fish that would *look* good, like ember tetras, endler guppies, chili rasboras, ricefish, etc, really do best with lots of plants to hide in, and are really very happy if you have floating plants. That's hard to reconcile with an Iwagumi design with only small, carpeting plants (file under: aquascaping as an artform has not always traditionally prioritized the needs of fish in the development of design principles). You could put taller, bushier stem plants that have tiny leaves (like rotala) in the back, but then your fish might spend more time at the back of the tank than you might like, and you'd still only have part of the tank really set up the way they'd prefer. So you can definitely play around with those species options and plant combinations to see if you can get something that will both suit the aesthetic you're going for and also the needs of your fish, and your fish would probably be just fine--but they may not thrive as well as they would in something that more-closely matches their preferred environment.

An alternative that you might consider if you really want to preserve the Iwagumi aesthetic is shrimp or micro crabs. Especially if you have a bushier moss in the back, like Taiwan moss (Taxiphyllum alternans "Taiwan"), maybe growing on the backs of the rocks, and then carpeting plants in the mid and front (if you do hairgrass I recommend Eleocharis acicularis over E. parvula; it's smaller and thinner), Neocaridina shrimp will do very well, and you can go as colorful as you like, or as unobtrusive as you like. In the absence of predators, they'll be quite happy to swim around and climb on all the surfaces as long as they have plenty of surface area to graze on and plants to hide in to molt and hatch eggs. They're pretty hardy and easy to care for, and as long as they're fed, the tank is maintained, and the environment is to their liking, they will thrive and breed.


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## alphaparrot (Nov 28, 2017)

Also, obligatory reminder to make sure your tank is cycled before adding any fish, and to make sure your water parameters are appropriate for any livestock you add (especially if you run CO2).


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## Mississaugafish35 (May 8, 2019)

I would like to start off by saying a Big thank you Alphaparrot for taking the time to write a very full of information reply. I know that my layout limits me to fish and some plants choice that's why I am asking for help. I really want fish in this layout not shrimp, as I have never had shrimp or raised shrimp. I will most likely add carpet plants for foreground and cladaphora moss on rocks and as your advise with stem plants small leafs for back. Your article has given me a better solution now. Thank you very much


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