Have you given some thought about what kind of ornaments you’d like to have in your desktop aquarium? Your fish and invertebrates need hiding places to live a happy and healthy life so its vital that you provide them with this. Hiding places serve an important function as you fish will exhibit lower levels of stress if they’re allowed their natural behaviors as in the wild. These hiding places becomes a protective area or shelter for them. But of course aquarium ornaments are also your decor. With a little bit of thought and careful placement, these ornaments can literally transform your desktop aquarium.

Plants

One of the more common is a bunch of hardy plants that can provide refuge for your fish, from newly born fry to adults. Among some of the more popular includes the Java moss, Anacharis, Hornwort, Java fern, guppy grass, and water sprite. With plants, you’ll need to provide the correct exposure of light to ensure they stay alive. These mentioned are quite hardy, and require moderate to low levels of light. The Java moss or Java fern does well in low light, but the rest as mentioned here will need about 2 or more watts of light per gallon of water. Usually these require not much They also don’t require supplemental carbon dioxide, so maintenance is very easy once you setup the correct amount of light.

Driftwood

Driftwood are excellent ornaments as they provide lots of hiding places for your fish and add a very natural and textured look to your fish tank. Not only that, they serve as anchors for your plants if you have them. You can buy driftwood that are meant for aquariums, or collect your own. But bear in mind if you do try to collect your own, there are risks involved. People who collect their own driftwood usually boil it thoroughly first as there could be parasites, predators, or pathogens. These can pollute your desktop aquarium and the water, potentially harming your fish.

Rocks

You can purchase rocks that are aquarium-safe. Again they add a great natural look and provide plenty of hiding places for your fish. However, some rocks may contain calcium, heavy metals or other minerals that can affect your water chemistry, so make sure you purchase your aquarium-safe rocks from reputable sources. If your own bigger-sized aquariums with big and heavy rocks, you’ll need to make sure your arrangement of rocks are stable and wont topple easily from external vibration or movement.

Aquarium Ornaments

If you’re more adventurous, there are no shortages of decorative ornaments you can buy to recreate a specific aquascape. Sunken ships, Roman columns, fake miniature reefs, and plenty more provide excellent hiding places for your fish. As long as they’re sold for aquarium use, they’re safe and won’t leach harmful chemicals into your fish tank’s water. You do need to be careful to make sure that there are no sharp edges by filing away the edge with a nail filer until it’s smooth. A suprising best seller on Amazon these days are the SpongeBob SquarePants series of desktop aquarium ornaments.