Okay, so in a month or two I'm investing in an oblong 40-50 gallon tank for my fish. However, I don't want it set up in that "pet shop" style; 1 plant, gravel, 1 obligatory "underwater" decoration (i.e. "no fishing" signs - as cute as they are!). I want a tank that looks like art as well as a pleasant home for my fish

My ideas:

1. Make it look like an underwater city; lots of roman ruins type statues and large leaf plants and large colourful rocks instead of gravel. Airstones for oxygen at each end rather than the top-of-the-tank ones.

2. I love the marine look (like deep sea or oceanic anything like that) so I thought maybe white gravel, logs on the bottom with long grassy plants around it? For statues I could have a sunken ship (there was an amazing royal navy battle ship at my local petstore that I've been dying to get my mits on!) and a few fake corals for that marine effect and to add a little colour. Airstones for oxygen.

Which one would you do? Or do you have a better idea? If you know of anywhere that sells anything that I could add, please let me know

This isn't really applicable in real life, but once I was looking at a book with cute tank-designs for goldfish and one of the tanks was made to look like a hamster cage.

It had tan gravel and the ornaments were tubes normally used for hamsters. However, it can be very dangerous since fish always want to get themselves stuck in things, so in order to be applicable, all the openings would have to be sealed off.

I still thought it was cute.

Another design I saw was at an aquarium I visited. One of the smaller tanks had those "gem pebbles" and had a large fake diamond in the middle. It was very pretty, but I'd be worried about excess algae growing on all of that.

I think the underwater city would be fun, but I'm also crazy. And planning to turn a 250 gallon tank into a combination of the Mars Rovers discovering extraterrestrial life and an Ed Wood tribute with little pie tin UFO spotlights hanging over it...

The themes that didn't get selected were:
Golf course (especially funny with pearlscales)
Tennis court (see above, "funny with pearlscales")
Kentucky horse farm, picket fences, plantation house, the works. (especially funny with small zoomy fish racing around)
Jurassic Park the Movie (especially funny if little feeding platforms built into figurines and/or toy trucks)
Roger Corman's "Piranha" - the perfect woodland stream filled with campers attacked by fish scene.
Recursive (CSI Bugs' creepy model builder guy style): Make it look like the living room, with the tank in it...repeat until tiny
White House Rose Garden (especially funny if feeding platforms built into podium)

I saw an extremely clever design somewhere online wherein someone used a plate of plexiglass over their airstone, and put a bridge over it. Essentially, it created the illusion of a running stream / river beneath the bridge, with the air bubbles running along the plexiglass under the bridge before exiting at the end of it at the back of the tank, and floating up.

I have always had a large heart for themed tanks, but never have gone through with it; do share, if you do!

I bought a little palm tree grove with a "stream" running through it like that. It looked really cute, but it was terrible for my tank. There were too many large hollow spots inside that didn't get aerated, so it's been pulled out until I fill in holes and make it solid. (just something to watch for when you're picking decor)

thanks for the input guys, the stream idea sounds great, but as cheekylemur pointed out, could probably be tricky, which is a rel shame

I think I want something.... weird, haha. I dunno, I'm quite a art freak (yes, i owned a beret once hahahaha) so I want something that people are gonna look at and go "woah". keep the ideas coming, they're great and of course I'll share when i get it set up! :D:D:D

Personally, I have been planning on building a plastic casing for a stream to run through, maybe even put pale blue rocks beneath it. Cover the tank with off-white gravel, and use some of the egyptian decor that is found everywhere. I find the off-white gravel looks pretty sandy without actually using sand in a tank.

There has always been the other option of having the gravel all covered with a secondary sheet of plexi, or placing sand in it, and putting plexi over that. This way, the tank would function as a barebottomed tank, while having all the decor as desired.

Use sparing egyptian decor, a couple statues of Ra, and the like, and maybe a couple minuature trees near the river to make the river, and other decor seem larger

Oooh now I like the egyptian idea. I absolutely LOVE egyptian!!!

I personally like the naturall look. larger river rock, driftwood, and live plants

I like it too, but sometimes it feels so "common."

I like it when people stack large rocks and pebbles though, it gives it a very three-dimensional look! Almost like going to a natural lake or pond and dunking your head underwater. ( ~^_^)~

I would love to have a breeder tank and have red slate stacked up in the back

I'm a big fan of more naturalistic/live planted tanks or somthing simplisticly elegant.... themed tanks have always seemed a bit kitschy. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy looking at them and the ones I've seen have been way cool, it's just not my personal style of decorating and a fish tank, especially a big one, is a huge part of room decor.

The tank I'm currently decorating is going on a black wood tank stand with black gravel and three large potted anubias placed in a line down the middle. My platy tank in our kitchen that I set up for my mom has medium sized river rock with a fake (but realistic) driftwood ornament with silk plants attached. Not only do they look nice but each tank is easy to gravel vac because the decor is easily removed.

Anyway, these are just my ideas... I cant wait to see what you come up with! Keep us posted!!!

I get what you're saying Ragazza - I actually bought my new tank/setup yesterday and it has a deep sea/ancient look to it. See, my bedroom itself has a worldly/ancient theme (lots of ornaments and art from around the globe etc) and I felt that my tank should match that

Shall post pics later, when I set up my fishless cycle

I can understand that... it's actually pretty similar to my style of decorating; I'm a history major with a minor in art history... right now I'm actually taking a class in greek art and archaeology (LOTS of pots LOL... but fun) and last summer I went on an archaeological dig in Macedonia; I have a replica press-formed cup that I got when I was there that's based on Roman artifacts from the area. My apartment is decorated with vintage posters and VanGogh paintings but behind my bed is an indian carved screen with scarves thrown around it, an african inspired vase, with a big antique map on one wall and a turkish rug under my coffee table... lol I'm very eclectic, but in fish tank asthetics I guess I'm just more attracted to simple you know? Anyway good luck!

Understood entirely I do adore the simpler bare-bottom or just simply planted tanks people have posted here! Do you have pics of your tank on the forum?

I'm going to post pictures of it, when my fish are put in. I'm just doing the fishless cycle now (took two days to set the whole thing up! Whew! Shattered!)

I have pics of my fishies and then a full veiw of my 7g when I first got it and had my fan tail in it, but no current ones... I'll have to take some as I'm setting my new tank up and then gather some of the other ones and post them in one big thread... that'll probably happen tommorow evening... Need to get one of my 12g before I dismantle it as the design wont be the same.

Can't wait to see the pix!