What Fish Love About Marine Accessories

The sad news of the death of Meat Loaf may get a lot of people thinking about the kind of props a heavy metal band like to have on stage, which, curiously enough, often tend to resemble something seen in a fish tank.

While an oversized skull might make a great backdrop to the stage where a band is playing, it is also a familiar sight in fish tanks and aquariums as various aquatic specimens gently swim around it or hide behind it. Not for them the din of Bat out of Hell, but they might just swim anything for love.

Of course, when choosing your marine accessories to make a tank look more attractive, it is worth noting that there are both fish and people to bear in mind. The idea of having sculptured items like skulls, castles, bridges, shipwrecks, cottages and other anthropocentric objects is, of course, a great visual element, one that can add an extra level of interest to those who come to see your aquarium.

However, before filling up your aquarium with all these items, it is important to first consider what makes a suitable habitat for the fish and other aquatic specimens that will go in there. Some creatures are happiest swimming around in more open water without lots of objects. Others, by contrast, love having things to hide behind or under.

For this reason, it is important to match up the items you place in your tanks with the kinds of specimen that will inhabit it.

There are many fish that simply love having somewhere to hide. While it is true some will occasionally do so when distressed - not least by a new arrival in the tank - there are many fish for which it is the norm to stay hidden all day and only come out at night to feed, such as loaches.  Also, it is common for a new fish to hide until it gets used to its environment.

Some fish absolutely love being able to hide in various nooks and crannies. These are species that like to hide in little caves in nature. These don’t just include serpentine fish like loaches and eels.

Angelfish might not look like they could fit in a small cave, but they are flat sided, so they can still slide into narrow gaps.

Crayfish are another specimen that loves to hide, being preyed on a lot in the wild, which means they, too, will stay out of harm’s way for much of the day.

Of course, while there are some specimens that like to keep themselves scarce during the day and then emerge at night to feed, there are many fish for whom lots of space is the order of the day. These are surface feeders for whom the bottom of the tank gets little attention as they seek the morsels on or just below the surface. This will include the likes of danios and killifish.

 Of course, most aquariums will feature fish that like to swim around at different levels, so the key is to avoid overloading the tank with accessories. Provide just enough for the fish that like to hide to enjoy a few sheltered spots, while not making them invisible for anyone looking at your aquarium.