Free design guide
Design your tank like a pro
Setting up an aquarium that looks amazing is easier than it looks. Here is exactly how we build ours at the farm: in layers, with colors that work together, and plenty of cover your fish will love.
Step one
Build your design in layers
We always recommend building your aquarium design in layers. Besides giving your fish lots of cover for hiding, layers of plants at different heights give your tank more depth and visual interest.
Start with a centerpiece
It might be a piece of driftwood, rocks, or a large, wide plant like Dieffenbachia. Everything else builds around it.
Tall plants in the back
Give the back wall height. Jungle Val, Willow, Bamboo and big Spike Weed make a lush backdrop.
Middle plants in the center
Choose plants about half the height of your aquarium to bridge the back row and the front.
Small plants up front
Finish with small plants and flowers up front so nothing hides the view, or your fish.
Mix in little pops of color
We like to mix the natural greens and browns with little pops of color from flowers or bright plants.
Balance with two sizes of the same plant
Choose multiple sizes of the same type of plant, for example 21" Bamboo and 6" Bamboo, or 11" and 5" white flowers, and place them on opposite sides of the aquarium.
Step two
Pair your colors
You can also start with your favorite plant or color and choose complementary colors. A few pairings we reach for again and again:
Blue + orange or olive
Pair a large blue flower with a small orange flower or olive spike weed.
Red lily + green-white pothos
A red water lily glows against green and white pothos.
Purple peacock + yellow
Pair the purple peacock plant with small yellow flowers.
Pink + pink jew or lavender
Pair our pink flowers with pink jew plant, or white, purple and lavender flowers of different sizes and types.
The shortcut
Check out our COMBO plants 🌿
Two to three plants and flowers in one stone base. They save space, and they help you see which colors work together before you build a whole design around them.
From the farm
Real designs we've built
Every one of these tanks uses the layers-and-color approach above, with plants straight from the shop. Captions name the plants so you can rebuild any look you like.
Jungle Val, Olive Spike Weed, Curly Sea Grass, Pale Yellow Orchid, blue flowers, low green-white Pothos, Button Leaf flower combo, Shamrock, Sage Boxwood.
Layers + color
Red Lily, White Caladium, Wild Grass, Pea Leaf flower combo, Shamrock, Pink Jew, white flower, Diti-Sprengeri.
Color pairing
Violet Lily, Spike Weed, Bamboo flower combo, dark green Dracaena, Betta hammock, 1" mini white flower.
Betta friendly
Layered design shaped to fit a corner bow front tank.
Two heights of Bamboo balanced with trailing Pea Leaf.
Two sizes, one plant
Olive Spike Weed, White Caladium, Split Leaf Philo, blue flower.
Color pairing
Tall Bamboo in back, Spike Weed in the middle, Pothos up front.
Layers
Pink Caladium, Orchid, Sea Spray, Broad Leaf Philo.
Red flower, Pink Jew, Wild Grass.
The same Bamboo used two ways for depth.
A whole design built from one two-color pairing.
Color pairing
One big, wide plant doing the centerpiece job.
Centerpiece
Height and cover from a single dramatic plant.
We're here to help
Need more ideas or advice?
Email us anytime. We love connecting with our customers, and we're happy to help you plan a design for your exact tank.
Email Us About Your Tank~ Erin & David, Lower Forty Farm