The Weald Aquatics Blog

People love our Facebook posts (If you don’t follow us on Facebook, why not?!) and a post I did recently had a huge amount of interest so I decided to expand on it a little further.

There are lots of things you can add to an aquarium to make it look more attractive and make your fish feel a little more at home. Wood is a fantastic thing to use to create interest but it also benefits fish.

Mopani wood, Bogwood, Sumatran Driftwood, Red Moor wood, there is a lot of choice out there. The majority will require soaking overnight to draw out the natural stains that leach out when the wood is underwater. This can make your aquarium look as if it is filled with tea. It’s not to everyone’s taste (see what I did there) and can alter the water chemistry by lowering the PH, but many fish prefer it and people often use unsoaked wood  when creating an Amazonian themed aquarium setup.

Wood not only offers places to hide and shaded areas that many catfish and loaches prefer, but also has important health benefits for many fish.

Many types of Plecostomas and similar family members require wood to keep them healthy. The surface area of wood with its microscopic pores and crevices allows algae to grow and is easier for these fish to rasp off. Although algae grows on glass as well, its smoother surface can make it more tricky for fish to remove algae.

Many species have continuously growing teeth and use the wood to keep them trim and healthy.

The final and most obvious reason is many species of algae eater will eat the wood to aid their digestive system.

I have lots of wood in my aquarium at home and my Green Phantom Pleco and Gold Ancistrus love it.

Wood in all its shapes and types will not only transform an aquarium aesthetically but provides real benefits to many types of fish that most of you probably already have!

Come and have a look at the types we have in the shop. Your fish will thank you.