Re-aquascaping advice requested

Here's a pic of the rocks I have available. Just the ones on the right actually as I put the river rocks in my new 20 gallon setup.




The slabs are a limestone and I really like the looks of it and I love the small transcriptus being able to dart in & around the little cracks and crevices. What I don't like is the overall look of what is essentially just stacked up flat rocks. Besides it's been like this for 7 or 8 years now and it's time for a change.

I'd like to get a more natural looking design with these same rocks if possible but without using up any more of the footprint as I'm planning a colony of multis for the other half of the tank. I'd also like to get it fairly tall as with it being a 29 gallon it's taller than what's really needed and if the fish don't use it I'd like for there to at least be some kind of interesting rocks up there so it doesn't look just empty.

So just lay them down more or less randomly? Stack them vertically maybe? Any ideas are gratefully accepted.

Thanks for looking.

I´m a big fan of the naturel look. Mixing bigger and smaller rocks together and put them more randomly on the tank bottom. Here is a video how it can look if you get it right. I know that it´s a much larger tank in the video, but even if you would cut out just a small part of this tank. It would still look great.

I spent big money at the local nursery. Got 100lbs. of assorted river rock for $1.48. The cashier rang it up twice, looked at me and asked if that sounded right. They're obviously used to dealing with larger orders. hehehe

The shells aren't in it yet because 4 of my 8 brichardi were hiding in the shells so they all got moved to the 20 gallon species tank. Hopefully today I'll be able to account for all the brichardi and get the shells back out and into the 29.

Anyway, here's an overall shot:



Here's one with a young transcriptus and what I had believed was my missing calvus/comp. He showed up when I took all the rocks out. Apparently he'd been hiding from the brichardi.



It took a good while to get the rocks to all be stable and still have access to the power head w/ sponge filter in the back right. But they're pretty good now, I don't think I'll have any problems.

It looks great. It's good that you were able to get the rocks stable at that height. Are they leaning against the glass?

I'd like to get more height in my 29, but am afraid to go too high.

Thanks Aura. Yes, the rocks are leaning against the glass. The ones on the right do too, but around the powerhead (you can just barely see it in the pic) they don't so I can clean the sponge filter I have on the intake.

In regards to the height, I basically started with the bigger rocks and stacked them strategically larger to smaller ones at the top. Every step of the way I swiped my hand back & forth and tried to jostle them to make sure they wouldn't shift. All the fish were out of the tank of course.

The tank looks really good. At $0.014 a pound they would need to sell really large orders. I'm quit sure she added a 0 in there and it should have been $0.14. To bad you wasn't buying rocks for a big tank lol.

Actually $1.48 works out to about $30 per ton so it makes sense.

Danged old brichardi crossed me up. I'd moved all the shells to the 20 gallon species tank because 4 of the brichardi were hiding out in the shells. By the time I got home yesterday I figured all of them would have been out of the shells so I put them back in the 29 because my multies are due in today. Sure enough there was a stowaway. I spent 3 hours with the top open and a net down there trying to capture that tiny brichardi. At this point I'm thinking he's going to get to stay there as long as he doesn't make too much of a nuisance of himself. Hopefully one single won't be as agressive as a mating pair.

Wow, that tank looks awesome!!! Great job

Thanks. I'm really pleased with it. Other than the stowaway brichardi that is. hehehe

The shells are ready for the multies that *should* be in today. That'll be the last step on my two current tanks. Next is a 10 gallon for the guppies my wife wants to try breeding.

My multies didn't show up at the lfs again this week. Luckily a fellow enthusiast on another forum and I were able to work out a deal for some. They're being shipped Monday or Tuesday. They're young, but I'm patient.

I did finally get the stowaway brichardi out of my 29 so it's down to two transcriptus a small calvus (or comp) and 6 guppies that will probably eventually get moved out to their own tank.

Here's the 20 gallon brichardi species tank:


Here's the 29 gallon w/ shells:


Here's one of the calvus/comp. Can anyone make a definite ID?


One of the small transcriptus. Not sure if these guys are male and female or if one is dominant but there is quite a size difference between the two. I'm hoping for a pair, but I won't be too disappointed if they never spawn. I'm more interested in the multies in this tank.


And now a couple close shots of the brichardi tank. I'm really enjoying these guys right now. Can't wait til they spawn.





And one of the maybe some of my multies that are coming in next week: