Creating A Dinosaur Theme For An Aquarium

Aquariums make the perfect gift for young children. By giving them an aquarium, your kids will learn the value of responsibility. They would have to be responsible for the well being of the fish. They would need to maintain the cleanliness of the fish tank as well as feed their pets. This will be a valuable lesson to teach them which they will take into adulthood.

But children also have the tendency to lose interest in things really fast. In order to capture and maintain their interest, you will have to make the aquarium interesting and a great way to do so would be by designing a theme around one of their interests.

When it comes to little boys, there are a number of themes that you could try which will definitely get them excited about owning an aquarium. Among them are pirates, aliens and dinosaurs. I have already talked about the Pirate and Alien Themes in previous articles, so let’s take a look at the Dinosaur Theme in this one.

When designing a Dinosaur Theme, you will need to decide if what you want is a scene with live dinosaurs prancing around a prehistoric jungle or dinosaur bones that look like a paleontological dig site.

Live Dinosaur Design

To start with, you will need to get yourself some dinosaur figurines. There are already a few figurines made specifically for aquariums on sale these days. Generally, depending on the size of the tank, you would get no more than three different species of dinosaurs. Having more will make the design look a little crowded and odd.

Next you would need a cave. You should choose a cave that is made out of a couple of rocks piled on each other. Imagine a cave that Neanderthals would be living in. These caves would be perfect little hideaways for your fish when they need some alone time.

Then comes the aquatic plants. These should be the type that would make the scene look like a jungle. The two types of aquatic plants that like to use to create this effect are Amazon Swords and Java Moss.

Finally there is the background. An awesome background for the Dinosaur Theme would be one of a volcano erupting. These can be bought either online or at a pet store. Alternatively, you could also get a jungle scene instead.

Paleontological Dig Site Design

An alternative to the live dinosaur theme would be one using dinosaur bones instead. For this you have the choice of complete skeletons, fossils embedded in rock or dinosaur skulls. I love the complete skeletons because ones that I have seen are very detailed and realistic.

But when it comes to functionality, the dinosaur skulls would be best. This is because they also double as caves for your fish. The eye sockets allow the fish easy entry and the large skull cavity gives them so much of room to stay inside.

To make this theme perfect, you would use gravel that is sand colored because you want it to look like the desert. You would also not place too much of plants and only select ones that are scanty and does not grow as thick bushes.

For the background, you would be looking into a desert scene backdrop. Or if you do have some extra money to invest, it would be great if you could get one of the new 3D rock backgrounds.