When it comes to sprucing up your aquarium, there are plenty of ways to make a splash with colorful decorations and accessories. Whether your fishy friends need places to hide in or you want to add floating plants for a more natural look, the options are endless. And while most people purchase these accessories from their local pet store or online, you can always use a 3D printer to quickly make your own decorations at a lower cost.
It’s important that, when accessorizing your aquarium, your fish have enough space to swim around comfortably and that your decorations don’t disrupt the water flow.
Keeping this in mind, we’ve rounded up some awesome aquarium decorations and accessories to make your fish and other aquatic pets feel right at home. But before we dive into them, we’ll go over a few more things to consider when selecting models and printing them.
If you see the perfect print for your setup but would rather leave the printing to the pros, let Craftcloud by All3DP take care of the details and have it shipped straight to your door!
Now, let’s dive in!
Considerations
When 3D printing aquarium decorations, it’s important to consider the safety of your fish and the best materials and settings for a part that will be kept underwater. There’s plenty of helpful advice that can be found online.
While PLA, PETG, and ABS filaments are generally safe for aquariums, there are a couple things to watch out for. For example, toxic additives from the manufacturing process can make their way into the mix. To avoid this issue, it’s best to stick to natural, food-safe filament and avoid glow-in-the-dark and other composite filaments. If you want to use colored filament prints or paints in your aquarium, seal your prints with aquarium resin and check to make sure no cracks appear over time.
PLA is prone to breaking down over time in water-filled environments. Salt water aquariums or freshwater aquariums with water conditioner, pH adjusters, or breathing salts will see PLA dissolve and ABS become brittle much faster. Post-processing with waterproof treatments and finishes can help combat this problem. Also, imperfections, groves, stringing, and layer lines can harbor harmful bacteria in your aquarium. We suggest keeping an eye on your print to ensure it doesn’t break down or dissolve.
With these considerations clear, let’s take a look at some of the coolest models you can 3D print to spruce up your aquarium!
Guard Tower
First up, this guard tower makes for a great underwater aquarium decoration, and your fish will be sure to love it. The guard tower is hollow and has an entrance at the bottom and windows around the top, allowing your sea creatures to go into it and explore their new habitat.
The Age of Empires-inspired design is split into four parts to make printing easy. The designer listed that they printed this in PLA with a 10% infill density. Given the obvious overhangs in the design’s different parts, activating supports is also a good idea for this print.
- Who designed it? J_Tonkin
- How printable/popular is it? This guard tower design has 12 recorded makes and over 1,000 likes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Sunken Benchy
Is any 3D printing project complete without a Benchy? We sure don’t think so. This sunken Benchy works as a cool replacement for a sunken ship.
This model has been successfully printed in white PLA with a 0.1-mm layer height. Supports can be added to the overhanging coral bits to prevent stringing. Be sure to use a higher infill or some substrate covering the base to prevent the model from floating.
- Who designed it? osbock
- How printable/popular is it? This aquatic-themed Benchy has 2 makes and 110 likes so far.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Sea Mine
Few things will add as much excitement to your aquarium as this floating mine! This model will allow you to add several floating mines, giving your fish some structure to carefully navigate.
This model has been successfully printed with grey PETG, at a layer height of 0.2 mm with supports. It takes about 10 chains to give your fish some space between the mine and the tank’s bottom. The base and chains should be printed with higher infill, at least 80%, and the mine can be printed with 25% or less to ensure the floating effect.
- Who designed it? 19LoFi90
- How printable/popular is it? 10 makers have posted their take on this exciting mine, and the design has earned around 700 likes so far.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Rock Formations
Rocks are found all over the ocean floor, and therefore help make aquariums feel more natural. This project contains a bunch of different rock formation designs, with a lot of texture on each one, making them look super realistic. While designed to bring atmosphere to tabletop games, there’s no reason they can’t do the same thing for your fish tank!
One maker listed that they used a 0.16-mm layer height and a 10% infill density to print these rocks, though you might like to aim for a denser print so that they’re heavy enough to stay in place underwater.
- Who designed it? Terrain4Print
- How printable/popular is it? These rock formations have 16 recorded makes, 36 remixes, and around 3,000 likes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
No Fishing Sign
Sometimes you need to be really specific with the rules of your aquarium. This posted sign should help keep children and literate cats from going after your precious little friends. You can stake this sign into your substrate to display it proudly in your aquarium.
This model has been successfully printed laying flat with brown and white ABS, which included a layer pause and filament switch at the start of the lettering.
Castle
Next up, we have a castle model to make your fish feel like royalty. According to the designer, fish love to hang out in the hollow interior of such constructions!
The designer listed that the model is easy to print and support-free, and a community maker shared that they printed the design in a few different sizes in PLA, as seen above.
- Who designed it? CMSteele
- How printable/popular is it? This castle decoration has 1 community print, over 600 downloads, and around 60 likes.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Planter
Plants give your aquarium a more natural look and help remove nitrates from the water. This wall-hanging planter will allow you to add some rooted plants to the surface of your aquarium. The plant roots can loosely grow through the holes or you can add some aquarium substrate.
This model has been successfully printed with a 0.2-mm layer height using PETG. The model prints in two pieces, the basket and a clip. There are multiple basket sizes, so you don’t have to worry about scaling. However, you may need to carefully make some adjustments to the clip if you have an odd aquarium top.
- Who designed it? Praveen
- How printable/popular is it? This planter has 3 shared makes, over 250 downloads, and 88 likes so far.
- Where to find it? Printables
Bubble Maker
This bubble maker offers function as well as fashion. Bubbles help to keep oxygen in the water for your pets, but besides that, this design makes your aquarium look fun, because who doesn’t like bubbles?
One maker listed that they used a 0.1-mm layer height with a 100% infill density to successfully print this in PLA. You’ll need a water-tight tube to connect the attachment to your tank’s pump, though one maker has had success with a simple drinking straw!
- Who designed it? Tomonori
- How printable/popular is it? This bubble maker accessory has 12 recorded makes, 4 remixes, and over 800 likes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Manta Ray Statue
Manta rays are some of the coolest sea creatures out there, and you can add a mini statue of this animal to your fish tank to give your fish some company. The cool part about this Blender-designed model is that the podium is a wave, in keeping with the aquatic theme.
The model can be scaled to whatever size you like, and should otherwise be a straightforward print. A bit of post-processing goes a long way to make your manta ray magnificent!
- Who designed it? andrewgoldberg
- How printable/popular is it? This manta ray statue has over 300 downloads, 30 likes, and over 3,100 views, though no one has shared a print yet.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Floating Plants Barrier
If you have floating plants in your aquarium, this floating barrier is a lovely way to keep plants from taking over and to ensure you have enough space for feeding. There are three different options available, so you can choose the look that best fits your aquarium.
This model needs to be printed in “Shell” mode. It has been successfully printed with white PLA, a 0.8-mm nozzle, and a 0.6-mm layer height, but a nozzle this large isn’t necessary. The creator put pieces of packaging foam at the bottom to help keep it afloat.
- Who designed it? sar315
- How printable/popular is it? While there are no posted makes of this model yet, it has 9 likes and 22 collects. You could be the first to share your make!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Voronoi Bonsai
This project uses a Voronoi-like structure to direct weed growth and create the appearance of a bonsai tree growing right in your aquarium. The holes in the model also allow smaller fish to hide inside the tree, protected by the weeds.
The designer listed that they used a 0.4-mm layer height to print this model with a 20% infill density. Given how many people have printed this decoration, we think it’s very possible for you to create your own aquarium bonsai!
- Who designed it? waleedk
- How printable/popular is it? This bonsai holder decoration has 10 makes, 3 remixes, and close to 1,000 likes.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Light Mount
Lights are a critical component of any fish tank setup because what’s the fun in curating a beautiful, healthy aquarium if you can only see during the day? This is a useful model to mount a lamp to illuminate your aquarium.
This model adds a row of LEDs across the center of a rectangular tank, so you may need to tweak the design to fit your particular tank and the lighting configuration you’re aiming for.
- Who designed it? CJIABA
- How printable/popular is it? This light fixture design has around 120 downloads with almost 3,600 views. It’s a simple yet effective way to light your underwater world!
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Bubble Hut
This bubble hut is another great housing unit for a fish tank, and its holes allow you to check up on your fish while giving them a fun habitat. The design was originally submitted for a design competition, and the designing and post-processing techniques are explained in detail on the project page.
The maker outlined their design process, which started with a drawing in Photoshop that was made 3D in SelfCAD. The image above shows the design printed in a wood composite filament and post-processed with a non-toxic epoxy coating.
The designer mentions that the model requires supports from the build plate to hold up the ceiling, but you should deactivate other supports to avoid every bubble shape being filled.
- Who designed it? areynolds15
- How printable/popular is it? This bubble hut design has over 900 downloads as well as more than 6,500 views. Just make sure to weigh it down with some gravel or it might float away!
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Fallen Tree
Next, this broken tree branch decoration is a great obstacle to have in your aquarium, and its detail makes it look very cool. This object is meant to sit on the floor of your fish tank and is hollow so fish can swim through or use it as a hiding place.
The designer provides great printing tips and recommended using 2-mm walls and a 100% infill density to ensure that this object sinks to the bottom of your aquarium. The designer also mentions that the print doesn’t require supports when oriented correctly (standing upright, as seen in the model preview on Thingiverse).
- Who designed it? Psychotic_Chimp
- How printable/popular is it? This broken tree model has 5 makes, 1 remix, and and over 740 likes! So many others have successfully printed this decoration; you can too!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Squidward's House
Lastly, if you’ve ever caught an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, you might be familiar with Squidward’s house in the shape of a Moai statue. This fish house adds a bit of pop culture fun to your aquarium. Fish can easily swim in and out of it because the top is open and the bottom has an entrance; there are also holes in the statue’s eyes.
One community maker posted a successful print (pictured above) and listed that they printed the model in PLA. The design should be easily scalable, so you can suit it to the rest of your aquarium decor.
- Who designed it? KingOfTheKop11
- How printable/popular is it? This Squidward house decoration has 1 community print, over 400 downloads, and more than 4,600 views!
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
License: The text of "The Best 3D Printed Aquarium Decorations & Accessories" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.