African Root
African root though rare and hard to find, real authentic pieces can be obtained. There are some places online that sell them for four to six dollars for one the size of about 4-6 inches. African root is great as make shift planters and usually has many twists and curves in each piece. To my knowledge it also acts as a type of filtration system and releases tannins into the water. Tannins are good for Black water fish like most South American species of Cichlidae, but are also great to use with cichlid species from Western Africa which are also known to live in river beds, puddles, and even rice patties with both driftwood and rocks being in their habitats.

Normal driftwood
There are two types of this commonly found at the fish store. The lone single piece and the multi pieced weighted centerpieces. The single lone pieces are usually cured and if not and they develop the white fuzz or leach large amounts of tannins that are not wanted boil as directed in this section. These pieces are usually so dry and light weight that they do not sink. You can leave them like this, just floating in place and they will usually sink on their own (depending on type of wood this can take days to weeks or months) the denser the wood the faster it sinks). If you do not want to wait for the wood to become waterlogged on its own there are two things you can do. You can take zip ties and secure the wood to a heavy rock and place it that way or you can get a piece of flat slate or other rock suitable for drilling (approx 1 inch thick ) and drill a hole in it . Drill a hole in the wood on the thickest part and anchor it to the slate with a non rusting screw (these can be obtained by asking your local hardware store for non rusting screws). By affixing the wood like this you can make your own dramatic centerpieces that are suitable for any display tank.