I prefer scenery in my aquarium i once had nothing in the tank apart from fish and it just looked so boring you can really make a stunning aquarium if you do it right
Most aquariums look better with some sort of scenery, with cichlids you can do a rockscape, with SA species you can do dark unplanted hardscapes, or you can do lush jungle-like ones, it really is all about your tastes.
This is largely a matter of taste. As a scientist I know there are fish that you can put attractive plants, gravel, and rock formations in with, and that there are bigger fish like cichlids are Pirahnas who do not appreciate plants, like to dig, and make their own scenery. If you are going to keep these kind of fish, you cant have ornaments and expect delicate plants to stay in place. but watching them move them is part of the interest of having them.
The one thing I don't like is plastic ornaments. They are never natural looking. Yamatogreen.com has tips on plants.
