Use the natural habitat as your design starting point
The Zoopedia places West Indian manatees in the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America. Their natural environments include shallow coastal waters, rivers and estuaries. Warm, calm water and abundant aquatic vegetation are the defining habitat preferences described in the entry.
Use those details to guide the appearance of your enclosure, then check the animal's specific housing and water requirements before committing to the layout. Treat the natural-history description as a starting point for planning. For space, water settings and other care decisions, use the species requirements rather than converting its wild habitat into guessed construction values.
Diet: plant-eating does not identify a feeder
West Indian manatees have a plant-based diet, which helps explain their familiar nickname, sea cows. The Zoopedia also describes teeth being worn down through grazing and replaced from the back of the mouth. These details describe the animal's feeding biology; use them to understand the species while checking its care requirements separately.
Frontier's aquarium guidance says feeder choice depends on the species being fed. Check the appropriate feeding equipment before finishing your enclosure, and leave room to accommodate it in your design. Avoid choosing equipment solely because it suits another aquatic animal.
Social behaviour: gatherings and mother–calf bonds
The Zoopedia describes manatees as semi-social: they interact when they meet and may gather for feeding and mating. Males are generally solitary, while females live alongside their most recent calf. That makes social behaviour more varied than simply describing the species as either solitary or permanently grouped.
Check the species' social requirements before deciding which animals to house together. Pay particular attention to the composition of your planned group and any mother–calf pairing. Use the Zoopedia's behaviour description to frame those checks, while taking permitted group sizes and welfare conditions from the animal's specific requirements.
Check water and tankmates before sharing a habitat
Frontier's aquarium guidance distinguishes marine, freshwater and brackish species, and says that aquatic animals cannot all be mixed. Appropriate water filtration is part of that guidance. A visually appealing combination therefore needs a compatibility check before you plan around it.
Frontier's general welfare guidance includes access to food and water, sufficient space, suitable terrain and plants, and a fulfilling social and enrichment environment. Review the whole habitat against those needs rather than stopping once its scenery looks right. Keep practical care requirements central as you refine the design.