Aquascaping - The Art of the Planted Aquarium 2012, part 1 and 2

Jayy

Check out some of these beautiful aquascapes.

Geomancer

There are certainly some talented people out there, and I'm surely not one of them ^_^

Jayy

LOL ,me neither I can only hope my tank comes out half as nice. It certainly gave me ideas.

Jayy

Bump^^

Byron

Has anyone noticed that there are no fish in these tanks?

There is a difference between a tank for plants and a tank for fish with plants. I'm not saying some fish wouldn't work in these, but clearly the emphasis is on creating an artistic aquascape with wood, rock and plants plus substrate. And there is nothing wrong with that. But an aquascape for a fish tank must be designed primarily for the fish to be maintained in the aquarium.

This is my main objection to Amano's aquascapes. They are brilliant works of art, comparable to a great painting, but the fish are secondary.

You wanted some feedback, let's see where this takes us.

Quantum

I agree regarding Amano style tanks, it seems like the fish are just thrown in the tanks as an afterthought, they often look very stressed in these type set-ups

Jayy

Yes, I did notice that, but I still l thought they were creative. I think they look too much like real landscapes.

thekoimaiden

That was my first remark, too. I think some of those tanks would have done well with some small schooling fish. A few had nice driftwood that would make perfect structure for fish.

The other thing I noticed was the lack of floating plants. But I can imagine why as floating plants are mostly to block out the light for fish and help soak up nutrients.

As far as the artistic skill, I'm greatly impressed. But for me fishkeeping is ... well about the fish. They are beautiful, but I wouldn't want them in my house. Not without the addition of some fish and fish-friendly accessories.

beetlebz

Over the years I have evolved some. I used to be about the fish. Then I was about the scape. Now I find myself taking a great deal of pride in creating environments, the fish and the habitat. I dont see the point (not that I knock those that do) in an aquarium with plastic toys. Im even trying to talk the wife into letting me replace the 110g with something shorter so we can plant that too

Jayy

I didn't mean to put thumbs down. I agree some actually FISH would be nice, not just plants. I mean if your going to call it an aquarium, at least put some fish in it.