Aquascaping

Aquascaping is the craft of arranging aquatic plants, as well as rocks, stones, cavework, or driftwood, in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium—in effect, gardening under water.

[2] Although the primary aim of aquascaping is to create an artful underwater landscape, the technical aspects of tank maintenance and the growth requirements of aquatic plants are also taken into consideration.

These factors include filtration, maintaining carbon dioxide at levels sufficient to support photosynthesis underwater, substrate and fertilization, lighting, and algae control.

[4] Aquascape hobbyists trade plants, conduct contests, and share photographs and information via the Internet.

[8] Tall growing plants that cover the back glass originally served the purpose of hiding bulky equipment behind the tank.

[12] Amano's compositions drew on Japanese gardening techniques that attempt to mimic natural landscapes by the asymmetrical arrangement of masses of relatively few species of plants, and which set rules governing carefully selected stones or driftwood, usually with a single focal point positioned to reflect the golden ratio.

This style draws particularly from the Japanese aesthetic concepts of Wabi-sabi (侘寂), which focuses on transience and minimalism as sources of beauty.

Plants with small leaves like Glossostigma elatinoides, Eleocharis acicularis, Eleocharis parvula, Echinodorus tenellus, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Riccia fluitans, small aquatic ferns, Staurogyne repens, and Java moss (Versicularia dubyana or Taxiphyllum barbieri) are often used to emulate grass or moss.

Fish, or freshwater shrimp such as Caridina multidentata and Neocaridina davidi, are usually selected to complement the plants and control algae, but for reasons of minimalism the number of species are often limited.

Moss and other epiphyte plants are also commonly used, adding a beautiful sense of maturity and aged appearance.

[14] The Iwagumi (岩組) term itself comes from the Japanese "rock formation" and refers to a layout where stones play a leading role.

[19] The location of the focal point of the display, determined largely by the asymmetric placement of the Oyaishi, is considered important, and follows ratios that reflect Pythagorean tuning.

The hardscape layouts are often highly complex underwater structures that take months to create rocks or wood being painstakingly glued together.

[22][23] The styles above often combine plant and animal species based on the desired visual impact without regard to geographic origin.

Instead, Biotope aquariums are designed to replicate a particular aquatic habitat at a particular geographic location, not necessarily to provide a gardenlike display.

This allows plants, such as Cyperus alternifolius and Spathiphyllum wallisii, as well as various Anubias and some bromeliads, to grow emersed, with their roots underwater but their tops in the air, as well as completely submersed.

In some configurations, plants that float on the surface of the water, such as Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes, can be displayed to full advantage.

An arrangement of live rock forms the main structure of this aquascape, and it is populated by corals and other marine invertebrates as well as coralline algae and macroalgae, which together serve much the same aesthetic role as freshwater plants.

[35] By providing intense lighting supplemented in the ultraviolet wavelengths, reef aquarists not only support the health of these invertebrates, but also elicit particularly bright colors emitted by the fluorescent microorganisms.

[36] In addition to design, freshwater aquascaping also requires specific methods to maintain healthy plants underwater.

[38][39] Most serious aquascapers use aquarium-safe fertilizers, commonly in liquid or tablet form, to help the plants fill out more rapidly.

Algae is most commonly caused by an excess of nutrients and waste, so aquarists will perform water changes to lower the nitrates present.

Plants are used to perform the water-cleansing role typically played by aquarium filters by utilizing what fish waste there is as fertilizer.

[58] There are also smaller contests conducted by Acuavida in Spain,[59] by the Greek Aquarist's Board,[60] and by the French association Aquagora.

[62] Because they typically present wildlife from a particular habitat, modern day displays are often created to be biologically accurate biotopes.

Aquarium containing a variety of plants and a piece of driftwood, with white gravel at front and a plant with red leaves at the upper left.
58 gallon (220 litre ) freshwater aquascape
Aquarium densely packed with clumps of fine-leaved plants, some with green leaves and some with red leaves. A large red fish swims at left.
Dutch style aquascape
Aquarium with multiple gray stones. The stones are arranged to be low in front and high in the back, with the stones along the back placed vertically in the shape of mountain peaks. Some of the stones are carpeted with small, low, fine, green plants.
A nature style aquascape, suggesting mountains
Aquarium with dark pieces of twisted wood bending from the sides of the tank, towards the center. Dense green plants are all around. Just to the left of center is a darkly shadowed region.
Ryoboku style aquascape, with overhanging wood evoking an overgrown cave and decaying trees
Aquarium with gray stones arranged to form a tall pointed structure at the right, and a similar but smaller structure at the left. The stone peaks and the foreground are largely but not entirely covered by a short layer of fine textured green plants.
Iwagumi style aquascape, with the Oyaishi stone at the right
Aquarium densely filled with plants, some of which have rosettes of strap-like leaves, and the leaves are intertwined with one another. Some red and blue fishes of various sizes are swimming around.
Jungle style aquascape
An aquarium viewed from the front. At the bottom front, dark substrate material is built up high at the left and right sides, and low in the center, and its surface is covered by tiny green plants. Water fills the center of the tank, to about halfway up the total height of the tank. Many and various larger plants grow above the water, and over the back wall of the aquarium.
A paludarium
Aquarium filled densely with corals in many shapes, and bright colors including pink, purple, blue and green.
Reef aquascape
A drawing in brown ink on an ocher background. A rectangular glass aquarium tank sits on a wooden stand with carved, curled legs, and contains two fish as well as plants with wavy grass-like leaves.
From the Victorian era , aquarists have planted their tanks, as seen in this 1856 example containing Vallisneria spiralis . [ 37 ]
Underwater scene, with white sand at bottom and a large piece of driftwood at the right. Various green plants grow in the sand, including a large plant with wavy leaves at the left. A shoal of blue and red striped fish swims around.
Discus and cardinal tetras in an Amazon River basin display at the Palais de la Porte Dorée aquarium in Paris