Blogs

Aquascaping is the art of arranging aquatic plants, rocks, stones, caves, or driftwood in an aesthetically pleasing manner within an aquarium. It involves various unique styles, including the garden-like Dutch style and the naturalistic Japanese style. Aquascaping often includes stocking ornamental fish and planting aquatic flora in aquariums. However, it can also involve creating planted tanks without fish or designing fish tanks with rocks and other hardscapes, excluding plants.

While the primary goal of aquascaping is to create a clever underwater landscape, technical aspects of tank maintenance and the growth requirements of aquatic plants are also considered.

In a closed system like an aquarium, many factors must be taken into account to ensure the success of the aquascape.

Dutch Style: Dutch aquariums feature a lush arrangement where various plant species with different leaf colors, sizes, and textures are displayed much like terrestrial plants in a garden. This style originated in the Netherlands in the 1930s as freshwater aquarium equipment became available.

Japanese Style: Also known as the Nature Style, this approach was introduced by Takashi Amano in the 1990s. Amano's works emulate natural landscapes through asymmetrical arrangements of fewer plant species, mimicking the simplicity of nature.

Iwagumi Style: A subtype of the Nature Style, Iwagumi specifically focuses on the arrangement of rocks, where each rock plays a distinct role in providing the backbone structure of the aquascape. Typically, a larger "main" rock is placed off-center, with two smaller rocks arranged nearby.

Jungle Style: Sometimes referred to as the "wild" or "wilderness" style, the Jungle Style incorporates a more natural, untrimmed appearance, with less focus on covering the entire landscape. It often features limited colors and a more open layout, providing space for larger, coarser-leaved plants.

Paludariums (Aquatic-Land Tanks): Paludariums represent environments where water and land are combined within the same habitat, simulating landscapes such as tropical rainforests, jungles, streams, swamps, and even beaches.

Since the Victorian era, fish enthusiasts have been cultivating aquatic plants, as exemplified by this sample of Hornwort from 1856.