What it takes to be a good aquascaper

[WaterPond]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who know me, you know i love aquascaping. Well, i am entering this contest which if pretty much an aquascaping contest.

It is called the "Junior Aquarium Beautiful" contest and its taking place at the CAOAC(canadian association of aquarium clubs) convention in london ontario.

It sounds very neat, everything is supplies by hagen. You pay 20 dollars to register for this thing and they give you a 10gallon full aquarium kit to decorate.

You have your choice of gravels, rocks, driftwood, polyresin decorations, plants(live or plastic), aswell as your choice of fish (8 varieties to choose from).

They judge you on the overall aesthetics of the tank and how well you covered up the power filter and submersible heater which they also give you.

The best thing is you get to keep the tank afterwards along with everything you put in it. And if you happen to win the competition you get like $150.00

So i am asking all you aquascapers out there for as many tips as you can throw at me.

I would also appreciate pictures of your tanks to give me some ideas. I am definately going for a natural look, help would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[kickeralpine]

well im not an aquascaper but wanted to wish ya luck and hope ya win

 

[ryan]

maybe i should enter in that contesyt since i live in ontario.sounds fun and we could meet and get to kno eathother since were around the same age.but good luck if i can get down there ill enter.

 

[newfound77951]

Sounds like a really cool contest! And a cheap way to get a nice 10g setup.

What kinds of plants do they give you to work with?

I'd check out all Purrbox's threads on her small tanks, she's got a good eye for tanks that size. I've always liked Hara's 20g, too. My 10g is just getting going, I have 2 pieces of malaysian driftwood (off center to the left), some rounded beach rocks on the right, and several varities of Crypts and some Java Fern. I have tetras in there, which are south American and don't quite go with the SE Asian plant theme, but if I had some danios or rasboras, or maybe some cherry barbs in there instead I think it would be really cool.

 

[black hills tj]

Sweet contest. Sounds like a blast and good luck!

 

[WaterPond]

well, the competition is approaching very quickly. And i would love to see some pics of various aquascapes. Could you guys please post some?

 

[Sicklid]

I saw your 5 gallon scape in an earlier post, and you are no rookie by any means! I think you will do fine.

 

[drobertson]

Jason, anybody who has been around this forum for a while, has seen photos of your tanks and pond. You have a good eye for what you want to accomplish, you will do great. A list of the plants that will be available would help you, but then design your dream 10 gallon tank.

Good Luck

 

[WaterPond]

lol, i guess im just really nervous. thanks guys.

 

[Marconis]

Jason, Jason, Jason...stop worrying , you'll do fine ol' chap. Good luck!

 

[WaterPond]

8O I won the competition.

 

[black hills tj]

Congrats! Pics or ban!

edit...

just saw the pics in another forum...looks awesome!

 

[WaterPond]

thats not the aquascape i won the competition with though. I only have one pic of the tank with the aquascape i won with, but it is all white because we wern't allowed to rinse our gravel

 

[triazole]

congratulations!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Congrats Jason!

 

[Purrbox]

Congrats Jason. It's really a shame you weren't able to get a good picture. I think we're all curious what you finally ended up doing with the aquarium.

 

[WaterPond]

well, we got given our choice of natural looking gravel, once i got mine wet it looked like crap, but i had to work with that.

We were also given some type of rock which was bright pink, but still natural looking. Then the plants we had were cabomba, rotala indica, rotala macarandra, spiral vals, and a few types of bacopa.

I worked with all the plants available. I made a carpet out of rotala macarandra clippings, vals at the back, than the bacopa, and some different types of rotala at the sides. I formed a semi circle shape in front. Lots of depth.

It looked ok, but was not my favorite scape i have ever done.

 

[ryan]

hey congratz on the win sorry i couldnt make it down would have been fun.