Example article from ADA Aqua Journal

[Art]

Did you know that Aqua Design Amano publishes an online magazine called Aqua Journal? These were published on paper back in the day and I anxiously waited for mine to make the trip from Japan to Florida. Of course, they were beautifully photographed but also contained great information that I still remember today.

I would highly encourage you to bookmark the site and add a reminder to check it frequently. Yes, some articles are about products they release and may or may not be of interest. However, others are wonderful learning tools.

One example if this one by Yusuke Homma of ADA's creator team. He learned everything he knows from Amano and it's clearly seen in his article entitled "Nature in the Glass "Tree Spirit Sanctuary"".



What do you think of this style of tank? Very different from today's IAPLC winning works, IMO. Much more of the Nature Aquarium that Amano developed. Built for the long term.

 

[ElleDee]

Oooh, I did not know this existed!

I haven't looked at it extensively, but I really love the example you posted. I don't think I'm qualified to opine on what specifically constitutes Nature Aquarium style as Amano imagined it, but I love that it feels like a showpiece that you could actually have in your house, with a happy community of fish to watch instead of a single school of nanofish that have been selected because they won't be distracting. The hardscape is quite beautiful, but most of it is lost to the plants when grown in, so it can't be the focus.

And that plant list is after my own heart. There's one species of stem plant the majority of the plant mass is rooted. Look at all those crypts! Beautiful and way less maintenance!

I also appreciate that it has lots of shadowy areas - those can be so important for making fish comfortable. Some aquascapes have such uniform high lighting and not all species can handle it. This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately - how to balance high light areas to get good plant color with lower light refuges so I can keep more timid fish. This example has a nice balance.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Oooh, I did not know this existed!

It used to be available in many countries as an actual physical magazine. Now I think it's only available like that in Japanese.

I don't think I'm qualified to opine on what specifically constitutes Nature Aquarium style as Amano imagined

It's perhaps a difficult concept to describe accurately, but you seem to have given it a pretty good go above. Anyway, for me, at least, the scape above exemplifies Nature Aquarium style.

Many consider diorama style to fall within Nature Aquarium category too, but I feel this is a significant departure from Amano's original concept. I just can't seem to get my head around the idea of creating a miniature terrestrial landscape and then flooding it. Of course there are hybrid scapes that sit somewhere between the two and they are more difficult to categorise.

 

[Art]

Well said, both of you. Without judging anyone's interest as better or worse, I have always loved the nature aquarium style as Amano seems to have imagined it. Of course, he's no longer with us so we don't have him to explain it today. I'm sure it has evolved over the years. In fact, you can see his evolution of the concept (and as an aquascaper) if you get the book of his life's works.

To me, the best description I can remember from him was that the Nature Aquarium captured the essence of nature within the confines of an aquarium. When you observe the work, you feel the same sense of awe, nostalgia and transcendence that you do when being in nature and appreciating its beautiful imperfection and its most minute details. This is why he also said to learn from nature itself.

 

[Bolbi]

The AJ magazine has been in my bookmarks since it first started publishing. The articles are very interesting, and there is a lot to learn. I particularly like the information about using plants to achieve certain effects. It's a real NA encyclopedia.

"Nature Aquarium" is my favorite style; that's where it all began for me. The diorama style now dominates, primarily due to aquascaping competitions that have popularized it. Dioramas simply create a better overall impression. I hope the NA style will make a comeback, even though it's hard to compete with that style today. That's why my next work will lean more towards NA.