Twelfth Place - Garden Salad

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Image copyright © Gavin Carew

Artist: Gavin Carew
Location: USA

Volume (liters) 300

Length x Width x Height (cm) 120 x 45 x 50

Plants Hygrophila difformis, Bucephalandra 'Kedagang', Myriophyllum matogrossense 'Golden', Ludwigia natans, Hygrophila corymbosa 'Angustifolia', rotala h'ra, calicostella prabaktiana moss, Cryptocoryne Jacobsenii, lindernia rotundifolia 'variegated', rotala macrandra green, eleocharis montevidensis

Fish Melanotaenia trifasciata 'Habgood River', Rhadinocentrus ornatus 'Seary's Creek', Chilatherina sp Upper Tor, corydoras venezuelanus

 

[Art]

Judges comments​

Gregg Zydeck

Some of the plant groupings are nice, but everything draws your eye to the front center of the tank, and there is not much there. That portion of the tank needs work and more plant mass. Right now it’s more of a carpet and does not add anything to the scape. Remove everything in the center and replace with a variety of plant groupings and this could score much higher.

Joe Harvey

This has the makings of a really nice aquascape, it's just not there yet. The Myrio street is in a good place and a good shape but it might be a plant thats better suited in the mid-background. Move the Crypt to the left some so it's in the focal point area (google 'rule of thirds' or 'golden ratio') keep the green moss behind it so it really stands out. The buces up front are too dead center, adjust those so its not a perfect triangle right in the middle.

Marian Sterian

No comment

Dennis Wong

No comment

Vin Kutty

Good contrast and focal points. I like this tank a lot. But the center of the tank feels bare…as if uprooted and replanted a few hours ago. Allowing the Myrio Golden to grow and cover the scruffy bottom of the Rotala would have helped a lot. Back right corner needs definition...it would have been fantastic if the right third was as good as the left third. Overstocked with fish. In Dutch contests, I regularly talk about 'time to peak' for each plant. That concept needs to be applied to garden style tanks too.

Suggestions: allow each species its own required time to reach peak condition. Time it so all plants are close to peak on photo day.