水草情迷

head of ADA demonstrating how to setup a planted tank!!!
http://www.e-aquaria.com/des_amano.html

Thank you very much..

It is a pity that special skills have not been mentioned.

I think what we can learn from the Japanese is the "style" of their tank.
i have seen many photos of local aquarium plant keepers.Many of them can keep their plant at a very good condition .But something they can improve are the arrangments and designs of the tank.

we can see that many Japanese tank dont use too many species of palnt.But their desgin makes you feel stylish.But for many beginners such as me .Keeping their plant healthy and fighting with algae are main problems which they are facing with.So i think the ways to improve our skill is keep learning form the net and experts.

Hi,

I total agree with Mephisto's view that a lot of local aquarists concentrate on just keeping the plants in good condition rather than putting more thought on the layout. I am a big fan of the Japanese style aqua layouts, especially those produced by Mr. Amano. The key to a beautiful aquarium in my opinion is to make it looks as natural as possible. The arrangement of rocks and driftwood plays a more important role than the plants. It forms the basic structure of the whole layout.Everything else are built upon this base.

When I design my layout I spend most time on considering the arrangement of the basic elements ( rocks and driftwoods),the shapes of the rocks and driftwoods I'm going to use and the contour of the substrate. Sometimes I even draw out the idea to have a preview of the layout as you can see from the photos I post up in this site. All these things are always neglect by some aquarists. I have a small suggestion to anyone who is interested to make a beauitful natural aquarium - next time when you go to the country side. Pay more attention to your surrounding. Observe the detail of the nature. I am sure we'll all learn more from the mother nature.

Sean:
I totally agree with you. The nature inspires us a lot.
But, the style of TAKASHI AMANO is different from the one, which is popularly seen in HK, which is the German and Holland style. Usually, the German and Holland style will not use anything else other than plants. The difference may arise from different concepts of beauty in East and West.

Hi ,

Yes, it is ture that many local aquarium style are following the European style which plants play the main role in the tank. It is beautiful in a man made way, almost like walking into a man made garden. Every plant are neatly positioned. Personally I prefer a more natural look which gives a stronger feeling of the natural environment. To share my experience, sometimes even though I planned the layout the plants grow to their natural way and change the look of the whole layout. I'll just let the plants grow and let nature create its own picture. The result can be surprisingly good!

Sure, because we are Chinese, the ancients of Japanese.