Advance Aquascaping

Nature Style Planted Aquarium

Takashi Amano introduced the nature or Japanese style to the planted aquarium hobby in the 1980’s. The principle for creating a nature style planted aquarium is based on the Japanese gardening concept, Wabi Sabi, and the attempt to mimic a vision that one would see in nature. Inspiration for these visions usually come from viewing mountains, forests streams, grassy fields, or the oceans. Unlike the Dutch aquarium, the use of driftwood and rocks play an important role in creating the structure and focal points of a nature style planted aquarium. Using a variety of shape and sizes of the same type of driftwood and rocks, an aquascaper creates what is called a “hardscape”. Placement of your hardscape materials should be asymmetrical to create flow and a natural feel to your aquascape. Using schools of fish in this style is also recommended to create a balance of life and nature.

In contrast with the Dutch style, a nature style planted aquarium should consist of only 3-5 species of plants. However, more quantities of these plants can be used to fill in gaps, depending on your vision of the aquascape. In the first few weeks of setting up your planted aquarium, you may run into algae issues unless initial planting was heavily. One of the easiest solutions for the beginning algae stages of your planted aquarium is to purchase algae eaters such as Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata/japonica) or Oto cats (Otocinclus affinis).

A typical nature style planted aquarium aquascape usually lasts anywhere between 4 to 6 months. However, factors such as growth rate of plants, amount of plants used, and size of aquarium can determine the lifetime of an aquascape. Most aquascapers today usually plan a nature style aquascape to last about 6 months at most, anything past the prime point and the vision of your aquascape may be lost.



Iwagumi Style Planted Aquarium

The Iwagumi style planted aquarium is another form of Japanese gardening, which set rules on rock placement. Takashi Amano has also used this aquascaping style in many of his planted aquariums. With the Iwagumi style, there are four type of stones that are used, Oyaishi, Fukuishi, Soeishi, and Suteishi. The first is Oyaishi, which is the main stone that creates the focal point, second is the Fukuishi, which is a secondary stone similar to the Oyaishi, then there’s Soeishi, which are a group of stones that surround the Oyaishi and Fukuishi, and lastly there is the Suteishi, which is a sacrificial stone that may eventually be covered by plant growth.

In an Iwagumi style aquarium, one must use the same type of stone; doing so will create continuity and harmony in the aquascape. This style does not restrict to using any certain type of stone, however, there are stones such as yamaya, sieryu, ohko, ryuoh that are seen in many Iwagumi style aquascapes. As you can tell, this style emphasizes strictly on rock placement, and driftwood is not used in an Iwagumi style planted aquarium.

As stated above, the Iwagumi style specifically emphasizes on the placement of rocks, and thus they are the main focal points of an Iwagumi aquascape. To ensure that the rocks used in an Iwagumi aquascape are easily seen, many Iwagumi style planted aquariums avoid using stem and large plants. Plants with small and thin leaves such as Riccia fluitans, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Echinodorus tenellus, Glossostigma elatinoides, Eleocharis parvula, acicularis, belem, and mosses are commonly used in this aquascaping style.

One of the great things about an Iwagumi style planted aquarium is the amount of open space that it creates. To complete an Iwagumi aquascape, adding a school of fish will bring balance of harmony and beauty to the planted aquarium. Mainly tetra species are used in Iwagumi setups due to their vibrant colors and activeness when schooling.

Even though Iwagumi is an aquascaping style, there are certain styles within the Iwagumi style as well. See more information and pictures about these styles. This Introductory Guide to Iwagumi may also be helpful if you want to learn more.