Category: Aquarists

Last year I wrote about the unique art form of the planted aquarium (you can read my post here: https://www.davewatsonauthor.com/beauty-inside-a-rain-puddle-the-discovery-of-a-new-art-form/).   The technical term for creating a planted aquarium is aquascaping.  Like so many things in lives, aquascaping flies under the radar for most people.

When I mention I have an aquarium at home, I think most people conjure the image of a tank with blue rocks, a bubbling pirate’s chest that opens and closes, and colorful fish swimming around plastic, algae covered plants.  Show someone a planted tank for the first time and be ready for the “wow, I had no idea,” response. 

This past year, my son Tristan and I entered The Great Lakes Aquascaping contest featured at the Wisconsin Garden Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.  It was a creative challenge.  The participants were given all the necessary elements to create a planted tank: the aquarium, sand substrate, driftwood, rocks, a variety of plants, and only a few hours to design and construct our vision.

As a general rule, my creativity doesn’t work well under pressure.  It was nerve-wracking having people stare and ask questions as we were trying to compose our aquascape.  While the contest was for fun, Tristan and I have a healthy competitive spirit, and were both anxious to give a good account of ourselves.

Here is a photo of our final product:

Our creation took fourth place, but actually won People’s Choice for large tank.  While judging a creative competition is a subjective undertaking, we were pleased with our results, and the judge’s comments were constructive and helpful.

The first and second place aquariums:

Having the chance to participate in this unique contest with my son was a reward in itself, but perhaps even more fulfilling was watching the many show goers gape in astonishment as they strolled the exhibits.  As you can see by some of the other entries, it’s stunning how great a slice of aquatic nature can look in a glass box.