Dutch or Amano's Nature?

[Fei Miao]

Just like to find out what fellow aquascapers perferred?

I find myself leaning more to Amano's Nature style, ..It's a more "Natural" environment for the fishes

[bclee]

Actually Amano's "Nature" does not refer to "natural".

He mimics or represent a scene of the nature using an aquascape in his aquarium.

A natural theme is like a replication biotope or habitat.

BC

[CT]

I like some of his ideal of how to position the focus point and how to plant the plants so that the tank look longer.

[Darkkon]

Yup in Amano's Nature Aquarium World, all the 2 feet tank looks much bigger and i really couldn't believe it. His principals are to use small fishes and bushy, small leaved plants to make the tank look bigger, especially against a dark background.

I much prefer Amano's Nature concept but it is something that requires talent, just like art. I for one can't visualise like he does and though i always wanted a Nature tank the end product ends up looking like a Dutch in the end []. Hoping the results of the recent competition to come out soon so i can see what fellow bros here came up with [:]

[bttay]

What about a combination of both: a heavily arranged plants in dutch style as the background and spacious "natural" setting in mid and foreground? I tried on it and am quite happy with it.

[vinz]

One "trick" is to let creeping plants grow anywhere they like... just thin out the fields very few weeks or so, but leave those that grow between other plants, wood, rocks etc alone. Amano sometimes purposely plant small plants like hair grass in crevases, etc.

Look at some of the pictures on Tom Barr's Plant Fest webbie. You'll see some plants mixing.

[Darkkon]

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On 8/8/2003 7:12:55 PM

One "trick" is to let creeping plants grow anywhere they like... just thin out the fields very few weeks or so, but leave those that grow between other plants, wood, rocks etc alone. Amano sometimes purposely plant small plants like hair grass in crevases, etc.

Look at some of the pictures on Tom Barr's Plant Fest webbie. You'll see some plants mixing.
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Yup i know what you mean. Saw Amano letting glosso overrun hairgrass and riccia in one of his series of photos on the same tank without meddling with it. Guess that's his idea on letting nature take its own course. But if small creeping plants get between stemmed plants i think it will be a real mess if you need to clip and replant the stemmed plants. Imagine all the roots that will be coming up... []