Mindscape In Cyberspace

It’s a good news for all aquascape artists and planted tank enthusiasts, who cannot read Chinese! Creative Aquascapes Union has launched the English Version of their amazing website and online gallery - www.cau-aqua.net. Thanks to these great aquascape artists for sharing their works and experiences with hundreds of planted tank enthusiasts of the world, who have been inspired by the works from CAU.

On 1st May, 2007, members of CAU have announced the launch of the English version of Creative Aquascape Union’s website, celebrating their first anniversary, on various major Aquarium forums, like, www.plantedtank.net, www.aquaticplantcentral.com and other related sites.

Justin Law of CAU said,

“..1st May 2006, A Chinese version of CAU launched, we hear a lot of voice request us to translate this site into an English version. We also aware that this international language could help more aquascape lovers around the world to know us. However, from our limited resources and English is not our first language, the progress is very slow, first we have to solve the system issue, then translation, reformat….”

Thanks, Justin! You guys have done a great job! Congratulations!

After these dedicated years of Nature Aquariums and Natural Aquascapes, I decided to explore a comparatively new area of this fascinating hobby - Creative Aquascaping!

[Check out one of my previous Natural Aquascapes here]

Apparently, there are not too many differences between Natural Aquascaping and Creative Aquascaping.

In Natural Aquascapes we try to simulate an underwater scenario, sometimes specific to a particular biotope, sometimes a fancy combination of various species! But, every bit of the process is aimed to make the tank look like a natural underwater environment. But Creative Aquascapes are rarely aimed to simulate an underwater scenario. It’s like creating any landscape with a glass tank filled with water, live aquatic plants, fishes and props like stones & driftwoods!

Another thing I noticed is, in Creative Aquascaping photographing your tank is also very important. Thematic light settings, translucent backgrounds with vignette, placement of props are also very critical issues, in Creative Aquascaping. It’s not only about growing healthy plants or make your tank look like natural river bed! It’s a search beyond that! It’s about creating an ambiance, a mood or a moment.

The most interesting thing, I noticed, in most cases, Creative Aquascapes are made for much shorter period than Natural Aquascapes.

I decided to go for Nano aquascape, for initial experimentation. Nanos might be difficult but I can keep quite a few to try out different layouts with different plant species.

When I landed on the home page of Creative Aquascape Union (www.cau-aqua.net) I have almost closed it without even clicking on a single link, because the entire site is in Chinese (Well, I am not very sure about that, too!) and there is no English version. I can’t read Chinese, but still, I can see images and I was amazed when I saw their gallery.

The CAU gallery features a series of incredible aquascapes and aquarium photographs by the members of this award winning group of creative aquscape designers. Even if this is a non-english site, the images do not require any text. Each set up has a poetic title (mostly in English), given by the artist himself.

I came across this group called Creative Aquascape Union (CAU) on the Aquatic Gardener’s Showcase while checking out the result of AGA Aquascaping contest for 2006. I immediately noticed Creative Aquascape Union (www.cau-aqua.net) as they have 6 stunning entries including the ‘1st place‘ and ‘Best of the Show‘ title holder in Small category, 4 in medium , ‘2nd place’ in large category, 3 nominations including the one which got the ‘3rd place’ in x-large category and each one has a creative touch on it. Incredible works!

My personal favorite is this one: Green Morning by Harry Kwong. Awesome work! Kudos to you, guys!

I have also found their Maintenance Knowledge and Setup Guide sections very good and helpful and even if they are in Chinese, they have very detailed step-by-step photo documentation of those award winning projects – setting up and care.

[Originally posted on SamitOnline.net on 2007-04-04 and later shifted to SamitRoy.org]

I have started writing a series of articles on how to set up a healthy planted aquarium and other various useful tips in my Nature Aquarium Blog. The second post of this Planted Aquarium Tips series has been just added on my Nature Aquarium Blog and it deals with the pros and cons of pruning the plants in your aquarium. The first post of this Planted Aquarium Tips series was on the ideal substrate for a planted tank and the post can be viewed here. I have been getting positive responses and encouraging notes from the readers, since I started this Nature Aquarium Blog. It seems that serious aquarium hobbyists from various corners of the world are finding this Nature Aquarium Blog and the photographs and information, helpful. This is the reason why I try to bring out little time from my daily schedule to update my Nature Aquarium Blog with information and experiences I have gathered in past years as a serious aquarist.

Internet, being the best resource for virtually any subject under the sun, is also a great resource for aquarium hobbyists. People have been sharing their knowledge and experiences with others on various online forums and communities for years. These forums, like the Krib, fins.actwin.com, IAH, Aquatic Plant Central etc are now being considered as the most valuable online resource for aquarium and fish keeping.

After almost 6 months or more, I have started a new aquascape project, in my 28 gl tank. This tank was lying empty with few home-bred guppies, occasional oddballs, dumped plants and all other extra props, since I ripped off my Malawi Cichlid set up. The tank was almost like a dingy, cluttered store room, with a dark and gloomy air around it. When I shifted to my new apartment around 2 months back, I decided to reset this tank and create a mixed planted set up with Harlequin Rasboras at the mid level, Few Kuhli Loaches and Paki Loaches and a lonely red Betta, as the accent item. I decided, not to use any new expensive and exotic plants in this set up, rather I tried to stick to the specimens that I already had with me in my other tanks. I named it ‘Alone in the Forest’. The tank is almost 2 months old and quite steady now; growing everyday and moving towards its maturity.

More images of this set up »

• Front (Full) »
• Front (Parts) »
• During Planting »

My other aquascapes and nature aquariums can be viewed at following locations:

• My Flickr Album of Creative Aquascapes and Nature Aquarium
• My Creative Aquascapes and Nature Aquarium Blog
• My Picasa Web Album of Creative Aquascapes and Nature Aquarium
• An article on Creative Aquascaping

I have been visiting ThinkFish.co.uk, quite regularly for last few years. It is one of my favorite on line resource for aquarium, aqua gardening and fish keeping hobby.

Apart from their rich articles section, their comprehensive fish database and plant database are also very useful for the beginners, as well as experienced aquarium hobbyists. A very comprehensive and illustrative thumbnail lists of fish and plants are also available on their web site for download.

ThinkFish.co.uk is a must bookmark for all aquarists - from beginners to veterans.