The US (or North America) despite the growing availability of plants and resources for aquascaping a planted aquarium, our area is far from where some of the other countries have taken the hobby. To me it seems like more hobbyists from other regions have mastered aquascaping and are leading the inspiration side of the hobby with new ideas and designs. I mean no offense, and do believe there are some aquascapers on each continent who stand out from the crowd, but most I feel are following the trends/designs produced by the European and Asian aquascapers. Here is my opinion of how Aquascaping Skills rank by Continent Europe - I think they've mastered both Dutch and Japanese aquascaping styles Asia - mainly focused on Japanese styles South America - more combinations of Dutch/Japanese styles North America - focused more on growing plants then designing them Australia - I haven't seen very many scapes from this region Africa/Antarctica - Not many aquascapers from these areas Is this ranking a fair assumption? Your thoughts? -John N.
France seem to have some very good scapers, who seem to do both nature and dutch. Poland seems to be doing very well with the Nature Style. We can tell from the popularity of UKAPS that the UK is on the rise too, but I think for innovation the Asians do it best. Look at what the CAU are churning out for example. They cleanup all the competitions almost completely. I've noticed quite a lot of good stuff from Singapore too. Tom
I think that I agree with #4 to an extent. I think it is starting to swing more towards scaping now, don't you see it on the rise? I will admit that it was the thing for me in the past, but I think to me it is more like, did that, glad I did, learned alot, not more to art. In reality, plants for me started to make it more natural for the fish I was keeping, now, I look for fish that compliment the tank and the scape. I think you are generally spot on from what little I know.
Generalizing is always risky, but I think John's point of view is quite accurate. I'd say that in Europe, we have a natural trend towards Dutch style, which has been mixing for the past years with Natural style => both are still alive but I think Dutch may tend to disappear. Asia shouldn't be treated as a whole I think since for instance, Amano style and CAU style a very different. I'd split Asia in two : on one hand Japan with its strict natural style, where aquascapers are more trying to achieve perfection in a "classical" way than trying to be innovative, on the other hand other asians countries (mainly Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore...) which try to be more creative, but keeping an "Asian" point of view. And don't be too humble, you also have great aquascapers in the US, although it's true that there could be more if you think about the population of the US (which is, I think, approximately the same as in the European Community). This is just my 2 Eurocents view and again, there are always individuals that do not fit these classifications...
We see very few, if any, Dutch style tanks in the UK (Europe). I plan to do one at some point though.
I hope my over generalization was not overboard, and so far from the comments the rankings don't seem to be. I think Mellonman stated the difference between different countries in Europe and Asia and their varying styles very well. I'm surprised I haven't seen more comments from aquascapers in defense of their continent/country, or even dispute or comment more on the rankings. :-? -John N.
I'd put Asia at top, personally. It's a taste thing, as most Asian 'scapes are NA-style that I prefer. The CAU guys have strong NA infuence IMO.
A country that makes Ferraris and Lamborghinis, where Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo lived and also have produced famous designers like Versace, Armani, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Prada should have a rather good climate to create some good aquascapers.
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