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I'm sure this has been talked about many times, but I was just visiting a website showing some of Amano's designs.

http://www.adaeuro.com/gallery.asp?g_id=2#

Are these tanks put up and taking down? Is there a filtration system used?





My Scapes

No, those are the way they look. They are preened for photo shoots. Amano is a professional photgrapher as much as he is a plant person.

Aquascapes change rapidly, so in a sense, all plant tanks are only a moment in time.

Many are very very permanent, some perhaps not so. Some require lots of work, some not so much.

Most have less light than many tanks in the USA and many other regions. He uses filters, sumps or canisters, the cansiters are very nice, they run about 400$. It';s high line stuff.

Mike and Jeff Senske sell ADA products in the USA (ADG).

The filter tubes and any equipment are removed prior to photographing. Each tank is on wheels to facilitate it being moved into the photo shoot room.

Most tanks are 3-6 months old in the photo's, some older, there is larger market if for it in Japan also.

Regards,
Tom Barr

tetratech

Fantastic I know they are professionaly done tanks but they have one very basic design through out they have a flow/shape/design. It is what I have been talking about for ages. I dont think he would like my Anubias jungle.

He prefers the very strict commercial design for photography perfection

Thank you for posting them

Keith

Last edited by keithgh at 18-Mar-2005 21:13

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Thanks or the insight. I see what you mean about the photogaphy (lighting, water movement, etc.) That adds alot to the picture. I guess even an empty tank with one rock in it would look pretty good (not to take award from the skill of Amano).

I actually like the tanks where the whold substrate is covered with a carpet and you have just a few rocks or driftwood sticking out, but it would be difficult to enjoy it with the filter tubes, etc sticking out unless i got a predrilled tank.



My Scapes

Actually plantbrain, not to contradiory but a lot of amanos tanks are very young. Mainly because they need pruning VERY often. Also, notice that in the best of his pitures, many of the plants are not pruned at all, thus very newly set up.

Amono has great set ups, problem is that they are so powerful toward the plants that they are algae filled and over run with plants in a few days.

Another issue that has to be addressed here is long term sustainability.

While making assumptions of this kind is always fraught with pitfalls, I would contend that the vast majority of aquarists who frequent this board are interested in setting up a system that is sustainable over a long time period. Prinarily because the fish species that many choose have a lifespan that extends into the 10-year plus realm. Even a fish as commonly available as the Bronze Cory can make it to 15 years old with reasonable care.

It strikes me that Amano is principally interested in visual aesthetics, with ecological sustainability wihtin the aquarium being a secondary consideration. Most aquarists place sustainability first.

However, with patience and diligent attention to maintenance (yes, I'm pushing these again!) it's possible to construct an aquarium community that not only fulfils sustainability criteria, but which is also stunning to look at. Try Dr Bonke's aquarium in Photo Booth. That looks, to the uninitiated, like an Amano creation, but the BIG difference is that Dr Bonke has planned it with the maintenance of a long-term and relatively stable community in mind. When you see Dr Bonke's pics, his aquarium isn't a young one.

Likewise, my Panda Fun Palace™ is ten years old. It's evolved in appearance over that time, but has remained relatively stable with respect to the principal features now since early 2003. There are a couple of tricks with respect to mine, for example, my infamous "bogwood boot" that provides my Pandas with a sort of underwater tree house for them to live in. This can be removed for a gravel vac operation in seconds, and replaced equally easily. Yet, once the gravel vac is finished, no one is any the wiser.

And, when I look over my shoulder, and view the Panda Fun Palace™ while in my armchair in front of the PC, what do I see? Well, I've used the phrase "piece of miniature river in the living room", again as an aesthetic guide, inpast posts: it's not really that of course, because it still needs my intervention to keep it ticking over. But the amount of intervention it needs to maintain both fish health and its visual aspect is probably a good deal less than would be required for an Amano creation.

The trick, again, is balance. Balancing the needs of carefully selected fish and plant species together, in such a way that the level of intervention required isn't prohibitive. Amano might barf at my aesthetics, but it works. Ten years of continuous running and 71 Panda Cory spawnings in under 2 years should be sufficient proof of that


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Have to come to Mr.Amano's defense here. I disagree on the sustainability of his tanks.

You have to remember Mr.Amano is a businessman. Yes he started as a photographer and kind of fell into aquaria. But he makes his money from his aquatic business – ADA, not from the books or the photography. This business entails the setting up and maintaining of tanks for wealthy and corporate clients and the sale of equipment, ferts etc. Selling tanks that are unsustainable and equipment that doesn't work is bad business. He's a wealthy man.

Where he has an advantage on us is that he has a team of people to groom and manicure his tanks, some say even on a daily basis . So yes they are probably a bit more difficult to keep looking great for most of us but to say they would algae filled messes in a few months is wrong.

You have to remember that there is a difference in way Asian approach aquascaping and the way Americans do. As plantbrain pointed out his tanks generally use a lot less light then most tanks in the US. This is part of the difference between Asian and American approaches. I've made this point before. Americans tend to see their tanks like their cars, bigger more power ! Western growers seem to be obsessed with growth rates, seeing the plants growing faster and bigger, pearling etc. Most Asian aquascapers could give two hoots about growth rate. I know some good aqauascapers here and I've never seen any of them use more then 2-3 wpg. This is also reflected in their plant choices. You won't see too many reds in Asian tanks. They've generally no use for difficult plants , especially if there is an easier plants that will do the same job. They choose their plants very carefully and generally shun those that get too big or grow too fast. You will see a lot of mosses, liverworts and grass plants in Asian tanks but a minimum number of fast growing or large stem plants. There is a culture of practicality, harmony, zen, feng shui in this part of the world that has seeped into their aquascaping principles and their choice of plants. This is more important to them then the rate of growth and their set ups are geared to that.

There is a common misperception that certain plants NEED bright light and Co2 to grow. They don't. They just grow faster with them. Most plants will do well without these things, as long as the nutrient supply is in balance with the set up, but will just grow a lot slower

Amano is somewhat of an illusionist. By his choice and placement of hardscape (he's incredibly fussy about these things) , and choice of fish he makes something that is greater then the sum of it's parts. There's also a lot of things going on that the casual observer can't see. Get close to one of his tanks and you'll see they are teeming with snails and shrimp doing clean up duties. His choice and preference of plants seems aimed toward long term sustainibility you won't see him put a sword or Nymphaea in a small tank even if only for a photoshoot. Look at his photos, you won't see a plant in his tanks that doesn't belong there long term.

Having said all that while I can admire his work, I find his tanks a little too manicured and precise for my tastes. He'd probably hate my thick jungle.


Last edited by bensaf at 17-Mar-2005 21:21

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Ah. Thnaks for that.

Still begs the question of maintenance though. As you say, he has teams of people helping to maintain expensive corporate aquaria. With resources that are probably beyond the dreams of avarice for many here.

The point I was making is that it is possible (and I cited Dr Bonke as only one example) to construct a wonderful looking aquarium without such privileges. I've done what I think is a good job on the Panda Fun Palace™ ... I suspect that there are quite a few others here who are proud of what they have achieved, and with much smaller budgets.

This still brings me back to my sustainability question. Amano's aquaria for corporate customers are probably very high maintenance. While all aquaria need maintenance, chances are that quite a few people here would find an Amano style aquarium to be hard work, even with the aforementioned careful choices of plant.

And, as you say above, Amano is in part an illusionist. He's hit upon one or more formulae that produce devastating results, but whether the rest of us can follow his path is a moot point.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I think that if you have the time the vision and the will to do or emulate one of his tanks it can be done, after looking at several of his tanks, I got to the conclusion that they do really appear as landscapes, and I did a little experiment to try to do a landscape (from a photo), into a aquascape. It works.

The problem is not so technical at it might appear. It's all about knowing your plants very well and how they are going to develop as Bernard mention. No need for high light red plants (not common in the natural landscape). He's a perfectionist that's for sure, but also has the vision and knowledge of aquatic plants to the spot.

I think he finds jungle like so ant esthetic, because in his effort to emulate nature, they sure seem crowded, I don't know if he had the chance to actually witness a jungle landscape, maybe he would change his mind. At the end it all comes down to taste, I said it before, I don't like his tanks, they sure are impressive, but to perfect that it even makes them cold.

You can go to Nigata and see the tanks in person.
They get worked, no doubt, but is the work worth the effort?

Perhaps not for some, but certainly for others.
Many hobbyists don't do their routines that much, but it's nice to be able to whip a tank into a good garden for a few weeks/months and get a nice photo.

You learn a lot in that process.

Some tanks are quite nice over the long term. I have well heeled clients as well, I do not sell a product line, I'm more interested in information and physiology.

ADG also does the same thing in Texas. They sell the ADA line also for anyone interested.

I think many folks believe you must spend all your time pruning stem plants, this is not true.

Some displys are that way, most are not.
I would not design a display for a client that took large amounts of time for myself to deal with!!!

I want it to look nice and well maintained, same with ADA, ADG.

We have tricks and we see these same things in each of our tank's displays.

Plant choice and the hardscape have more to do with it and I think we are very anal about that part.

I prune fast also. I pick at things when I want to get a photo opt.

I've met Amano 2x now.
He's a very nice, funny person, not what many think.

Regards,
Tom Barr

We have tricks and we see these same things in each of our tank's displays.

Any chance of hearing about a few Tom ? Or are they trade secrets ?

Or you could PM me I wouldn't tell anybody, promise

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I wouldn't tell anybody either!

And by the way, I've heard a lot about Amanao and seen pictures of his tanks, but I've heard more about Calilasseia's Panda Fun Palace™ and I've never seen a picture of it. For some reason I have visions of an underwater Blackpool... Calilasseia, are there any pictures of the Panda Fun Palace™ or is it still patent pending and kept as a secret? If they are, I want to see them.

Not really anything secret, less light, more wood, rock etc to anchor a design, then add a fair amount of slow easy growers, Anubias, Bolbitus, Java fern/moss, think about pruning the fast growers and where would be a good spot, having a nice access hood and view, good CO2/nutrients.

Basic stuff.
Many tanks are only 40% or less fast growers.
Flat tank syndrome is avoided by reworking the substrate/adding rock/wood etc.

There are no magic silver bullets, it's mainly work and consideration.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Ok, as you say makes sense. Something I've certainly ended up doing over time anyway.

I've gradually being replacing stem plants with other types or stem plants that grow a little slower. I've found myself, almost subconciously putting the remaining fast growers in far more accessible places. No stem plants are ever kept "in the open" every one of them is behind a rock, piece of wood or crypt, so the inevetible leaf loss at the bottom from shading is not an issue. I prefer now to use plants like vals and apons right at the back of the tank where access is the most difficult.

Some I reluctantly gave up all together. I love the look and shape of Rotala Indica but for me the top third of the plant is the really nice part, but just got tired of constantly replanting it so it looks it's best.

Strange how my stock of anubias has increased by about 400% in the past few months

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I saw my name appear in Cali's posts and therefore I feel like I have permission to add a couple of words as well . First of all I have correct something a little bit, although I am pleased that people think I put a lot of effort in planning the layout of my tank, I did not really sit down up front and decided which plants I wanted and where I would put them. Those decisions were mostly made by the stuff that was available. I started out with three pieces of bogwood, and ended up with only two of those pieces in the tank, the third I still have somewhere in a closet, but whether I will ever use it I don't know. The plants were mostly chosen on my previous experience with them and based on what was available (which isn't horribly much here in Finland, people do not seem to be used to the kind of planted tanks that I like). I did have some knowledge of most of the plants I bought, I knew that Anubias nana would be great for up front, lobelia cardinalis would be a lovely middle plant, hygrophylas would be good back plants and the sword a nice centerpiece, but only once I had everything together and started planting them I decided on their positions. No real long term planning there I'm afraid, I just made it in a way that I liked best and according to the knowledge I had of the plants.

After going through the Amano photos, I must say that I'm very impressed by quite a few of those tanks, some I do not really like, I like a bit more variation in my plants than just 2 or 3 species, others are a bit too crowded, but several I really like a lot. My personal preference lies towards a bit more red color variation in the tank, to contrast with all the green and maybe a touch less "manicure" as Bernard called it, though on the other hand I do like to group my plants more to enhance the contrast. Yet, I have nothing but respect what Amano manages to do with his tanks, every one of them looks "finished", no more change necessary, only maintenance. That is something that I have yet to reach with my tanks, although I'm pleased with the way they look, I can see so many things in them that I'd love to change

Yeep, that small font is hard to read Dr Bonke ...

For those who still haven't seen the Panda Fun Palace™ pictures, here they are!

Link:

Panda Fun Palace™

There are four more photos after that one, including detail shots of parts of the aquarium. Although the photos were taken in 2003, and I now have two Amazon Swords instead of one (plus Hornwort that needs regular severe pruning!) the fundamentals of the aquarium do not differ greatly now from what you see here. I'll probably post some more recent pics in the not too distant future.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002