Every year I'm amazed at the outstanding aquascapes that are entered in our anual contest and think that this year's entries just couldn't top the previous year's tanks. However, as usual, I'm surprised and excited about the turnout and the quality of the aquascapes entered in this year's contest. Each year, new trends in aquascaping appear in the entries and for this year, the trend toward mimicry of nature scenes was evident in a number of the aquascapes. In addition to the natural scenic aquascapes, we had an especially strong showing in our small tank category and some superb tanks in the extra-large category. So all-in-all, another excellent year for our contest and hobby.

View Aquascapes

Before we open the contest for viewing, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of the individuals who helped with our contest. I'd like to begin by extending our gratitude to George Farmer, Bob Vivian from the Pittsburgh Area Planted Aquarium Society, Karen Randall of the Aquatic Gardeners Association, and Takashi Amano from Aqua Design Amano, our esteemed judges who had the difficult task of judging and ranking all the fine aquascapes. I'd also like to thank Zoe Stevens-Lavigne for our beautiful graphics, and Antonio Nikolic, Bushan Dalvi, Efren Leonida, Hedson Hinojosa, and Jerry Smith for helping to get the word out about the contest nationally and internationally. Without the efforts of our volunteers, our contests wouldn't be as successful as they have been from year to year.

Finally, I would like to extend a huge thanks to Seachem and The Dallas-Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club for their sponsorship of this year's contest.

Without the efforts of our volunteers and the sponsorship of the contest, the AGA International Aquascaping Contest wouldn't be a success it has been from year to year.

So, without further ado, enjoy the aquascapes!

Kind Regards,
Bailin Shaw
Aquascaping Contest Chair