For this year the contest welcomed Bart Laurens (Netherlands) as a new judge for the Dutch category joined by returning judges Marco Aukes (Netherlands) and Vin Kutty (USA).
— Erik
Another good year for Dutch Aquascape contest. While there are fewer entries than I hoped the overall quality is good. Inability or unwillingness to exercise restraint with species count and red plants haunt even the very best entries.
Last year’s AGA publication ‘SOME RULES FOR DUTCH STYLE AQUASCAPING—A QUICK GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS ’ seems to have helped some beginner entrants. There's a new publication from NBAT (Nederlandse Bond Aqua Terra) that's a must-have. It's called Dutch Scaping Aquarium and it is currently available only as a digital publication that comes with an annual membership to NBAT. It's a 136-page document with detailed photographs and analysis of top Dutch scapes.
It's nice to see curtain plants in front corners of tanks and the relative absence of ‘overfed-on-EI’ look that hampered many entries last year.
This year I wish to highlight two new tricks. First the importance of trimming skills. It’s a little trick that I call ‘Days-to-Peak ’ which is the number of days it takes for a species to grow to perfect height and volume after a trim. The second is the need for an overflow farm tank. If your entry is the only tank in your possession then you have nowhere else to put all the shiny new red plants entering the hobby. Without an overflow tank your carefully planned Dutch sccape will quickly become a colorful jungle tank.
— Vin Kutty
We see more good aspects in many of the scapes. Yet the amount of scapes that really battle it out for the top ranks is still limited in this category. Than again the quality of the top ranks is improving and I am really happy with the top 2 tanks.
Thailand
United States
South Korea
Indonesia
Spain
Iran
India
Mexico
Russian Federation
Guatemala
Comments
Last year’s AGA publication ‘SOME RULES FOR DUTCH STYLE AQUASCAPING—A QUICK GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS ’ seems to have helped some beginner entrants. There's a new publication from NBAT (Nederlandse Bond Aqua Terra) that's a must-have. It's called Dutch Scaping Aquarium and it is currently available only as a digital publication that comes with an annual membership to NBAT. It's a 136-page document with detailed photographs and analysis of top Dutch scapes.
It's nice to see curtain plants in front corners of tanks and the relative absence of ‘overfed-on-EI’ look that hampered many entries last year.
This year I wish to highlight two new tricks. First the importance of trimming skills. It’s a little trick that I call ‘Days-to-Peak ’ which is the number of days it takes for a species to grow to perfect height and volume after a trim. The second is the need for an overflow farm tank. If your entry is the only tank in your possession then you have nowhere else to put all the shiny new red plants entering the hobby. Without an overflow tank your carefully planned Dutch sccape will quickly become a colorful jungle tank.