Attention AGA Aquascaping Contest Participants

The AGA is creating a new category to better represent the growing trend of aquascapes in the hobby that bridge the gap between our Paludarium category and Wabi Kusa category. Our new Riparium category are aquascapes that are defined as riverbank or shoreline aquascapes and can include traits from both paludariums and Wabi Kusas. The riparium can include BOTH aquatic and terrestrial plants, something that has led to disqualification in past Wabi Kusa aquascapes. In addition, the riparium aquascapes will not require the presence of a substrate ball, which will be a requirement for the Wabi Kusa category this year. Here are some prime examples of aquascapes from each category.

Paludarium

The paludarium must be enclosed or partially enclosed by glass, as opposed to Ripariums that doesn’t require an enclosure.

Wabi Kusa

This Wabi Kusa aquascape clearly showed a substrate ball as part of the entry and we will be requiring that as part of the contest going forward.

Riparium

Two defining features of the riparium are the presence of visible water that is not limited by depth and a glass vessel (does not need to enclose the aquascape). For the riparium, there is not a requirement for a dedicated and developed land area and plants can be grown attached to wood and stone in and out of the water. Below are two examples of ripariums that were disqualified from the paludarium or Wabi Kusa category, but would be prime aquascapes that would do well in the riparium category.