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Nature aquarium began as an upgrade from an ordinary fish tank building hobby to an art. It started when aquarium that was originally intended for fancy fish was designed with true aquatic plants. In ordinary aquarium, the emphasis of the hobby is the fish, while the emphasis of nature aquarium is the place where they live and aquascape of the water tank. The art was first made by Takashi Amano, a Japaenese born artist. His first art is photography of nature scenic views which made him go to wonderful places of the world. With his interest to nature, he mixed his naturistic imaginations inside the fish tank which later on became an award winning art. The main idea of nature aquarium is creating an ecosystem inside the fish tank where little fish, harmful and beneficial bacteria, invertebrates such as shrimps, water plants, and all other forms aquatic life live together like that of what we see on Discovery Channel. Only that, it is inside the fish tank. In other words, it is a miniature ecosystem. There are many kinds of aquatic plants that can be used for aquatic design depending on your style and creative imagination. You can use Hemianthus callitrichodes or otherwise known as “HC” for covering the landscape. For giving a different look aside from green, Ludwigia Arcuata maybe a good choice. For designing a mountain like scenic view, Dwarf Haigrass or Elocharis acicularis may be a good choice. Again, it depends on your own preferences and creative mind. With the fishes,, please note that since it is a miniature ecosystem, it is not recommendable to have huge fishes like Arowana or Oscar. It's not what we are trying to make here. It is best to have small fishes such as Guppy and Tetra. If you can have some other colorful small fish, the better. No Gold fishes ok?. Also try to consider some invertebrates shrimps and snails. They eat algae and some other harmful bacteria inside the nature aquarium. They can be a good help in maintaining the balance in the ecosystem inside the tank. Though algae is a part of the ecosystem, algae has to be maintained in balance inside the fish tank. They multiply so fast. They can destroy the beauty of your aquarium and may have effects to animals and plants inside the tank. Having some invertebrates If you do not like invertebrates, a fish known as Siamese algae eater, would be a perfect match against algae. It is good if you have one Siamese algae eater in 20 gallon tank. Lastly, consider the lighting, CO2 and oxygen, substrate, and filtration systems. They are essentially important in growing the water plants well. Successful nature aquariums have excellent systems of the 5 mentioned above. Takashi's hobby became an art, then later on became a business. Accompanied by the scientific study of the right equipments for nature aquariums, Takashi began the company Aqua Design Amano (ADA) that manufactures good quality lighting, CO2 and oxygen, substrate, and filtration systems. These equipments are really expensive than the ordinary ones. But you can be assured of the highest quality that you can get with the brand. Bince simply loves the beauty of nature. Know more about nature aquarium by visiting his website: www.natureaquariums.org and be a part of the community.
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nature aquariums, aquariums, takashi amano, ada, ada aquarium,
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