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Enter your native tank into the AGA aquascaping competition!

Started by Guest_EricaLyons_* , Sep 02 2013 11:49 AM

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#1 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 11:49 AM

It's that time of year again! The AGA (Aquatic Gardeners' Association) is accepting entries into their 2013 aquascaping competition! This is a very big deal for us native fish lovers for two reasons:

Quite a lot of people see these contest entries
There is currently zero native fish representation

Here is a link to the contest entry: http://www.aquatic-g...ners.org/Enter/ The tank can be entered into a category based on its size or, if it qualifies, into the biotope category. Please enter your native tank and bring awareness to our wonderful NA native fishes. There is no fee for entering, but there are prizes for winning.

Deadline is September 15th.

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#2 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 11:58 AM

Tips:

The judges hate seeing equipment in the tank, so if you can hide it or take it out just for the photo, that would get you more points.
They disqualify tanks from possibly winning the biotope section if it has something in it that wouldn't be found in the region the biotope is emulating. In that case, enter the tank into its size category, not the biotope section.
They looove to see pictures of the biotope that you're recreating. For example if you have a picture of the stream that your tank is designed after, they will eat that up.
They love crystal, crystal clear water. If you don't have that, you can put some activated carbon in your filter for a few days before taking the photo for the competition.
It is a good idea to turn the room lights off, leave the tank lights on, attach your camera to something so you're not holding (and shaking) it, and use the timer setting to make it snap the photo. That way your photo won't be motion blurred or have glare on the glass from one of the room's lights.
They love to see sketches of the tank with all the plants and species listed and numbered. It is unlikely that they will be familiar with all of our native plants, so please use taxonomic names when possible. For example, call hornwort/coontail the name 'ceratophyllum demersum'. The judges love new and interesting plant species, so this gives our native tanks an edge up over everyone else
Please include some closeup photos of the fish with the tank entry. The judges and audience have probably never seen our native fish before, so this is a great chance to capture their interest!

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#3 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 12:13 PM

I hope that a lot of us enter this contest. I know I am!

Before someone asks, I should point out: No, plants are not required. Here is last year's 2nd place winner in the biotope section:
Posted Image

http://showcase.aqua...12/show164.html

Link to last year's biotope entries: http://showcase.aqua...012/index1.html

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#4 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 12:53 PM

I am currently uploading the photos to my entry and am finding that the uploader works with .jpg files and doesn't with .png, so I figured I would share.

Update: Done! Submitted. It was that simple. I finished the whole contest entry in less than 30 minutes.

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#5 Guest_velvetelvis_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 07:51 PM

It's been a dream of mine to enter the Biotope category for years. Sadly, my display isn't ready yet.

I wish I could say that the judges always choose the most accurate biotope, but I've seen a couple of winners that were head-scratchers. In 2007, the winner was totally unnatural-looking, and the judges commented that the plants were inappropriate--and then awarded it first place. Huh?

http://showcase.aqua...07/show224.html

Why this SE Australian stream biotope didn't win instead is completely beyond me...everything was even locally collected!

http://showcase.aqua...007/show53.html

On the other hand, George Farmer's UK stickleback tank was beautiful and got the attention it deserved. Overall, I think both the entries and the judging in that category have improved over the past few years. I think some of the judges are strictly planted-tank guys and don't really "get" the concept of a biotope display; it's supposed to look like a slice of natural habitat, not immaculately manicured like a Nature Aquarium.

http://showcase.aqua...009/show30.html

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#6 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 11:03 PM

The contest photos are always great fun to look at. I'm submitting my cornfield-runoff-ditch biotope this time. I think this is gonna be my year!

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#7 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 02 September 2013 - 11:05 PM

Why this SE Australian stream biotope didn't win instead is completely beyond me...everything was even locally collected!

http://showcase.aqua...007/show53.html

Oh, I forgot to say on my list of tips: the judges routinely rate something extremely poorly if it had straight-line-ended branches. They say, "don't saw your branches off" and the give it minus a billion score. That most likely factored into the SE Australian stream biotope's rating. It's like a pet peeve of theirs. They also don't like thick driftwood.

Driftwood is 'too heavy': http://showcase.aqua...10/show152.html
Driftwood should have been thinner: http://showcase.aqua...010/show42.html
Too much driftwood, going in different directions: http://showcase.aqua...10/show150.html
Stark horizontal log is too distracting: http://showcase.aqua...010/show91.html
Driftwood in left foreground too heavy: http://showcase.aqua...11/show380.html
I mean, even in this beautiful tank, three of the four comments were about fixing the driftwood: http://showcase.aqua...11/show114.html

So there's the answer. They're really harsh on wood.

But you can't win if you don't enter! And it's not really about winning, it's about bringing attention to our... cornfield-runoff-ditch fish

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#8 Guest_velvetelvis_*

Guests

Posted 03 September 2013 - 08:03 AM

Good points, Erica. That makes sense. Still doesn't explain the not-even-trying-to-be-a-biotopes placing, but...c'est la vie. It's not that I care about placing or winning...but if you're gonna call the section "Biotopes," then stick to biotopes! I love a well-done biotope, so I'm a stickler for accuracy...or at least plausibility.

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#9 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 03 September 2013 - 08:18 AM

Good points, Erica. That makes sense. Still doesn't explain the not-even-trying-to-be-a-biotopes placing, but...c'est la vie. It's not that I care about placing or winning...but if you're gonna call the section "Biotopes," then stick to biotopes! I love a well-done biotope, so I'm a stickler for accuracy...or at least plausibility.

They say in the guidelines for the biotope category that it's possible they might forgive one misplaced species.
http://www.aquatic-g...delines-biotope

[*]Plants and animals should be indigenous to the specific location.
Example: Guppies should not be used in a Lake Malawi biotope aquascape. However, a few non-native fish or shrimp included for algae control will be overlooked.

So it's possible they overlooked the java fern?

I'm glad for that rule because I entered my saltwater tank as a North Carolina coastal biotope (the caulerpa prolifera and hippocampus zosterae tank) and it has a pair of synchiropus splendidus in it. Not that you can ever see them (they spent most of their time being invisible, a two inch and a four inch fish in a four foot tank). But still, that's not really a biotope. Who knows if they'll forgive that one. *shrugs* I still entered it.

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#10 Guest_velvetelvis_*

Guests

Posted 03 September 2013 - 07:43 PM

I didn't know you could enter saltwater tanks--I thought it was FW only.

I think your biotope sounds great. My hat is off to anyone who can keep Synchiropus happy and healthy, having tried that without success myself.

I don't actually have a problem with "subtle" non-biotope additions like yours, or with substituting another species that is similar, easier to keep, or more sustainable than the native species. One Indo-Pacifica "seagrass biotope" I kept featured a pair of melanistic clarkii clownfish with C. prolifera standing in for seagrass and a large, long-polyped Sarcophyton substituting for a Stichodactyla gigantea anemone (they actually looked remarkably alike with the coral tucked between two rocks so the column didn't show). I really enjoyed that one. It was definitely a lot easier to keep than actual seagrass and anemones. I also briefly kept an orchid dottyback "biotope" with zooxanthellate nephtheid corals (Stereonephthya) as substitutes for the similar but nearly-impossible-to-keep azooxanthellate Dendronephthya.

I originally wanted to do a FL biotope for H. erectus, but seahorses were a little too high-maintenance for me. Instead, I have a shallow-water Keys biotope with C. sertularioides, Zoanthus sociatus, a Briareum asbestinum gorgonian, and Scartella cristata (Molly Miller blennies). It's definitely not a traditional reef tank--I deliberately let algae grown on the LR for the blennies to eat, and there are aiptasia everywhere in spite of my peppermint shrimp--but it's my favorite SW tank so far. The blennies are a lot of fun to watch. I also appreciate how hardy the livestock is, after spending nearly a year catering to clownfish-hosting anemones!

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#11 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 03 September 2013 - 10:53 PM

I didn't know you could enter saltwater tanks--I thought it was FW only.

Technically the rules say you can't. But I'm not sure why. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, so I entered it. Although I did document the entire tank build on the AGA forum from the time a year before I started it all the way to the end, saying the whole time that I was going to enter it in the contest. http://forum.aquatic...php?f=29&t=1429

Saltwater tanks are fun. You can grow 'plants' in them just like freshwater. Vascular plants include eelgrass, and nonvascular macroalgae come in all colors of the rainbow (just google Gulf Coast Ecosystems). Unfortunately they're expensive and I couldn't afford the maintenance.

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#12 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 05 September 2013 - 03:14 PM

10 days until the submission deadline! Enter your tank!

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#13 Guest_walklong_*

Guests

Posted 08 September 2013 - 05:45 AM

The contest photos are always great fun to look at. I'm submitting my cornfield-runoff-ditch biotope this time. I think this is gonna be my year!

My 'washed out submarine bridge/culvert-abandoned Chevy biotope' will give it a good fight!

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

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#14 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 09 September 2013 - 02:53 PM

My 'washed out submarine bridge/culvert-abandoned Chevy biotope' will give it a good fight!

lol

It's going to be good seeing a few native fish tanks for the first time. Every year in the past I've been like, "ah! I missed the deadline, I should have told NANFA about that." This year I finally stumbled onto the contest before it was done accepting entries. Which is, by the way for everyone, on September 15th.

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#15 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

Guests

Posted 09 September 2013 - 09:02 PM

My 'washed out submarine bridge/culvert-abandoned Chevy biotope' will give it a good fight!

Now, that is an entry I would pay to see. Don't forget the dead dogs.

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#16 littlen

NANFA Member

Washington, D.C.

Posted 11 September 2013 - 06:48 AM

That's hilarious! All joking aside, I've seen a similar, "native habitat" tank before. It was at an ACA (American Cichlid Association) convention in Ohio several years ago. I can't recall the fish that were in this display for the 'best in show' competition, likely a few TX cichlids--to stay true to the cichlid family. Anywho, the tank came eqipped with discarded beer cans, cigarette butts, broken pieces of cinderblocks, and a few childrens bike tires. It was shocking at first, but then I realized how accurate it is in a lot of places.

Nick L.

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#17 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 11 September 2013 - 09:30 AM

Not to go quite that far, but I have a 55 that is decorated with drift wood, a classic glass Coke bottle, a pair of sun glasses that the snorkelmeister found one day and an "hung up" fishing bobber... I like the look.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#18 mattknepley

NANFA Member

Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.

Posted 11 September 2013 - 08:45 PM

Not to go quite that far, but I have a 55 that is decorated with drift wood, a classic glass Coke bottle, a pair of sun glasses that the snorkelmeister found one day and an "hung up" fishing bobber... I like the look.

You forgot the dardevle-type spoon hung up in there as well! I like that tank; it pulls off enough "realism" but still keeps a certain charm to itself.

Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."

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#19 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 13 September 2013 - 03:39 PM

The deadline to enter your tanks is Sunday, September 15th! Please enter your aquarium into the contest. It doesn't take but a minute or two and you can win prizes!

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#20 Guest_EricaLyons_*

Guests

Posted 14 September 2013 - 11:21 PM

Today's the last day! Please enter your native fish tanks into the competition. A few close up photos of the fish in color and I think we'll have a couple new members around here once the contest entries air publicly.