Aqua Forest Aquarium, a retail aquarium store located in the San Francisco Bay area, specializes in the “nature aquarium style concept.” By strategically choosing and placing certain types of rock, wood, vegetation, and fish within aquariums, the design creates living artwork through naturalization.
Certainly, the focus is around the aquatic vegetation, which is complemented by pieces of driftwood and/or rock. Certain species of fish, particularly schooling species, also complement the aquatic scenes.
This style of aquascape is reminiscent not of bonsai but penjing, which is the Chinese precursor to bonsai. Penjing “is the ancient Chinese art of growing trees and plants, kept small by skilled pruning and formed to create an aesthetic shape and the complex illusion of age.” These aquariums undoubtedly show-off aesthetically-pleasing aquatic landscapes of fish, plants, and other natural elements. In addition, these aquariums, with their unique style, illustrate the fragility and wonder of aquatic environments.
Here are some of my favorites natural-looking aquariums from Aqua Forest Aquarium:
On the Net:
- Aqua Forest Aquarium
- Aquarium art by aquarist Takashi Amano
- More fascinating images can be found here
