# Aga 2013 is out!



## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

sorry no links, i don't know how to cut and paste from my phone. i can't wait to get home.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2013/


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

I can see the habitat represented in #109 "Within White Rock Creek" (biotope category) a block and a half from my house! The major tributary of White Rock Creek (Dixon Branch) runs in a green belt through our neighborhood, and this is exactly what I find in that stream. 

What a pleasant surprise!


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I think this contest could benefit from having more types of tanks and less sizes.


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## TEXAS (Jun 5, 2013)

Where is this going to happen?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I'm loving the first place tank in the 320 liter + category.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yeah that one is really unique. Makes my head spin just looking at it.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Going through the entries as I have time, it is disappointing that the "miniature landscape" style is so dominant. Even Amano's "nature aquarium" is poorly represented, and so far I've seen only one Dutch design.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

It is interesting that the cactus tank does fairly well in the IAPLC but isn't judged so highly by the AGA.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Wow...

I looked at the 3 categories having the largest size tanks. I *did not see a single American* name. Help me make sense of that;

For years now I've been convinced that the focus on the details, especially excessive fertilization and how to force it to work, is destroying the US hobby. If that is not what is making the US be absent from the map of aquascaping tell me what is it?

Also what are the rules of AGA's contest? ADA does not allow a contest tank to be shown anywhere before the amazing sea of sameness contest they run every year. Looks like AGA is not so particular. I don't see that as a great win. Makes the AGA contest feel second hand. Complete with a bunch of entries "pre-owned" by ADA and sprinkled with ADA distributor tanks that must show an effort and "promote" this hobby. Help me make more sense of that too.

Ah I was wrong - I did find Americans in the 3 first categories. Four Americans. And 3 more in the "tiny" categories. The "big" US tanks are "nice" - that's all that can be said about them if you really try to be positive.

Please, dear gods of aquaria, don't let me lay eyes on another white underwater waterfall, "distant hills with tiny trees" and passages, passages, passages...


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

niko said:


> Please, dear gods of aquaria, don't let me lay eyes on another white underwater waterfall, "distant hills with tiny trees" and passages, passages, passages...


What? Your fish don't like the option to take sand baths like a hedgehog or to have the experience of flying over an open field like an eagle?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

What about a trip to the beach? Fish need holidays as well you know!


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## pweifan (Jun 23, 2007)

Beautiful tanks. I also would really like to see more Dutch tanks represented.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

BruceF said:


> I think this contest could benefit from having more types of tanks and less sizes.


Bruce,

Could you expand on that? I'm not quite sure what you mean.

As for the AGA's contest rules and who we accept, it's pretty simple. Anyone who wants to enter their tank(s) can do so. As for all the entries that were previously seen in the IAPLC, in the past the AGA contest results were released BEFORE IAPLC and AGA entrants had the option of having a tank submitted for free to IAPLC. Over the years ADA has slowly moved their release dates so that their results are published before the AGA contest. That's been a thorn in the AGA's side for a while but there's not much we can do about it except up our dates as well. That's just not feasible at this time due to most judges being unavailable to judge during the summer etc. We're a volunteer organization after all.

We found out this year that ADA has included a clause in their entry requirements stating that ADA owns the rights to any images submitted to IAPLC and entrants cannot submit the same images to another contest. While this is a snotty thing to do to the entrant, hopefully it'll work in the AGA's favor in coming years. Because most IAPLC entrants have already started a new aquascape after submitting their photos it may be that AGA will again get entries before they go to IAPLC. If not, at the very least, it will mean we'll get different pictures of tanks entered into IAPLC.

Personally, I'd love to see more old school Nature Aquarium and Dutch style aquascapes in both the hobby and contests. Sadly, they're not what wins competitions and are not trendy, so competitive aquascapers won't do it.  The only way to change that is for MORE hobbyists to submit their tanks to the AGA competition, even if they're not going to place. This is one of those cases where if you want something done you'll have to step up and do it yourself. If you want to see more Americans in the contest enter yourself and convince your friends/fellow hobbyists to submit. What've you got to lose, it's free! Who knows, you may end up being surprised like I was in 2003.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Phil 
Right now you have a situation in which size is a determining factor. It seems that what you get are similar tanks that simply differ by scale. Without the actual dimensions it is actually hard to tell one category from the next. 
If you want Dutch tanks then you should open a category for Dutch tanks, just as you now have categories for biotopes and paludariums. The popularity of Ripariums might be one obvious suggestion. Even within the dominate genre of Nature Aquariums there are the subcategories of things like wabi kusa and iwagami that could be brought to the forefront

One of my own favorite tanks was the one featured in the AGA magazine called the Death of a Root. Why not add a category of roots? Stumps seem to be another popular distinction. River bottoms might be another category that could inspire people much as the mountain scenes seem to now. Imaging round rocks for a change!

If you look at the tanks that Don is doing or the tanks that Tom does you don’t actually have Dutch tanks. I don’t know how you categorize these tanks but there is room and interest in this type of aquascaping and it seems to be growing. Developing a criteria and vocabulary for this type of tank could be very interesting. 

I have this Kliener Bar Sword plant right now in a tank I keep wondering how I could develop a scape around that. Having a category that required a certain plant could be a very challenging exercise for many accomplished scapers to take on. Say an Echinodorus only tank category one year and maybe a cryptocoryne the next. 

Anyway there are a few ideas off the top of my head.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

How about segregating all the "miniature landscape" tanks in one category, or perhaps several sub-categories by size? That way if you are offended by filter fiber waterfalls or moss cacti you won't have to look at them.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Due to the international nature of the contest we often encounter a "lost in translation" issue where people will put their tank in the wrong category. Increasing the number of categories, and making them more specific, will exacerbate this and create more work for our already overworked tech team. We've tried doing specialty categories in the past and both the participation and quality of said entries was fairly low in general. It was decided at the time that maintaining the Aquatic Garden categories as-is is the best option for us. 

It's an unfortunate (IMO) fact that competition level aquascapes are trending in the miniature landscape direction. That's just the nature of artistic endeavors; especially when competition is included in the mix. When one sees a certain style of art being more highly valued than another it's only natural to want to increase one's chances of success in competition by going in that direction. Looking at the entries we're also seeing regional trends in design. 

As far as the AGA contest is concerned, only about 1/3-1/2 (I can't recall off hand) of the points awarded are for artistic merit; including overall presentation. The other remainder of the points are awarded for technical merit, such as health of the plants and animals, grooming/cleanliness, and appropriateness of plant/animal selection. It just so happens that most of the entries from Asia tend to also be the most well cared for and technically superior entries, even if artistically they're not what some people prefer to see. 

I don't see this as an entirely bad thing. It's a challenge to the rest of us to step up our game, put attention into the details, and improve our aquarium keeping overall. I know for a fact that a well-kept Dutch aquascape or an attractive and technically high-quality generic Aquatic Garden will be well regarded by the AGA judges.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

BruceF said:


> Right now you have a situation in which size is a determining factor. It seems that what you get are similar tanks that simply differ by scale. Without the actual dimensions it is actually hard to tell one category from the next.


Bruce,

Why is this a bad thing? From a judge's perspective it tells me that the people making smaller aquascapes are choosing appropriately sized hardscape materials, plants, and animals. Creating a sense of larger-than-actual scale in a small tank is very difficult, and aquarists who accomplish it should be commended. Look at some of Diego's tiny tanks here. If you didn't see pictures of his hand next to them it would be difficult to tell just how small they really are. That's aquascape design at its highest level.

If you don't like certain aesthetics, that is, of course, your prerogative. If you want to see the types of entries in these contests change, enter your tanks too. Do something that's not "trendy" and enter it. That's one of the big reasons I've decided to do Dutch tanks. Aside from really liking the aesthetic, I want to enter high-quality non Nature Aquarium/Miniature Landscape tanks to show people that it doesn't matter what aesthetic/style you choose, a very well kept aquarium will be well received by the judges. "All" I have to do is maintain the system and present it at the level we see the winning tanks doing. That's the real challenge, and it won't be easy; especially for a poor photographer such as myself.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Phil I am not really trying to be critical. I’ve been a fan of this contest for a long time. There used to be three sizes now there are 6 and quite honestly I don’t see that as an improvement. Maybe it is a better way to get more people involved surely that is a good thing. 

I see there were about three categories tried in the past artificial, pond and bio illustration and you are right there wasn’t much participation.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Bruce,

Nothing wrong with being critical; bringing up ideas helps us change for the better. 

As far as the increase in numbers of categories I think we did it for a few reasons:
1- The contest started out with primarily North American and European participants using mostly the traditional western tank dimensions. As new tank manufacturers came along and introduced tanks with different dimensions that soon became popular it was thought that increasing the number of categories would help to better categorize different volumes of water. 

For example, in 2000 we only offered categories for <15 gallons, 15-71 gallons, and 71 gallons<. Given that different sized aquariums lend themselves to different types of design; especially at the very small and very large scales, it was deemed more fair to further separate entries into more distinct categories to allow for better comparison. 

2- Nano and pico tanks dramatically increased in popularity. In order to better compare the really small tanks it was thought that making a category for the nano/pico submissions would be good. 

3- Overall increase in participation. Having to compare 100 entries in one category vs. 30 or 40 entries in one category is easier for the judges and allows us to place more entries. 

Because we're not awarding $10,000+ US to a single Grand Prize winner we don't have to be concerned with comparing all entries to each other. Even though we're now offering modest cash prizes the AGA contest is still a Bragging Rights competition at heart. Because of this it was felt best to be able to recognize more entries compared more fairly to each other than to lump many entries together and not be able to recognize as many entries of similarly high quality. 


The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of doing a Dutch category as a one-off. If we can get it announced well before the submission date that may just work. I'll bring the idea up to Those Who Be.


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## UDGags (Oct 4, 2011)

Most tanks people call Dutch on this site don't conform to actual Dutch rules is the main issue. Tom B. tank is dutch-like, mine is dutch-like, etc...but none would technically qualify.

I think less categories the better. I would have 3-4 categories based on size that all tanks go into. I would then award top 2-3 in sub categories ada style, dutch, biotope, etc from all size tanks.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Phil, thanks for the thoughtful explanation of the evolution of the contest. The bottom line seems to be, if you don't like what you see in the contest, enter something that you *do* like.

For a positive effect of the competition, a good friend is setting up his first planted tank. He is a successful fish-keeper, and has an excellent aesthetic sense. I suggested he look at the contest entries to see examples of planted tanks, and that he look at the entries from the early competitions to see a wider variety of styles. The conversations we have had about the entries have really helped him to choose a design direction, and made him aware of the technical and maintenance issues. We talked at length about the different styles, and I suspect he will go somewhere between Nature Aquarium and Dutch.

He is also a very accomplished terrestrial gardener. I can't wait to see what he comes up with!


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I would think it is more appropriate to refer to this as an Underwater Garden Style as I see some people do.


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## pink4miss (Sep 1, 2013)

thank you for sharing this. love looking at all the creative tanks. Congrats to those who entered this, each tank is amazing.


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