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A B O U T M Y A q u a R I U M S |
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The irresistible fascination of aquariums, is an unsolved mystery. Many people love their beauty, their harmony, others try to understand the delicate balances or study the laws of nature, others become children again, leaving their fantasy free to swim through multicolor abysses.. Yet, the aquarium isn't only this: Children, often wiser then us, are able to perceive the tie between human beings and animals in a way that adults, sometimes, cannot understand. For them, a goldfish has a name, a history, for them he's the friend they talk with, he's their buddy. For them love and respect are ancestral, spontaneous principles. I believe that to be good aquariophiles, it's very important to understand one thing: in nature, every stone, every plant, every creature has a good and justified reason to exist. The life cycle of every living creature follows precise rules that always guarantee them their existence. To break this circle means to overbalance an infinite number of factors, that will inevitably cause many alterations to end up to the last chain of the link: the human being. That's why everything man does against nature, is always destined to affect himself. And, if this concept seems very distant from the simple decision to buy an aquarium, the purchased tank will have no hope to work well. Because it doesn't matter which personal reasons bring us close to the aquariophilia; the only important thing is to understand that in rejoining the wonders of nature, it is indispensable to respect all its rules, whether these are they simple or difficult, pleasant or disagreeable. Only in this way it will be possible to create our own, little, enchanted kingdom.
Amazon Awakening
765 Lts - 202 Gals
Oh, I really had fun to realize this tank! First of all, I had a lot of space (150 X 85 X 60), second, this tank was right on the shop-window of my aquarium store, and is always exciting to create something stunning to hit the people! I built up a wood bridge that kept the plants suspended to give a sense of underwater mystery (under the woods it was very dark, and all the people were looking to find who was living there!), but to give more brightness to the shop-window, I used white gravel, to give the appearance of a sand creek. I really have to thank Carmine and the other friends of the Italian Tropical Fish plants breeding of Portici (NA), that gave me a huge help, producing a tiding up (one by one !) to the woods, their stunning Anubias and Microsporium!
Data:
Notes: The interior design of this tank, so beautiful when I realized it, was, after one year, destroyed by my 11 adult piranhas... That was calculated... Piranhas are great to capture the attention of the public, but very bad to live with plants! At the end of the year, I changed the tank, taking off part of the woods and adding pink-quartz rocks and white branches (and change the title to "In The Flood", referring not to the flood of the river but to the destructive attitude of my little fellows ! ).
Deep Forest
528 Lts - 140 Gals
The
concept of this tank, was to create a pleasant garden where Discus could
swim showing their perfect bodies... I tried to start from the shape of
this gorgeous fish (in the beginning a couple 4 years old "Electric
Metallic Blue Still Discus" that I bought from a German breeder)
and a tried to give a sense of "roundness" to the interior
design of the tank, from right to left, as a wave to rise above, that
dominates and protects the underwater life Data:
Notes: As you can see at he following photo, after 6 month, the plants decided by their own what the tank should look like! I left them, working everyday to keep them in shape, because I was pleasantly surprised of the final look of the aquarium. And, believe it or not, in this tank I never used under-gravel heaters nor CO2 supply !
In the battlefield
550Lts - 145 Gals
I
had problems to design this tank, because I wanted to create a special
"playground" for South American Cichlids without using plants.
Cichlids from the depth -like Cichlasoma- and plants, as every chichlid-lover
knows, aren't very compatible, because these amazing and smart fish really
enjoy to dig huge holes all over the ground ( that's why I called this
tank "In the battlefield"! ). The problem was: how to create
something peculiar working only with rocks and woods? I started drawing
few sketches and the first thing I decided was to create a cave on the
left side. I started building it with mangrove wood and big lava blocks,
because I wanted the water to be amber colored. I have hidden some lairs
(made from a couple of broken flowerpots) under brown-red rocks and I
watched the fish behavior to understand if they were feeling home. They
liked it very much, but there was a problem: with the dark brown color of
the wood, the yellow color of the water, the rust-color of the stones, the
tank was totally dull, lifeless. I needed a center of attention but what? Lucky
me, in these days I was waiting for one of my retailers specialized
in resin items, and I found what I was looking for: white ruts
reproduction, very nice to watch and very comfortable for my fish!
Data:
Notes: This is a great tank because there's always a nice chaos inside, thanks to these very nervous and aggressive fish! It is really a battlefield, everyday there are fights to conquer the lairs... Cichlids are very funny creatures !
The next photo is shot from the side of the tank and shows details not visible in the front shots.
Next picture shows the same tank six months later (September 1999)
Further Notes (December 1999)
I think that in the end I will call this tank "The never ending aquarium"!!!! These days, I'm working on my "Deep Forest" tank and I had to remove all the plants. So I used these 1-2 years old Echinodorus plants to redecorate my American Cichlid's aquarium. I planted them so as to create a "fence" for the territories of the different species. They like them a lot, and the Nigrofasciatum var. white that you can see on the right side (close to the branch) is now the proud father of a multitude of tiny babies!
Rio Tapajos
550 Lts - 145 Gals
This was the first home of the piranhas I was talking earlier. Knowing that being a fast grower, this fish will sooner or later live without plants, I took advantage of the small size of the babies to create a real forest, trying to duplicate the wild aspect of their home-waters.
Data:
Notes: I still like very much the strange mix of plants and woods of this tank, it's disharmonic but fascinating, and the interior design was studied to give the feeling of a flooded undergrowth.
Rio Negro
538 Lts - 140 Gals
Sorry, no data available about this tank ...
The guards of the dawn
765 Lts - 202 Gals
Astronotus ocellatus (commonly known as Oscars) are beautiful fish that, to be honest, are so impressive to watch, that could transform every tank into a masterpiece, even if the aquarium is empty! But their big sizes and their attitude (they really are "bad guys!) makes very difficult to create something "artistic". That's why I made this aquarium, because it was almost impossible to do it !
Data:
Notes: the brown-red female (in the picture behind the albino male) hates me to death! Anytime I have to work inside the tank, she bites me like a shark! And she's becoming more evil as the time passes! Sooner or later I'll fry her for dinner!!!
Swamp
Thing
153 Lts - 40 Gals
The best thing having an aquarium shop, is the possibility to work with everything you like in aquariophilia without spending a lot of money. From the opening day, one thing was clear to me: it was a job for me, but also a study-field. I always wanted to understand how nature works and in this world, where business seems to justify even dirty jokes, I decided to follow my principles, to respect nature and to follow its rules. I was wandering if it could be possible to create a self-sufficient aquarium. As you know, in the tank it is possible to reproduce nature, but there is at least one thing human beings have to do: change part of the water, because you can't have anaerobic bacteria in the aquarium without using a special equipment. But, I asked myself, is it really true? How does nature deal with this problem? I started with the examination of a natural habitat: underwater biological environment was deeply connected with the surface environment, so I started projecting a swamp biotype. On the bottom of the tank, I created few sand-pockets to let the specific anaerobic bacteria that eliminate nitrates grow naturally and I used peat and thin gravel to cover the bottom with, at least 5-6 cm.. I didn't want to use too many mechanical parts, so I added just a compact filter, filled with small porous ceramic cylinders to lodge bacteria. Then I started to built a mangrove wood framework, I add surface plants and some Anubias underwater. Then I lighted the tank with two 20 watt neon, I filled 1/3 of the tank with RO water and I left the aquarium working for two month without touching anything. Well, after 2 years, you can see the result in the pictures... During that time, I added some choreographic effects, as a small mechanism that creates the mist, an underwater light and some "lianas" made with glued moss... And pay attention: I never had to change water and I don't need to feed fish ! I really reached the self-sufficient aquarium !
Data:
Small
Tanks
Working with big tanks is quite easy because you have a lot of space and is possible to create elaborated "landscapes"; but when you have only 50 cm of space, there comes the real challenge! First of all, you need very small objects to put inside, therefore you have to search with great patience every single stone and every plant. Second, you have to achieve a remarkable sense of perspective, much deeper that the real dimension of the tank. Third (and maybe more important) the aquarium you create, must work well, a very difficult thing to realize, because, as everybody knows, small aquariums are biologically more overbalanced then big ones. I have to tell you that, for all this reasons, I enjoy to create the interior design for small tanks! It's difficult, therefore more exciting to do! In the following pictures, you can see how it is possible to create something peculiar in small space.
Oriental Morning
Oriental Morning 3 month later
Data:
Notes: Sometimes, after a while, nature reorganize, by her needs, the tank. I like to follow her will, paying attention of the interior design, trimming the plants every day to keep them in shape.
"African
sand"
"Down the mangrove tree"
"Emerald sparks"
"In the cave"
"Purple twilight"
This tank was created for a friend that had a couple of Lamprologus brichardi that weren't very happy without covers and shelters. In this new environment they started to reproduce, even though the tank was so small.
Coral Reef Tank & Red Sea Tank
765 Lts - 202 Gals
When I bought my shop from the previous owner, I had to deal with marine tanks, because this guy was a marine aquarium fan... He had 2 exposition tanks, one (155 X 85 X 60 cm see photo above) filled with medium-large sized fish and another one ( 100 X 50 X 50 cm se photo below) with only invertebrates. I have to tell you that, after a while, I decided not to keep these marine tanks anymore ( it was a kind of "moral" decision, because I wanted to sell only bred animals and cloned plants and at the time the only bred marine fish was the Amphiprion ), but in the first months I had to restore these two tanks, and I did something nice to watch, even if not so spectacular... At the time I didn't have much money, so I had to work with what I was at hand... In the big tank I couldn't use invertebrates because, every now and then, I was forced to add some medicines, so I tried to create something colored by using acrylic paint on calcareous rocks (Coral Reef tank, photo above). In the other one, I have so many invertebrates that the only thing I had to do, was to find a nice way to show them (Red Sea tank, photo below).
280 Lts - 75 Gals
Pole Star
45 Lts - 12 Gals
When
you work in this field it seems that, after a while, everything is already
done... Every time I think about a new tank and I draw some interior
designs, I ask to myself : how far our artistic inspiration can go to
materialize something peculiar that can be the expression of mind and
heart while, at the same time, totally respects the guest of the aquarium,
the fish?
Data:
Notes:
To be honest, this tank is so fascinating that
it is almost impossible to materialize, because, since I pushed the rules
of nature very far, it is only natural that I was to have some problems.
Alice's Enhanted Door
187 Lts - 50 Gals
This is a design I materialized for a client, to be displayed in an office. The room wasn't very bright, there was only some lamps on the desks, so I created a dark interior, that was intended to give it a "mysterious" look, while being very pleasant to watch and very relaxing.
Data:
The Water Garden
187 Lts - 50 Gals
I enjoy to work on fanciful projects! The person who ordered this tank, was an oriental pond lover who didn't have a garden to built a real pond. So, he asked me for a multicoloured "bonsai pool". To give the feeling of a real pound, I decided to fill the tank only up to ¾ of the total height, to create a kind of garden over the surface (see detail photo). Then I connected a pierced rigid pipe to the exit of the pump, fixing the pipe to the rear glass with two suckers, right on the water surface line. With this expedient, I created a few jets, giving the feeling of a fountain. Then I started working on the underwater part. I used Cabomba aquatica, because is a plant very strong (it lives well in high KH and GH) and I like its "soft" look, and I placed some bamboo reeds to create an "oriental feeling". To complete this "bonsai pond", I used artificial plants placing them over the surface.
Data:
Notes: This tank is very easy to create but very astonishing. Besides, it is possible to change its look anytime you like, just by using Anubias or other plants for the underwater level, maybe putting rocks or branches and changing the artificial plants on the surface. I think this is the most transformable tank design I've ever done!
The Dungeon Of The Oblivion
1000 Lts - 265 Gals
I have to admit it: the best part of this tank is the peculiar shape! What you're watching, is the bottom part of the counter in my shop. My computer stands on it as I am writing these lines. Making this tank was a eye-blinded bet, because using 2 convex and 3 plain glass pieces to build a 180 x 190 X 60 cm. was actually a very difficult matter! One thousand litres of water that exert their pressure on the glass are always unpredictable, when the shape is not cubic! And, of course (as Murphy's law teaches) the first tank we built was a failure! Have you an idea how 1000 litres will look if you pour it on the floor? A LOT! We had to built it again and, finally, the tank was perfect.
Data:
Notes:
This tank is right on the floor and the space
over the top, to work inside, is only 17 cm, so it is impossible to siphon
the gravel and build a more complicated landscape. But the rocks are very
good-looking and give the feeling I was looking for, and African Cichlids
are very clean fish, so I use just a pump for the changing of the water.
Above: Shot of the tank from the left side (protruding part of the "S"); where the Cyphotilapia frontosa can be seen. Below: The Master of the Tank. The Cyphotilapia frontosa partly hidden in the rockwork while a female Melanochromis auratus swims nearby.
Northern Flames
45,5 Lts - 12 Gals
The project of this little tank was materialized with a very peculiar fish family in mind, a family that has really a lot of fans but that is very difficult to find in the aquarium shops, the Aphyosemion, also known as "Killy fish". To understand why I built the tank in this strange way, it is important to know some data about these animals. The Aphyosemion is a tiny fish that lives in seasonal puddles. When the rain season comes, many small stagnant puddles are formed in the forest, and, another of nature's magic tricks, after a few days a multitude of colourful fishes seems to appear from nowhere ! They actually come from eggs laid there by Aphyosemion the season before. After mating this fish lays the eggs down in the gravel (or mud) and when the rain season ends, and the water of the puddle evaporates, the eggs remain trapped in the dry mud for months. And when it rains again, as a miracle, the eggs hatch and a new colony of Aphyosemion starts a new life. This genus actually originates from Africa, and the design of the tank doesn't imitate their natural habitat. The reason why I created a kind of "Canadian look" for this tank, was to give to the viewers the immediate feeling of a puddle in the forest, a precarious micro environment that will last only for a short period of time. I used a lot of Mangrove wood for the tank, because the stunning colours of this fish need to stay in a dark environment in order to "shine" as in nature. The root on the left side is the same kind of root I used in the creation of "Pole Star" and "In The Battlefield" tanks, but I painted in brown-red with acrylic paint to maintain the darkness in the tank. Then I used artificial replicas of tree branches for the underwater part (to give the feeling of a flooded riverside with roots) while for the upper part (to simulate the forest and cover the neon light) I chose a red dominance that gives the tank a warm, autumn feeling.
Data:
Two more shots of "Northern Flames" tank. Above: The tank is shown in ambient light. This simple decoration - a candle and a potted plant in the darkness reveal the "power" and dramatic contrast of the tank which immediately becomes the point of interest. Below: A close up shot reveals the details and the capturing red hues which, thanks to the red leaves underwater, give this composition a warm autumn look.
The Dragon Breath
45,5 Lts - 12 Gals
This
is a small, very simple tank that I made for Labyrinth fishes. Betta
splendens was my first fresh-water love and still remains my favorite
fish! I was very fascinating by their unique biology and I tried (with
great success and satisfaction) to reproduce them, discovering, day after
day, that Betta males (which a lot of people still think to be aggressive
and merciless) are actually very caring fathers and shy creatures.
Data:
Notes: This is the best environment for Labyrinth fishes (as you can see from the pictures, the fish feels protected, breathing at the surface, surrounded by plants); only half tank filled with water and a lot of entangled plants. I'm still looking for Riccia fluitans, which is not very easy to find in Italy but that is the perfect plant for this fish. And, while talking about Bettas, I have to admit that this fish must be pretty intelligent... This particular tank is positioned right on the counter of my shop, close to the computer station I'm working on this moment, and, believe it or not, the male Betta (which I saved from definite death from a client's goldfish bowl) stares at me for hours and hours... I wonder what he is thinking about !
These photos of the "Dragon breath" tank were taken just to show the fish which feels very comfortable in this surrounding. In the photo below you can see the Betta spendens floating in the surface among the plants which give it a feel of protection.
The Talking Tree
187 Lts - 50 Gals
I made this tank for a client that didn't want real plants. It's a common opinion that plastic or artificial plants look ugly in the aquarium... But sometimes you need to deal with them. In this case, the person who ordered this design, hadn't any time at all to take care of real plants, but he wanted a special tank. I started by choosing two big Savanna branches; I had the idea to create a kind of forest look, so I adjusted the plastic plants on the top of the "trunks" as if they were actual leaves and I covered the back side of the tank with artificial Cabomba-looking plants. The result, as you can see, is very peculiar.
Data:
An Autumn In Japan
187 Lts - 50 Gals
I created this aquascape to give the viewer the feeling of a Japanese pond in autumn. This is a very simple design, made using only artificial plants. The tank was built for Carassius auratus, a beautiful fish that eats a lot and pollutes the water in a very short time. So I used the cases of 2 biological filters, one on the left side and one on the right, one filled only with ceramic cylinders for bacteria, the other one filled only with sponge for a good, mechanical filtration. The problem here was to cover the filters without having a flat look. When you have to do parallels, in aquascape design, you always have to find the way to unbalance the decoration not to have a boring, too geometrical design. In this case I used a plant on the rear that creates a wave from the left to the right. In this way the "geometric" look changes, and the aquascape becomes more natural.
Data:
The Return Of the Giant Hogweed
What
can you do when you have a broken aquarium and even if you repair it, you
are scared to fill it with water? You can use it for a wonderful
"Winter Garden" for tropical plants!
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A R T I C L E S __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Infallible Eye (2001)
A lot of people write to me asking for the best technique to shoot photos of their aquariums. George wrote a great article about it in this site, so, the best think you can do, is to read it carefully and... shoot, shoot and shoot again! Practice is the best teacher in this field! In these days, I'm trying a different technique to snap images for my job. When I do a new aquascape in my shop, I have no problem to take photos of the tank, but, sometimes, when I work outside, it is impossible for me to bring the cameras, tripod and the lighting equipment in order to record my work, not to mention the fact that sometimes the client doesn't like to have a group of people to stroll around his house for a couple of hours!
The quality of this photo is not very good, but the conditions of shooting were very difficult (low light and unclear water). In exchange I had the opportunity to show the peculiar behaviour of this babies of Melanochromis auratus, that always stays close to the Ciphotilapia frontosa to be protected from the other Cichlid in the tank.
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How to Invent … A Rocky Cliff (2001)
When you deal with aruariophilia, the first lesson you should learn is that you always have to find out by yourself the best way to make things work out for you. This means that you may buy thousands of products and items but you must always use your imagination to create the perfect object at the moment you need it.
After cutting it, I use a lighter to melt the sharp edges of the plastic to avoid any fish injuries.
Then I start working with the elements, in this case rocks. I first lay them on the crate to see the effect.
Next, I use silicon (the kind used in aquariums) to glue them in place.
In this photo you can see how other objects can be glued on the crate, in this case a piece of wood.
In this photo you can see how you can use the thin wire as a "needle" to tie the plants on the crate.
Firstly, you just place the plant among the rocks and when satisfied with the effect..
… you just tie it on the crate.
You may also use a metallic (covered with plastic) band (the ones you can buy from the florist or a green house, since they don't rust).
Then I move the filter to the back of tank, where it will be hidden by one of the crates.
And, finally, this is how the tank looks now. The filter is now invisible and so are the crates !
In these photos you can see the final results and realize how authentic the rocky cliff seems.
You may also see the inhabitants enjoying it and how much they like to stay in the "caves".
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Original layout: courtesy by Malawi Cichlid Homepage
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