It is well known that Japanese gardens of which many of the Nature aquriums are based upon(Even seen an Amano tank with them?, No!) do not include representative statuary, as this distracts from the nature based concept which is the point and beauty of such aquariums aquascapes.

Adding them seems more to be a Western concept and the West's perhaps interptation of it's views as Japanese style nature aquariums.


Question is, what do you think and why?

Regards,
Tom Barr

I have two conflicting opinions: One is that I don't like to see trinkets, such as pirate chests, castles, frogs, etc. in an aquarium, because they look far to artificial to me. And, they are a real bear to keep clean.
But, I also think people should "decorate" their aquarium so it looks good to them. If someone likes a mix of plastic plants and real plants plus ceramic castles, that is a good way to go. At least it keeps them enjoying their aquarium. And, I was there many years ago!

I agree with VaughnH... I don't really like to see all the trinkets in the tank either, many are poorly made and look like a fake environment, I do on the other hand appreciate like sunken stones and wood in tanks as these are commonly found in nature

There was some debate when I said it looked bad in Oliver Knott's tank, I think mainly out of some loyalty to him, perhaps their own sense of Western aesthetic and lack of conceptual notions to what is a Natural aquarium. Some folks for merely to dare to suggest anything negative about it. There was nothing wrong with the scape or the execution, just the choice to add statuary.

Some like it, to myself, I asked myself "would I add a cermanic plant, or plastic, no matter how nice?".

What role does such ornaments play if any?
I thought that was the role of the live fish to play that of the elements in the tank?

Rather than a ceramic Dragon, use a Red Arowanna, or simliar red dragon symbol fish. Or a natural rock, wood, planting arrangement.

While some may enter such bemusements in contest, I do not think we will see many add these. Nor will we see Amano add them.
While taking from nature is a base concept for design in many tanks and individual's regional area often reflect this, statuary is not part of the scenery in any natural situation.


Regards,
Tom Barr

I sometimes wonder if the number of western aquariums using ornamentations would decrease if your regular Joe Aquarium Guy had access to good stone and wood and if every local shop had copies of Nature Aquarium sitting out to be viewed.

IMO, lack of exposure to nature styles and limited access to scaping materials are as much to blame as cultural bias. Some shops you can't walk out with anything to go in the tank that isn't a ship, chest, diver, or hot pink rock: the exposure and availability just aren't always there.

That's where the internet forums and local clubs play a role.

I agree marketing plays a role, but cheesy stuff is is still cheese.
Bad smelly cheese.

I can see adding elements of one's culture into a design, adding a Western idea to a Japanese style, thus developing one's own fusion and move the design idea farther into new areas.

So what about Topiary?

This is seldom seen in nature aquariums but is a natural element.
It's orgins are rooted in some Western gardens.
It takes skill, especially with aquatic plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I think it would be a great idea to create some type of topiary with aquatic plants, it would be really tough though like you said... espcially in smaller tanks with leaf plants, with finer plants such as microswords i think it could be done though

** WARNING ** Strong opinions ** May offend some readers **

Though marketing does play a role, it is clearly not the cause of bad taste. (... Marketing is my profession )

I put my vote in on the side of utter disdain for artificial aquarium ornaments (including colored gravel). I find them to be one of the most blatant expressions of poor taste. Other adjectives that come to mind: tacky, gaudy, obnoxious, childish...

Of course I have the same opinion on how most people decorate there homes, yards, how they dress, etc.

I was at a LFS this last weekend and was sickened to see a very excited bunch of people clamoring about which mollies they wanted in a tank of artificially colored white mollies!!! They had different neon colors in various combinations and shapes (spots, stripes, etc)... IMO, at this point it becomes more than a question of bad taste...

This same store is like a visit to Sea World, more toys and JUNK to put in your tank than fish or real aquarium supplies. They have a whole isle of different skeletons for your tank, including a tennis playing skeleton (I can give you the address if you have been looking for one of those... lol). And some of these things are NOT cheap!

Here is my guess at how the FW buyer demographics break out:

40% - Buy for the ornaments as much as the tank... love their blue gravel and would not continue the hobby if the couldn't have that treasure chest in there with the air bubbles. These people love Walmart!
30% - May have some ornaments, colored gravel, etc, but are certainly interested in natural setups, live plants, etc. The upper crust of this group may dabble in real FW setups.
20% - Prefer natural setups, live plants, etc. Many of these people will also go SW Reef as local representation of FW is typically pretty poor.
10% - Purists, like many on this board. Will spend the $$$ and time to learn how to do it right. Some SW Reef hobbyist may dabble at this level in FW.

So, if I was running a fish store, and looking to increase my revenues, I would take a serious look at the 70% of people who will buy ornaments, etc. Way easier to stock and sell than fish or plants....

To an earlier point though, I think that many of the folks that spend $$$ on high-end SW setups could be attracted to the FW hobby if it had better local representation, which could work out to be a nice niche, if you got the $$$ and guss to give it a go.

I would have to disagree with the statement that japanese gardens do not include statuary. They commonly include stone lanterns, pagodas, bamboo deer chaser fountains and bridges. Why not include representations of these objects in a tank, if done tastefully?

Sorry for the tangent there...

On the topic of the original post about Japanese Statuary, we have a Japanese garden here in Phoenix (believe it or not) and they do use many different dragon and fish statues throughout their landscape... But then if drive through Sun City, you will see many people have gravel yards that are spray-painted some unnatural color, with plastic and ceramic ornaments...

I think it is a stylistic issue in the end, and subjective. If you were trying to scape NW Phoenix (aka Sun City) colored gravel and garden gnomes would not be out of the question... So I would say that a dragon in a japanese scape could be appropriate depending on the purpose of the display. I would hate it, but I don't think that it is completely out of bounds...