2019 AGA Contest is open!

[DonkeyFish]

This year's AGA aquascaping contest is open for entries as of today!
You should enter. Yes, YOU.
We would love to have another year of considerably more entries than the year before from US Aquascapers.
This is the only contest where you could get feedback from the judges.
This is not a ranked contest (which is its own debate), so unless you're in the top 3 of your class, nobody will ever know how you placed.
It is great experience for future endeavors.
We've added a Wabi Kusa class(!!!!!).

Don't think you could do anything worth entering? Bullocks! Plus you've got a tremendous wealth of knowledge and talent just here in this group to help you with advice/comments/support.

You have until September 15th. Get started!!

[Becca]

Where is it this year?

[Wobblebonk]

It's an international internet contest, just submit pics... but I don't really scape to have a tank look good by a certain date and then repeat or whatever.

[DonkeyFish]

What Edward said. This is the contest, not the convention. Although in 2021 it'll be in Chicago

The beauty of these contests is that you have a year to take a picture of your tank, there's no reason why you couldn't have a photo-worthy tank in, say, February and you just hold the photos until the contest opens in June.

[Becca]

Ahhhh. Guess I might need to figure out this "photographing tanks" thing.

[Wobblebonk]

For something to be considered a biotope do I need to have native wood like do I gotta find a source of borneo ironwood for a borneo blackwater tank? I think technically buces are barely in their blackwater too mostly crypts and stuff ;o so that might not really be accurate... also I can't find the caridina that are native to borneo but maybe sulawesi shrimp (not cardinals) are borneoish... heh

Also there is petrified wood in borneo but again probably not actually in their blackwater :/

[DonkeyFish]

The judges for biotopes are pretty strict and won't hesitate to DQ. Plants absolutely need to be spot on. I'm told there's a LITTLE wiggle room for materials, but that the location needs to be specific. So no "Borneo-ish" locale.

[Wobblebonk]

Ahhh well it does say they will allow a few shrimp or fish for algae control that are not endemic in the rules... though I have serious doubts if more than like 5 people in the world could even properly identify the caridina from borneo without super closeup pics of their body parts and way too much time on their hands. Probalby simpler to just pick a different locale or enter a aquatic garden tank if anything... but my tanks are mostly too jungley to do well in aquascaping contests probably.

[DonkeyFish]

Between us, I would tend to agree with you on the shrimp. And don't sell yourself short... times are changing in the aquascaping contest world. There's been a movement back towards nature style the last couple of years.

[Wobblebonk]

Well I've already got spotted congo puffers, could swap out the crypts and such with more anubias && bolbitis / tiger lotus/ dwarf water lilly / crinum calamistratum ... and crinum natans maybe but I don't have any of that.

Maybe get some african banded barbs and uhhh I dunno... scared teleogramma brichardi will get its face eaten off by the puffers and that butterfly fish fins might be a little too uhhh flashy for the puffers. Maybe some synodontis nigriventris?

Which leaves me with 0 "algae" control anything and fish that will murder all snails/shrimp in short order so maybe I will cheat with a couple otos :/ which the rules said was okay...

edit: Seems african banded barbs are on the south end of DRC / zambia border and tetraodon schoutedeni are from uhhh border of DRC and the Republic of the Congo ;/ and the IUNC red list shows the area one finds teleogramma brichardi and tetraodon schoutedeni are almost the same... Pool Malebo to find schoutedeni and then where there are rapids below it are where you find teleogramma brichardi but I think technically water movement is faster for teleogramma/less plants :/ so I guess I'm stuck with upside down cats and puffers.