The gigantic Forests Underwater nature aquarium that Takashi Amano completed before passing away is truly a testament to his creative and artistic vision. For the last few years, competitors in the International Aquatic Plant Layout Competition have flexed their muscle and shown how to push the envelope within the confines of an average aquarium.
With the IAPLC showcasing the best of the world’s aquascapers, Amano-san’s Nature Aquarium mastery had taken a backseat on the world stage. However with this completed and maturing 40 foot layout in Portugal, even in death Takashi Amano’s unquestionable talent is on public display for all the world to see.
We’ve seen some shots of the world’s Largest Nature Aquarium in progress, and shortly after completion, but the newly released video shows how the long term aquascaping and curation of the various materials are coming together to create the ultimate vision of what a Nature Aquarium can be. With forty linear feet to work with, this extra large aquarium has the real estate to house so many different nature aquarium themes, in one long continuous panorama.
Instead of building one large box of an aquarium, what we especially love about this freshwater planted aquarium is that the tank never gets much bigger than four feet high and four feet wide. With these kind of dimensions, the viewer is never too far away from the majestic live plant and hardscape aquascape. Being filled with thousands of fish as supporting actors, there are no large fish to either disturb the aquascape, or to distract the viewer from the greater presentation of the aquarium.
The grandeur of the largest nature aquarium in the world really comes into focus when you see human observers in front of it. The scale of the huge aquascapes and meadows and fields of living plants is much easier to appreciate when you realize that this whole aquarium was built with human dimensions in mind. The generous use of empty negative spaces helps to contrast strongly with the entire masterpiece.
You don’t have to be a freshwater plant enthusiast to take away the immense sense of awe that an aquarium like this can generate. There has never been an aquarium like this one, either for fresh or saltwater and this masterpiece will stand for many years as an inspiration to all aquarists, fresh and salt, big and small.
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