Scaping Styles
COSM as a company was developed out of the love of a developing art style named Aquascaping. Aquascaping is personified by its use of natural elements such as wood, rock, plants and soil to create beautiful environments for al forms of aquatic fauna who, for experienced scapers, are even chosen to suit the aesthetics of the scape. There are many styles that can be explored within Aquascaping, these including Iwagumi, which utilises rock to create a minimalist scape; Ryoboku, which utilises wood to imitate a more natural feeling environment; Dutch, which is a style which uses plants exclusively and is more akin to traditional western gardening; as well as Diorama, Nature, Jungle and many more which create the opportunity for scapers to engage in incredibly diverse artistic competitions such as The IAPLC. The youth of this artform means that its boundaries and upper limits are still yet to be discovered.
This guide will be focusing on three of the simplest forms of scaping named above. These styles and principles can be applied both to aquaria and terraria with enough skill and practise. Remember these are not rules but guidelines and the most important thing is that you enjoy expressing your creativity through nature!
Iwagumi
The Japanese word "Iwagumi" refers to -in basic terms- an aquascape that uses rock to define its impact. The common aquascaper can take that definition and run with it if they please but most experienced scapers know that there are rules to building a traditional Iwagumi aquascape.
The aim of the Iwagumi style is to create a natural simplicity thus only one species of plant should be used and it should only house one species of fish. In the traditional Iwagumi each rock has a role to play in creating the desired impact.
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Oyaishi: The largest and most important stone. This stone decides the main shape and flow of the the scape as a whole and will be the pieces focal point. This stone is always placed first.
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Fukuishi: The second largest stone in the scape. This stone is often placed to the side of the main stone to balance out the impact created by the first.
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Soeishi: The third largest stone which is often placed beside the first stone but on the opposite side to the second stone. Its purpose is to complement the flow created by the main stone.
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You can use as many stones as you wish to fulfill these roles in the tank so long as it is an odd number of stone. As even numbers and symmetry suggests the influence of the human hand. For example you could have 3 rocks placed together to form the Oyaishi focal point, 2 rocks placed together to form the Fukuishi focal point, one rock beside the Oyaishi to form the Soeishi focal point (I'd group stones like this in a tank that is too large for the individual stones to make an impact). After this any amount of smaller rocks can be placed around to add detail or a natural gradation from large rock, to small rock, to gravel and sand.
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As exemplified, although there are rules and reason to the style. Iwagumi aquascaping can still be broad, diverse and offer you a world of beautiful minimalist artistic possibilities.
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Example of an Iwagumi Terrarium using the gemstone Amethyst as hardscape
Ryoboku
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When talking about tanks that use driftwoods as their primary hardscape, Aquascapers use the Japanese term "Ryoboku". Unlike the Iwagumi style, Ryoboku Aquascapes are far more free in their form and execution, with the main aim of the style being to create a sense of "natural flow". The easiest way to approach Ryoboku Aquascaping would be to imitate tree roots at a rivers bank weaving downwards into the bed of the tank.
When scaping with wood I find it beneficial to take a picture of your wood arrangement and draw "flow lines" to help map out where exactly the flow you've created leads the eye and what pieces need to be adjusted to make your arrangement more coherent.
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Another way that Aquascapers like to form a Ryoboku aquascape is by creating an explosive impact where a wood skeleton bursts out of a bush of aquatic plants as if nature is bursting forth towards the viewer. This is done mostly using spider and root woods due to them being made up of thinner sticks and twigs. I like to practice visualizing this type of Ryoboku by observing the outer branches of a dead tree or bush and taking note of the way in which its branches reach towards the light. I've found that Imitating this natural subject helps me capture the feeling of energy radiating from a singular point and impose that onto my scapes observer.
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The Ryoboku style of aquascape is a very versatile way to decorate a fishtank considering there aren't many rules to follow and there are a wide range of wildly shaped woods that can be used from thicker driftwoods, rosewoods and bogwoods to the thinner more root like manzinita and spiderwoods. The only limits to a Ryoboku truly are just amount and shapes of the wood you have acquired and the types of wood that can be utilised as many foraged and wild woods an retain and release chemicals that the plant enjoyed taking up whilst it was alive.
Dutch
Dutch Aquascaping is a style characterised mainly by its lack of hardscape and its parallels to more traditional terrestrial gardening. In a Dutch scape you will see plants organised and arranged into bunches and groups; Organised with the intention of accentuating the way that each plant grows. Larger plants and fast growing stems are usually placed in the background, medium sized and slower growing stems placed in the midground, with slow growing rosettes and carpeting plants placed in the foreground.
The regimented organisation of Dutch Scapes is what draws the main boundary between them and the Jungle style of Aquascaping, which is also characterised by dense planting.
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A scaper aiming to create a beautiful Dutch Scape would begin with a soil layer, for nutrients, and a substrate cap using inert gravel or sand.
The purpose of the cap is to stop the soil layer from floating up into the water column or leaching nutrients and causing algal blooms.
The planting stock will then be organised by species into bunches and planted based on their growth habits and the visual compatibility between each special bunch and the bunch that sits right beside it. Not every plant will do well straight away or at all so often times scapers move, remove and replace bunches with species that will do better in that spot.
There may be a lot of trial and error but eventually you can find a peaceful setup that will grow and display beautifully.
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The most difficult aspect of a Dutch Scape would likely be the carpet as your carpeting plant will cover the widest space in the scape. the best advice for growing a beautiful healthy carpet is to make multiple small bunches of your carpeting plant and planting them evenly across the space which you want it to cover. When the carpeting plant is spread more evenly it is more likely to cover the foreground evenly. Frequent trimming of the carpeting plant will stimulate it to grow and spread more readily and achieve for you a beautiful carpet in time.
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The Dutch scaping style is perfect for anyone who may enjoy the aesthetics of a planted aquarium but not want to take responsibility for fauna as the main focus of the Dutch scaping style is the organisation of the plants. If you enjoy traditional gardening but want to be able to enjoy a "garden" all year round; A Dutch scape would be a great way for you to have an indoor aquatic garden that will not be affected by the blight of winter temperatures.