Takashi Amano: Visionary Aquascapist

The aquarium has always held enchantment for me. The underwater world, bringing an array of different color fish and bubbling water, reminds me of childhood. I could decorate the world as I pleased and no one was the wiser. My mind stopped at treasure boxes opening and closing and a plastic mermaid waving her arms. Neon pink and yellow plastic plants completed my tank, that is until discovering Takashi Amano.

An aquarist, photographer, and designer, Takeshi Amano changed my perspective. Instead of fake plants, he used a variety of live freshwater plants and arranged the space of the aquarium to resemble nature. He used the Japanese method of zen gardening as well as the art of mimicking nature. He made an aquarium tank look like a Lord of the Rings water globe.

He used fish and shrimp in his art. The shrimp formerly known as Caridina japonica had been renamed after him as Amano shrimp, and he heavily relied on them for they ate large amounts of algae. He also developed ADA or Aqua Design Amano which boasts the best supply for aquascaping in the fish and ornamental shrimp industry ranging from reverse osmosis machines, substrates, liquid fertilizers, additives, fish food…and the list goes on. I, myself, use ADA Bacter 100 and Tourmaline for setting up my shrimp tanks.

As you can see in the photographs, his work is genius. So much so that he compelled me to change my plastic-ridden tank into a breathing, living, micro world. I’m nowhere near his league – in fact, I’m really far away, but I keep trying because Takashi Amano’s photographs inspire me so. The genius died in 2015 at the way-too-young age of 61.

Mr. Amano’s books that blew my mind are: Nature Aquarium World, a three-book series on aquascaping, and Aquarium Plant Paradise. I highly recommend that you check out Takashi Amano’s world on the internet and at the bookstore. I predict you will be hooked.

Shrimp Robot!