COMMENTS ON THE ENTRIES

1. South America

Petra Bašić (Croatia): I would say this aquarium represents traditional style of biotope aquarium, because it has alot of fish species and various plants that live in certain biotope, but all that is put in small volume of water, arranged like aquascape. As part of the research for my new project, I saw submersed "dutch gardens" in nature, but usually one plant species is covering atleast 50 x 50 cm. The biotope would be better presented if only 2-3 species of plants were used.

Jeremy Gay (Great Britain): This is the best of the finalists for me as it combines biotopically correct fish species with modern aquascaping techniques, which work together to make both a biotope and an eye catching planted aquascape in one. We don’t often see Bolivian biotopes verses other south American recreations and I think the fish would be happy to live long term in that tank, and thrive.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland): Very nice tank, but in my opinion it was not a biotope aquarium - but an aquascape. So many species of plants, concentrated on such a small area of bottom - it certainly doesn't look like this in the nature (or at least - doesn't look like this in natural biotopes which I saw). Also, in my opinion there were too many species of fishes for such a small tank. So many species would look natural in a tank of about 2000 liters size, or more. Each species could be represented by a large group, like 50 individuals or so, as they occur in nature. But in tank which was only 180 liters - hmmm…

André Longarço (Brazil): I like the plants arrangement, but the overall arrangement is too "over planned". I think that in the nature the scene is messier than this. But I like the balance and harmony between fishes and environment. The Tetras are very happy.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia): The best aquarium in my opinion was Svetlana's one (South America). It was decorated not bad. And it is most important that fish correspond to the selected region. All they are from Bolivia and the Guaporé River Basin. It is highly probable that in the wild they can live together. Moreover, I took into account severe restrictions of choice of decorations and aquatic organisms in the final.

Ivan Mikolji (Venezuela): Svetlana created a state of the art biotope aquarium setup. I do not know how she did it, but she did it! The accuracy and similarity with the actual biotope is amazing. I have underwater habitat images in the wild that look just like this incredible masterpiece. When I saw the video and images of this biotope I was amazed. I just sat in front of my computer staring at it… smiling. The plants used and the way they were placed have a great impact on the biotope setup quality. The hatchet fish swimming on the top, the tetras in the middle and the rams and Corydoras in the bottom create a balanced and interesting to see "aquarium show". Svetlana has set a new level in the biotope aquaria with this aquarium. Congratulations!

Paul Talbot (Australia): This tank is beautifully done highlighting a lovely combination of interesting fish and décor. This tank displays excellent contrast,  dynamics and texture. Masterful colour blending. Very natural unmanufactured look, great job!

Heiko Blessin (Germany): It's a beautiful aquarium, which most people would like to have at home. But it doesn't look very natural. The plants are arranged like in an aquascape and a few leafs on the bottom doesn't change an aquarium into a biotope aquarium! 90 % of the roots in natural biotopes are comming from the top and not from the bottom. Only single and sunken parts of roots are laying on the bottom. The arrangement of the plants look to artificial. Again: Nice tank but not much a Biotope aquarium.

2. Australia & Oceania

Petra Bašić (Croatia): Similar setup like South America category. I didn't take lack of rocks in setup as a such big mistake. I understood there could be problems like not finding correct type or size of stones in the finals, but nevertheless it's the biotope finals, so you need to push harder. I like using big group of only one species of rainbowfish.

Jeremy Gay (Great Britain): I like this biotope but for me the Cryptocoryne in both their emerse form, and growing from wood instead of the substrate doesn’t seem right. Ideally the male fish would also be more mature and in colour but on the whole, a good effort.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland): Very good idea of stocking the tank with only one species of fish, not so good idea of using so many species of plants - it doesn't look like this in the wild. Another issue was the composition - in the description there was information that this tank recreates a fragment of river with rapid flow and rocky bottom. However, the composition was almost totally opposite to this description - just few pebbles on sandy bottom, and plants which probably would not survive in a rapid flow, maybe except Vallisneria nana. Anyway, it was a very nice tank - but again, as an aquascape, not a biotope aquarium.

André Longarço (Brazil): Great biotope. Good shape and arrangement. Fishes are very well and the layout inspire peace. I think that the rocks could be more worked close to the base of wood. Good work.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia): On the third place I put Alexey (Australia). In this work there are some mistakes. They begin in the description of the biotope where the river with a rocky bottom was specified. And in the aquarium we can see the white sand. Neon rainbowfish would look better over a dark ground. Really, this species lives in small streams with a rocky bottom, swimming into backwaters with dirt or sand (dark soil) on the bottom. Next drawback is planting Cryptocorynes in a hole in the driftwood. For a layout the idea is not bad, but for wildlife it is not typical. In general I did not see the rapid part of a river. This may be a backwater with still water.

Ivan Mikolji (Venezuela): I found it interesting that this biotope aquarium made it into second place. Although it is a very beautiful setup I did not like the combination of rocks and white sand. When you find those types of rocks in the wild, the sand is usually totally different in grain size and color. You cannot, in my opinion, place black or brown rocks on perfectly white sand. Water color, turbidity and benthic sediments are one of the first things I analyze in a biotope aquarium.

Paul Talbot (Australia): This tank displays excellent contrast,  dynamics and texture. Clever use of multiply gravel, featuring a nice health school of young Praecox, plenty of attention has been given to spacing. I would be proud to have this in my home!

Heiko Blessin (Germany): I just returned from the JBL Expedition to Australia and have visited about 20 natural biotopes of rainbow fishes but unfortunately none of the biotopes look like this aquarium. The aquarium looks more like an aquascape. Well decorated and nice to look at, but not like a natural biotope.

3. North America

Petra Bašić (Croatia): Good idea that could be executed better. Planting is thick, but plants look they could be positioned better. On this type of contest it's important to make an aquarium that looks like it was here for at least a month, so paying attention to details like how Eleocharis looks can bring you higher points. This aquarium would certainly look better when it gets older. I dont like gray substrate, it would be better if the contestant used brown colour, wich could be achieved by mixing various substrate types.

Jeremy Gay (Great Britain): It’s nice to see an axolotl biotope, and good for a record to be made of a habitat and species which is so critically endangered and so likely to disappear. Ignoring the aquascape above the waterline and judging it that way does make this scape more ordinary, but I like the way Axolotls are lurking in the shallows and the haphazard wood and rocks which to me imitate a lake shore which is used by both man and nature.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland): This tank, together with Australia & Oceania, had the best composition of animals - I mean, only one species, which can live very well in aquarium of such size. Victor also had a very good idea about stocking the tank with axolotls, instead of fish. Decorations and composition were quite well balanced, however there was one drawback - the plants were grown underwater, and Victor planted them as emersed ones. Of course he couldn't know that he will receive underwater-grown plants, but anyway - he could try to adjust the composition according to this situation (as he did in the "New Design" at Ecological Center). Plants grown underwater planted as emersed ones didn't look good - especially Eleocharis and Bacopa. Besides, Victor could also have learned already that it is not a good idea to readjust decorations after the first night - moving the substrate caused the water to become cloudy again…

André Longarço (Brazil): Good work, but the small brown gravel doesn't fit with the other hardscape material. The mosses could be more arranged.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia): On the second place I put Víctor (North America), although he set up biotope aquarium in the style of aquaterrarium. There was no fish there, only axolotles. I read somewhere that they live on a very dark ground. Most likely, it is not sand, but earth, but where do we get the earth in the final from? Víctor clearly showed the coastal zone, and plants were planted pretty correctly. I liked one small detail - a certain amount of dried leaves floating on the surface, as in nature. It is the very small detail, but such details make the overall impression. I gave only 2 points less than to the first place.

Ivan Mikolji (Venezuela): Great setup with a great conservancy message. I always respect people that take their time to spread eco-awareness and this is exactly what this set up expresses. This is an extremely elaborate aquarium biotope replica. Victor made an exceptional job creating different "levels" or "sections" in the underwater habitat which blend inconspicuously into one another. This is hard to pull off. I would have dimmed the lights to make the whole aquarium darker. One of the only things that I did not like about this aquarium was how crowded and packed the aquatic plants were placed in the back.

Paul Talbot (Australia): I think this is a very natural looking tank subtly featuring a beautiful and interesting animal. I love the creative indent in the substrate for the filter inlet and the approach to layering. Been very effective at concealing filters pipes etc. Nice work!

Heiko Blessin (Germany): Really nice and quite natural, even if we can't compare it with the original lake near Mexico City anymore, because the lake has been destroyed. But many habitats look like this Biotope aquarium. Great set up!

4. Africa

Petra Bašić (Croatia): As a biotope, this aquarium is quite correct, and represents what biotope aquaria should look like. Using more Vallisneria in better condition would make this tank better placed, and showing "more attractive" part of river would rank this tank the 1st as far as aesthetic judgement goes.

Jeremy Gay (Great Britain): I like the earie look of this aquarium and the impression that the fish are just passing through, swimming in and out the light and shade and evading predators. The choice of wood type gives an old world feel which seems right for an African river. I think the planting health and species could be improved upon, and also the maturity of the fish so that they show more colour.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland): In my opinion this tank had the most problems. The first, and probably the most important, was the temperature, which was clearly too high for Hemichromis - they were gasping all the time. According to Seriosuly Fish, this species requires really high amounts of oxygen in water, and the optimal temperature would be something like 24-25°C degrees. However, the temperature in the tank was closer to 28°C ("measured" by my hand, only), and Timur didn't turn off the heater during the whole period of the exhibition. Didn't he notice that the fish are gasping all the time? The second problem would be putting Hemichromis lifalili in such a small tank. According to Seriously Fish again (I don't have any personal experience with this species), it becomes really aggressive during breeding, so other fishes present in the tank could be in danger then. Of course, Hemichromis individuals introduced to the tank were still quite small, probably still juveniles, so they were not dangerous yet - but, we are also supposed to judge the tanks in longer time perspective, and in this case it could lead to serious problems. The third problem was the plants, which were not moisturized during the setting-up phase, so they simply dried out, and didn't look good in the aquarium.

André Longarço (Brazil): Good balance, but the wood appearance could be more natural. At this way it is good to aquascaping contest.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia): On the fourth place I put the African biotope. Frankly speaking, if we consider the layout as a whole, all corresponds to the nature biotope. But in this aquarium the water was too cloudy, that's why it was not so beautiful as the others. What is bad? The main disadvantage is a state of plants, their planting and scarcity. Maybe I'm wrong, but in the left corner the weak Echinodorus is planted.

Ivan Mikolji (Venezuela): I liked this biotope a lot. The color and turbidity of the water makes you travel into the biotope and feel like you are actually in the jungle! Again, I would have dimmed the lights a bit. In streams with this water color, the plants are scarce and usually very long as they struggle to reach the surface for more light. I would have liked to see this aquarium way up higher in the ranking because its similarity with the wild are amazing. This is a great aquarium setup that should be used as inspiration by all of us biotope aquarists worldwide.

Paul Talbot (Australia): Very realistic well thought out example of a natural ecosystem. Lots to look at with attention drawn to every corner of the space.

Heiko Blessin (Germany): The picture of the aquarium looks exactly like an underwater picture of that biotope: Brownish water, roots comming from the top, some dirt on the bottom. It might not look super-beautiful but it looks really natural! Well done!

5. Eurasia

Petra Bašić (Croatia): Nice bottom details, but bad choice of plants and planting arrangement. There is both grouped and chaotic arrangment of plants in this setup. Red plant (not quite right species for this biotope but I know that there can be problems in live contest) in the background gives too much of aquascaping look to the setup. It would be better it was mixed like other plant species are. Moss could be better arranged on the bottom.

Jeremy Gay (Great Britain): I like the fresh, lush look of the planting and with the fallen leaves they combine to make a heavily decorated aquarium. I struggle with the use of Puntius titteya however as I have collected these in the wild in Sri Lanka, where they are endemic. Populations here must surely be introduced. I would also like to see the plants looking more grown in and less like they are freshly added bunches.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland): In my opinion, this was the best tank of the show. I'm not saying that it was a perfect representation of the biotope - it wasn't, which was not the fault of David. He just didn't receive plants which he ordered (but, on the other hand, one can not expect that the sponsors will fulfill someone's very specific and quite unusual requirements, so it's best to plan the composition basing on most typical species and forms, easily available in the trade). Nevertheless, this tank was the most biotope-like tank in the exhibition. Especially the leaves of Terminalia catappa - David cut them to a shape identical to leaves really present in the biotope he tried to recreate, and this was really great - no other participant, nor any other designer of biotope tanks which I met during my life, was doing something like this. The number of species of plants and fishes could be smaller, but anyway, in my opinion it was the best tank of the show.

André Longarço (Brazil): Great aquarium, but the plants arrangement could be more natural. The plants are too linear. I like the idea of leaves in the bottom, but in my opinion the leaves can be smaller.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia): Eurasia is on the fifth place. According to the description of the biotope on its card it was not clear what kind of biotope the author has created. First, in the description a lake was mentioned, then there is description of a river system there. For some reason in the description Beaufortia is indicated. It is a small fish that lives (several species) only in the south-eastern China and the northern Vietnam. I think that to name two species of Cyprinidae "barbs" is a significant mistake. At least they should be named Puntius. Barbs are found only in Africa and in Europe, but not in Thailand. The names of represented fishes need to be written correctly (in Latin) for this contest. Now about the fishes. Of the fishes presented in the biotope aquarium only rasbora is from the southern Thailand (correct name is Trigonostigma). Cherry barb is endemic to the waters of Sri Lanka and Systomus pentazona lives on the Indonesian islands and the Malay Peninsula. If these species live in southern Thailand as the invaders, then is not recommended to put them into the biotope aquarium.

Ivan Mikolji (Venezuela): No need for my comment… Heiko Blessin took the words out of my mind!

Paul Talbot (Australia): This tank is very striking, realistic and simple! Wonderful flow with lines of colours. Lots to catch the eye! The use of the twigs and leaf litter are very effective! Remarkable work!

Heiko Blessin (Germany): The aquarium looks a bit like an aquarium in a shop, where you keep plants for selling. Too many plants and not an interesting design. I would like to have a dominating part of decoration and some minor dominating parts. You don't know, where to look first if you look in this aquarium.