Ryuboku is my favourite form of aquascaping. From what I have gathered, it’s basically a practice where the scaper pays homage to the wood they are using in their design by using it as the primary hardscape. I am a firm lover of wood, I much prefer it in fish tanks. I have seen a lot of aquascapers neglect the use of wood, preferring to dominate their scapes with expensive dragon stone or seriyu stone, adorned with the fickle carpeting plant micranthemum ‘Monte Carlo’.
While I appreciate the impact these beautiful stones have in the aquarium, there is something about bogwood which just compels me to use it. I remember when I was in my teens, my parents purchased a big 150l tank. At the time, I had no idea what aquascaping even was, but would delight in watching their mating pair of bristlenose catfish play hide in seek in one piece of bogwood shaped like a witch’s hat, with a big hole in its centre. From then on, my love of bogwood was established, and it’s held true to this day. Its almost liquid form – comprised of snarling twists of branch and hidden crevices – offers an endless canvas to splurge your creative ambitiousness on. You can cut it, dress it up in moss, leave it bare, tie plants to it. The opportunities are endless.
When mapping out the designs for my tank, I planned to include some form of wood – be it spider wood or bogwood. I had done extensive research on which elements constitute a ‘successful aquascape’, but really only learnt that success amounted a design that the caper was happy with. Anyone who posted a scape on a forum asking for feedback was bound to receive a mixed bag of praise and criticism, such is the nature of the hobby. So, I would use what I was happy with – bogwood!
I knew this much: I wanted a fusion scape of jungle and riverbed. As mentioned in a previous post, I had taken a few trips to the River Dart in Dartmeet and fallen in love with its riverbed. I can’t explain why, but it drags up a lot of nostalgia whenever I see a traditional British riverbed. Maybe I watched too much Rosie and Jim when I was younger, but riverbeds are, personally, an unexplainable beauty. I liked the jungle aquascape, not for its easiness to maintain, but because of the shapes of narrow leaf Java Fern and African Water Fern, all intermingled with giant hairgrass, various crypts and other stem plants.
Among the carefully curated choas lies an element of childlike grandeur, like a kid using the ice cream machine at Pizza Hut. Let’s just dump in all the toppings and see what we can make. Jungle tanks are similar in that no plant really looks out of place if placed correctly (foreground, mid and background), and they all offer a certain depth to the scape.
Thanks to studying videos released by The Green Machine, I had come to appreciate the importance of negative space. This is why I opted to have a lush plain between two hulking great chunks of bogwood. This plain is carpeted with Eleocharis sp. mini (or dwarf hair grass), and bruised with big river stones to mimic the stunning layouts under the waters of the River Dart. Plenty of open space to explore for shoaling tetras or lazy dwarf gouramis. Either side of the plain sits the bogwood, covered in Java Moss and hidden by the shady leaves of microsorum pteropus narrow leaf (java fern) and bolbitis heudelotii (African water fern), and the wonderfully mischievous hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort).
Peeking out of the hairgrass is echinoderms tenellus (pygmy chain sword) to add a little bit of foreground height. Tied to the wood are either anubias or bucephalandra – maybe both if my wallet is big enough. And that’s it really. I guess I could go more complex, but the tank isn’t exactly in prime condition to show off the plants.
I’m still trying to scrub of stubborn water stains and it’s scratched and scuffed. After all, it was thirty quid. Most importantly for me, this is an experiment to see if I can successfully master an advanced aquascape. So far (touch wood), everything is going okay.
Until next time!
Cal.
Photos: Doodle by me, the rest courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (aquascape by Lennard Jöhnk)
Song of the night: ‘Casimir Pulaski Day’ – Sufjan Stevens
Fishkeeper Cal 