Aquascape Design

When you’re creating an aquarium, the possibilities are limitless. Everything from bare-bottom tanks to densely planted Dutch tanks are perfectly valid styles.

However, you’ll probably create a much more appealing result if you’re following a particular aquascape design. Here are the most common styles you’ll see in aquariums, and some examples of each


-Dutch Style

This style is characterized by many different types of plants with multiple leaf types. It’s commonly seen with raised ‘layers’, or terraces, known as Dutch ‘streets’.

The floor is covered by either a carpet, or plants, with taller plants lining the back of the tank. Most noticeably, it usually has no hardscape—you won’t see much, if any, stone or driftwood in Dutch tanks.


-Iwagumi Style

This is one of the most popular aquascape designs today. It was first made popular by the Father of Modern Aquascaping, Takashi Amano, and is characterized by a series of stones arranged according to the Golden Ratio, or Rule of Thirds.

There should always be an odd number of stones to prevent the layout from ‘balancing’, since the human eye always tries to see a ‘split’ in balanced layouts.

There are at least three stones: a larger ‘Father’ stone, and at least two secondary stones. There can be more, so long as the total number remains odd.

These tanks may imitate a natural landscape, with a common theme of simplicity and open space. There are limited colors in plants & stone, and the number of varying flora and fauna is kept to a minimum to create minimalism.

Scale is very important in this style. Powder-type substrate is used to create a sense of larger scale, and the father stone should be the largest object in the aquarium. Nano fish like the Neon Tetra are also used to maintain the scale.


-The Nature Aquarium

This style is the one you’ve probably seen all over the Internet, in various forums, and winning tons of awards.

And for good reason—they’re breathtaking tanks. These tanks seek to recreate various terrestrial landscapes—hills, mountains, valleys, and so on.

These are further categorized into various substyles, like the ‘island’ type, which features a stone ‘mountain’, or mound in the middle, or the triangular type, where the substrate and genearl flow the tank slopes down from one corner of the tank.


-The Walstad Method

You’re not likely to find this style winning any Aquascape designs awards, though it is a very visually appealing layout.

That’s because the goal isn’t necessarily winning beauty awards, but recreating a completely natural situation.

Where this differs from nature aquariums and biotopes is its completely random placement of hardscape and plants. This is to simulate the way things are naturally in nature, instead of placing for optimal beauty.

These tanks are most often deliberately low-maintenance, and are by design low budget tanks. They usually use potting soil and also require very few water changes, because of the plant density.


There are more aquascape designs, and even more variances between each of these. it’s up to you to decide what type of tank you enjoy.

If you enjoy it, you’ll maintain it better and get more quality out of it, so choose what you’d like, and get started on your tank!