I am very happy to see many great fellow Austrians and their layouts coming up and more austrian participants to the IAPLC every year
Philip Schwarz
Country: Austria
Age: years old
Occupation: Self-employed (Co-owner of Liquid Nature – Aquarium Shop & Gallery)
Aquarium experience: 12 years
Hobbies besides aquarium: Surfing, Hiking
Record of awards in the past IAPLC:
IAPLC 2016 160th
IAPLC 2018 37th
IAPLC 2019 154th
IAPLC 2021 131th
AJ - adana.co.jp - Tell us how you feel now that you won the Prize in the IAPLC 2023.
It is hard to find the right words! I am honored and very happy of course. After following and participating in this great contest for some years, it seems like a big goal is achieved – a dream came true! I am grateful that the judges and ADA staff liked my work. This incredible feedback increases my motivation to try to create the best layouts possible for future contests. When I first found videos of Master Takashi Amano creating his beautiful layouts and started to try replicating something similar, I thought I was the only one in Austria. After some years I met other aquascapers and we started to exchange our knowledge. Without their persuasion I probably never would have participated at the IAPLC. Thank you! For now, I celebrate and enjoy the privilege of being selected as one of the few bronze prize winners!
AJ - adana.co.jp - Tell us what you wanted to express with your layout work; layout theme, motif, ideas behind your winning work.
With this aquarium I didn’t have a detailed idea or special source of inspiration. It was more a development than a genius plan. Still, I wanted to create a natural feeling of flow and many areas for the fish to explore. Due to the tank being a show tank in our gallery, it also needed to look nice from different perspectives and to be easy to maintain for a long time.
Using ADA tools for regular maintenance
AJ - adana.co.jp - What are the key points when you select aquatic plants and fish species?
I selected the plants to keep up with the maintenance and still get a good first impression. Therefore a lot of rather slow growing plants were used. Still, the feeling of depth needed to be achieved, which worked out nicely with the different grass-type plants in the back. The different front- to midground plants filled out these areas and brought diversity to the layout.
Melanotaenia praecox is a very and I was impressed since I saw them in some of my friends’ aquascapes a while ago. I had the opportunity to get some locally bred juvenile specimens and since then, I kept them as the main highlight. The second species, Oryzias woworae, almost looks like offspring of M. praecox, which was a spectacular combination when we took the pictures. The smaller fish followed the bigger ones, creating the illusion of a school of fish coming from far away through the valley of the aquarium. The german synonym of M. praecox is ‘Diamant-Regenbogenfisch’ which translates to diamond-rainbowfish, therefore I chose the title ‘Diamonds’ .
The Liquid Nature – Aquarium Shop & Gallery
AJ - adana.co.jp - What are your favorite ADA product(s) and why?
There are many great products and as the co-owner of an aquarium store, I have the privileged opportunity of using a few of them in our gallery. I regularly use the Pro Pinsettes, Pro Scissors and the Pro Razor. Once one uses ADA tools on a regular basis, you really start to enjoy the quality of these products. Another highlight (literally) are the Solar RGB lights. I am not using them in this particular aquarium but we do use them on other setups in our aquarium gallery. In my opinion it is still the best lamp for a planted aquarium. It makes the colors of plants and animals lookamazing and the plants grow perfectly. We are looking forward to the new version of this lamp!
AJ - adana.co.jp - If you belong to any aquarium circles or clubs, please tell us about their activities.
The Liquid Nature – Aquarium Shop & Gallery is a shop, not a club, but we want to be a contact point for all aquarium enthusiasts. We have a wide range of products related to the planted aquarium and share our experiences and methods about keeping the aquarium healthy and beautiful. Occasionally we organize a come-together for everyone who wants to join, to share information and essentially have a good time with other hobbyists. I am very happy to see many great fellow Austrians and their layouts coming up and more austrian participants to the IAPLC every year.
aquajournal / adana.co.jp
