Nature Aquarium style: layout rules and setup

A Nature Aquarium is a planted tank that recreates a scaled-down real landscape, such as a forest, hillside or riverbank, using wood or stone and a limited set of plants arranged asymmetrically around one focal point. Created by Takashi Amano, it is the dominant contest style. Real layouts keep about 18 % open space and six plant species, per MOKIZEN's analysis of 591 layouts.

What is a Nature Aquarium?

A Nature Aquarium is a planted layout modelled on a kind of landscape that exists in nature, built so the tank looks and works like a small ecosystem. It was created and named by Takashi Amano (born 1954 in Niigata, died 2015), who founded Aqua Design Amano (ADA) in 1982. His nature photography, which took him to the Amazon, Borneo, West Africa and Japanese forests from 1975, shaped it, as did Japanese garden ideas such as wabi-sabi and stone setting. ADA sums the idea up as learning from nature and then creating nature.

When it began depends on what you count. Amano's layouts date back to the 1980s, but the name and its worldwide spread came in the 1990s with his 1992 photo book Glass no Naka no Daishizen, published in seven languages, and the Nature Aquarium World books. ADA's International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC), started in 2001 with 557 entries from 19 countries, now draws more than 2,000 entries from over 60 countries and made the style the contest standard.

What are the rules of the Nature Aquarium style?

The rules are compositional: copy a real landscape, build it asymmetrically around one focal point, and use few species with visible hardscape and open space.

• Base the scene on a landscape you have actually observed, not pure imagination.
• Put the focal point near the golden ratio (about 1 : 1.618), roughly two thirds along the tank, never centred.
• Arrange branches or stones as if they radiate from one point; put bigger pieces toward the front and smaller ones toward the back for depth, and avoid parallel pieces.
• Use relatively few species, each planted in groups, and let some wood or stone show.
• Leave open water or a sand path for depth and swimming room.
• Match plant texture to hardscape, for example fine-leaved plants with fine-grained stone.

What are the three basic compositions?

Nature Aquarium layouts are built on three shapes: triangular, convex and concave. In the convex and concave forms the two sides are deliberately unequal, roughly 2 : 3. Guides describe the focal point as about two thirds along the tank; that and the 2 : 3 balance are both practical approximations of the golden ratio.

Which plants and fish suit a Nature Aquarium?

Use a carpet in front, epiphytes on the wood and fine stems at the back. Driftwood is by far the most common hero hardscape in the Nature-style layouts MOKIZEN analysed, followed by stone, so plants that grow on wood matter as much as those in the soil.

• Carpet: dwarf hairgrass, Monte Carlo, HC 'Cuba' or Glossostigma.
• On wood and stone: mosses (Vesicularia, Taxiphyllum, Fissidens), Riccardia, Bucephalandra, Java fern and Bolbitis.
• Midground: Cryptocoryne.
• Background: Rotala and other fine stem plants.
• Fish: one or a few large schools of small tetras or rasboras, such as rummy-nose, cardinal, black neon or red neon tetras, or harlequin rasboras.

How do you set up a Nature Aquarium step by step?

ADA's method is substrate, hardscape, planting front to back, then a slow fill and a careful first two months. The typical kit is a layered substrate (ADA uses Power Sand with additives under Aqua Soil Amazonia), strong light, pressurised CO₂ and a canister filter. Low-tech versions exist, because the style is about composition, but most builds are high-tech.

1. Lay the base substrate and additives, then the aquasoil.
2. Place wood and stones in a triangular, convex or concave composition and check that nothing wobbles.
3. Plant front to back: carpet first, then midground plants and epiphytes tied to the wood, then background stems and tape-leaved plants.
4. Fill slowly over your hand or a bag so the soil stays put, using dechlorinated water.
5. Start the light, CO₂ and filter.
6. For the first 1–2 weeks change water very often (ADA says daily) and remove algae as soon as it appears.
7. Once nitrite is undetectable, around weeks 5–8, add the clean-up crew; ADA uses about 20–30 Caridina shrimp and 3–5 Otocinclus for a 60 cm tank. Fish come after that.

How do you maintain a Nature Aquarium?

Expect heavy care for the first six weeks and a steady weekly routine after that. On light, ADA runs about 10 hours from day one, while Tropica suggests 6 hours for the first 2–3 weeks, then 8–10. If algae worries you, start at 6 and work up.

• First 4–6 weeks: very frequent water changes; first trim at about weeks 1–2, then again around weeks 5 and 6 as growth takes off.
• Weekly: change about a third of the water in an established tank and clean the glass.
• Weekly: trim stems and carpet back to the planned outline so the open space stays open.
• Ongoing: keep CO₂ and fertiliser steady and watch closely for algae in the early phase.

What are common Nature Aquarium mistakes?

The usual problems are compositional (symmetry, clutter) or technical (weak soil, light or CO₂).

• Symmetry or a centred focal point looks artificial. Pick one composition and put the main mass about two thirds along.
• Too many species breaks the natural look; real layouts use a median of about six. Repeat a few species in groups.
• Filling every gap removes depth and swimming space. Keep a deliberate sand path or open water.
• Skipping trims lets fast stems overgrow and shade lower plants.
• Weak substrate or tech starves plants that expect nutrient soil, strong light and CO₂.

Plants and animals in this guide

• Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis) (Eleocharis pusilla (sold as E. parvula / 'Mini') / E. acicularis)
• Monte Carlo (Micranthemum) (Micranthemum tweediei 'Monte Carlo' (WCVP: syn. of M. umbrosum))
• HC Cuba (Hemianthus callitrichoides) (Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' (now Micranthemum callitrichoides))
• Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides)
• Christmas Moss (Vesicularia montagnei)
• Coral Moss (Riccardia) (Riccardia sp. (sold as R. chamedryfolia))
• Bucephalandra (Buce) (Bucephalandra spp.)
• Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus (syn. Leptochilus pteropus))
• African Water Fern (Bolbitis) (Bolbitis heudelotii)
• Cryptocoryne (Crypt) (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
• Rotala / Red Stem Bush (Rotala rotundifolia / Ludwigia palustris)
• Rotala H'ra (Rotala rotundifolia 'H'ra')

See it in 3D

• Beauty of Nature
• Ryuboku Wood & Stone
• Iwagumi Triad

Related guides

• Iwagumi aquascape: stones, plants and setup
• Jungle aquascape: plants, layering and setup
• Dutch aquarium style: plant streets and rules
• Balancing light, CO₂ and fertiliser in a planted tank
• How to cycle a new aquarium (nitrogen cycle)
• Aquarium algae: identify the type and fix the cause

Sources

1. Founder – Takashi Amano — ADA (Aqua Design Amano)
2. Takashi Amano — Wikipedia
3. Nature Aquarium Starting from Zero — ADA (Aqua Design Amano)
4. SUIKEI Words Keyword 02: Layout composition — ADA (Aqua Design Amano)
5. About IAPLC — IAPLC / ADA
6. Aquascaping — Wikipedia
7. The Nature Aquarium Style — Aquascaping Love
8. Starting a new aquarium — Tropica Aquarium Plants
9. Insights: 591 real aquascape layouts — MOKIZEN

Written from these sources; last updated 2026-09-23.

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