BIOTOPE AQUARIUM DESIGN CONTEST 2016
We present to you the results of Biotope Aquarium Design Contest. Congratulations to all participants to excellent results, and thank you for your invaluable contribution to the development of the biotope aquaristic. On pages of some aquaria you can find comments by the jury members. Just click on thumbnail of an aquarium and you will go to its page with its detailed description, photos and video. Prize pool is EUR 3,000 and certificates + souvenir for top 50 participants. Enjoy viewing! After the contest a magazine with all contest aquariua was issued.
Sponsor of the contest:
RESULTS
1st place. GOLDEN TROPHY - 988 points
Likoma Island’s rocky habitat, Southeast of Lake Malawi, Mozambique waters, 1100 L
Turkey. Mert Aykuta
2nd place. SILVER TROPHY - 936 points
Seim River coast, Tetkino site, Chervona Sloboda, Russia, 4800 L
Russia. Evgeniya Moiseeva
3rd place. BRONZE TROPHY and ECO TROPHY - 918 points
Wugoushui Stream. Sub-basin of the Donggang River, Pingtung, Taiwan, 180 L
Taiwan. Wei-Cheng Jhuang
4th place. HONOR TROPHY and COOL TROPHY - 877 points
Kopački rit, Croatia, east of vilage Kopačevo, swamp area of Drava branch, 182 L
Croatia. Stjepan Erdeljic
5th place. HONOR TROPHY - 876 points
Small pond shore, Northern outskirts of Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil, 345 L
Poland. Kamil Hazy
6th place. HONOR TROPHY - 849 points
Habitat Profundulus mixtlanensis, a pool of the stream “El Rosario”, Oaxaca, 70 L
Mexico. Victor Manuel Ortiz Cruz
7th place. HONOR TROPHY - 835 points
Inundated area in the Indragiri Basin. Sumatra, 700 L
Belgium. Jeroen Vanhooren
8th place. HONOR TROPHY - 822 points
Kigoma area, a rocky sediment rich habitat, Lake Tanganyika, Africa, 458 L
Turkey. Uğur Ruşen Doğan
8th place. HONOR TROPHY - 822 points
Nicaragua. Canyon de Somoto near Guayabo Valley, 480 L
Ukraine. Bogdan Oleynik
10th place. HONOR TROPHY - 818 points
Chituta deep, Lake Tanganyika, Zambia, 720 L
Denmark. Carsten Thorleif Stabel
11th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 816 points
Stream El Arco, sub-basin San Lucas, Basin Atoyac, Oaxaca, Mexico, 100 L
Mexico. Victor Manuel Ortiz Cruz
12th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 815 points
Lake Tanganyika. Congo, Moliro, 270 L
India. Darpan Dhawan
12th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 815 points
Quiet dam near Dikanka, Garaganka River, Poltava region, Ukraine, 250 L
Ukraine. Anastasia Tytova
14th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 798 points
Tributary of Koyna river near confluence with Krishna river. India, 100 L
Belgium. Jeroen Vanhooren
15th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 787 points
Small pool in São Domingo River basin, Brazil, 20 L
Russia. Svetlana Kirillova
16th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 773 points
Clarity branch of a river – Amazon, 120 L
Turkey. Muhammet Saylavci
17th place. SUCCESS TROPHY and WILD TROPHY - 746 points
Miriñay tributary of the river during the rainy season, Corrientes Argentina, 90 L
Argentina. Ivan Martinez
18th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 741 points
Rio Unini Igarape Agua Preta, Brazil, 375 L
Russia. Kirill Shaklein
19th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 704 points
Lake Yenişehir. Mossy shallow coast of Hatay, Turkey, 157 L
Turkey. Tolga Eldurmaz
20th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 701 points
Lake Tanganyika. South of Kipili – sunset in Tanzania, 350 L
Turkey. Gökay Yağar
21th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 695 points
Lake Tanganyika. Zambia area, 480 L
Turkey. Fatih Çetinkaya
22th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 687 points
Atzala river in its course by Paintla de los Reyes, Taxco. Guerrero, Mexico, 72 L
Mexico. Amadeo Hernández Pérez
23th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 680 points
Wetland backwater near the mouth of the Yangtze River in Hunan Province, China, 35 L
Russia. Lev Ponomaryov
24th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 672 points
Cenote of Dzibilchaltun. Yucatan – Mexico, 500 L
Belgium. Jeroen Vanhooren
25th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 663 points
Slow stream backwater near Nadou in Chinese province of Hainan, 30 L
Russia. Angelina Sporsheva
26th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 651 points
Oyapock river, French Guiana, 280 L
Turkey. Timur Tekbaş
27th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 636 points
Shallow waters of Herbert River in Queensland. Australia, 40 L
Turkey. Tolga Eldurmaz
28th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 618 points
Upper Bhavani River, a tributary of the Kaveri River, India, 70 L
Ukraine. Konstantin Rodoutskiy
29th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 615 points
Miusik River in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, 300 L
Ukraine. Oleg Sychov
30th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 606 points
Middel Amazonas, at the area around Manaus, 720 L
Netherlands. Gert Blank
31th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 593 points
Moei River tributary backwater, Irrawaddy basin, Burma, 60 L
Russia. Natalia Sokolova
32th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 592 points
Dry pond, Laguna de Marica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 30L
Russia. Svetlana Kirillova
33th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 591 points
Rio Jufarís, near the community Caicubi, Brazil, 200 L
Brazil. Bruno Garcia dos Santos
34th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 570 points
Rio Tapajos, near the city of Santarem, Brazil, 688 L
Greece. Theodoros Alexiou
35th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 562 points
Borneo hillstream, Sarawak, 160 L
Belgium. Xavier Bourdet
35th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 562 points
Slowly moving small mountain creek, Xi Jiang drainage, Guangdong, China, 54 L
Poland. Kamil Hazy
37th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 560 points
Billabong in the Wenlock basin, Cape York Peninsula – Australia, 100 L
Belgium. Jeroen Vanhooren
38th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 556 points
Japurá River at dawn. Colombia, 180 L
Russia. Artyom Filippov
39th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 550 points
Fast-flowing mountain stream in Guangzhou province, south-eastern China, 70 L
Russia. Varvara Kozmenko
40th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 543 points
Lake Amatitlan Near Guetemala Eastern Coast Of Central America, 140 L
Turkey. Bilal Taha Tasdelen
40th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 543 points
Tanganyika Lake, East Beach, Bulu Point cape, Tanzania, 32 L
Russia. Evgeniy Bendin
42th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 541 points
Igarapé Daracuá, Rio Negro, Brazil, 36 L
Brazil. Flavio Henard Jorge de Freitas
43th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 539 points
Upper/Middle Orinoco Woody Habitat, 630 L
Indonesia. Andy Basuki
44th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 525 points
Dibru River – Dibrugarh, Assam, 250 L
Greece. Christos Nikolakoulis
45th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 522 points
Lachuá Lake, in the jungle of Cobán, Guatemala, 240 L
Brazil. Bruno Garcia dos Santos
46th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 520 points
Small backwater in Alenquer area, 70 L
Russia. Aleksandr Dergalyov
47th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 507 points
Alto Rio Negro, 160 L
Greece. George Pantazopoulos
48th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 505 points
Small ditch. Plain rice fields, north of Phetchaburi city. Thailand, 60 L
Italy. Andrea Vannini
49th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 497 points
The Sandbar Of Tanganyika Lakeside, 430 L
Turkey. Ömer Eliaçık
50th place. SUCCESS TROPHY - 482 points
Minos reef from lake Malawi, 1000 L
France. Lionel Adam
51th place - 481 points
Quebradas- small stream near Iquitos, 60 L
Hungary. Dániel Szabó
52th place - 476 points
Lake Tanganyika, Ndole Bay, Zambia, 200 L
Argentina. Walter Vazquez
53th place - 475 points
Depth water of Congo area, East of Lake Tanganyika, Africa, 200 L
Turkey. Fatih Bolat
54th place - 460 points
Lagoon “El Remate” Campeche, Mexico, 200 L
Mexico. Victor Manuel Ortiz Cruz
55th place - 458 points
The river in Krabi, Thailand, 54 L
Belarus. Jury Shamkalovich
56th place - 455 points
Riverbank of a small stream in Nilwala basin. Sri Lanka, 100 L
Belgium. Jeroen Vanhooren
57th place - 453 points
Niger River Delta, Nigeria, 240 L
Brazil. Bruno Garcia dos Santos
58th place - 441 points
Forest streams of Loango National Park, 30 L
Russia. Aleksandr Tkachuk
59th place - 436 points
Black Water, Rio Negro, Brasil, 160 L
Poland. Arkadiusz Skrzycki
60th place - 435 points
Bache River backwater, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, 30 L
Russia. Tamara Baranova
60th place - 435 points
Paraná River backwater near the city of Goya, Argentina, 324 L
Aleksandr Polimonov
60th place - 435 points
Strelka River coastal part in village Ropsha, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, 200 L
Russia. Nil Filimonov
63th place - 427 points
Shores of Kigoma area, Northeast of Lake Tanganyika, East Africa, 200 L
Turkey. Bilal Taha Tasdelen
64th place - 400 points
Rocky shores of lake malawi – mbamba bay – Tanzania, 784 L
Brazil. Jean Carlo de A. Castro
65th place - 398 points
South American Blackwater Stream, 60 L
India. Stephen Dsouza
66th place - 391 points
Coastal area of Gulf of Finland in St. Petersburg, 160 L
Russia. Mark Martynov
67th place - 361 points
Mountain creek near Lijiang river in Zhejiang provinces, 20 L
Poland. Dominik Woroch
68th place - 327 points
Biotop Creek Soumourou, French Guiana, 200 L
Romania. Emil Visan
69th place - 325 points
Betta puddle, northern Chao Praya river, Thailand, 10 L
Bulgaria. Ivaylo Slavov
70th place - 318 points
Zhoujiang river, China, 3 L
Morocco. Mounir Elkholty
71th place - 314 points
Khorol backwaters, Ukraine, 70 L
Ukraine. Vladimir Korotin
72th place - 304 points
Cuvery River Habitat, Near Mysuru Town, Kanataka Province, India, 340 L
India. Bharadwaz Putta
73th place - 296 points
Lake Malawi, near Nkhata Bay, 112 L
Ukraine. Konstantin Rodoutskiy
74th place - 276 points
Stream, Kelani River, Sri Lanka, 81 L
Brazil. Bruno Garcia dos Santos
75th place - 267 points
Likoma Island of Lake Malawi, 360 L
Brazil. Rodrigo Vasconcelos
76th place - 254 points
Flooded stream near Coronel Bogado. Paraguay, 54 L
Netherlands. Jos Rollman
77th place - 241 points
Nkamba Bay, Tanganyika Lake, Zambia, 715 L
Portugal. Nelson Mangana
78th place - 233 points
Shallow waters in Orinoco with wild guppies, 80 L
Estonia. Eduard Dmitryev
79th place - 230 points
Backwater of St. Johns River before sunset, Florida, North America, 40 L
Russia. Anna Romanchik
80th place - 207 points
Hainan island, China, 165 L
Morocco. Mounir Elkholty
81th place - 187 points
Putumayo River biotope. Ecuador, 30 L
Russia. Danila Brynetkin
82th place - 146 points
Amazon River basin, in tributaries of the Ucayali, 60 L
Turkey. Mehmet Kartal
83th place - 97 points
Congo River Basin, West Africa, 180 L
Japan. Hideaki Matsubata
84th place - 79 points
Araguaia River, Brazil, 240 L
Russia. Andrey Kondrashov
85th place - 35 points
Amazon biotope lake large Curuai, Brazil, 260 L
Portugal. Hugo Jesus
I still love biotope aquariums, because they can combine aquarium keeping with the natural beauty of the biotopes of this world. But unfortunately most biotope keepers just copy a natural biotope without trying to combine this with the art of scaping! Many biotopes do not really look beautiful: just leaves in the bottom, muddy water, no plants and some driftwood. But as a good biotoper you need to find a way to make this natural biotope look impressive and breathtaking. Another tip for the biotope description: it might be nice, if you explain lots of information about the geographical situation of the biotope but it would be much more important, if you tell us about the water parameters and the water temperature! This is missing quite often!
As usual, lots of very good works, and lots of too small tanks. However, the amount of very good and large enough tanks was sufficiently high to make the voting quite difficult. Congratulations to all the contestants – I’m really happy that the idea of biotope aquarium is so wide-spread around the world! I also like the new website of the contest – it is very easy and intuitive to navigate, and all informations are presented in a clear way.
I wanted to tell all of you that entered this year’s Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2016, “YOU ARE MY HEROES.” The biotope aquariums I have seen this year are super inspiring. I am sure that many contestants have understood and opened their eyes at the importance of what they learned about nature by researching and recreating it at home. With time you will all realize that sharing your knowledge in a positive way, as small as this knowledge can be, will change and influence many people to love nature, and that my friends makes you all heroes.