Atitagain Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 A road I drive every so often has a spot where the river, tree line, and foreground are nice to look at. Nothing real spectacular but enough to notice. About a week ago as I was driving through this spot, the sun was setting at just the right time and it made the sky behind a certain color and I was instantly almost overwhelmed. Inspiration hits me sometimes with a rush of emotions and my brain starts clicking, next thing I know I’ve got the baseline idea for a whole project. How does a setting sun color turn into a fish tank? It’s amazing how inspiration works! I’ve always been on the artsy side of everything but never took much of it seriously. It works the same in my work as well, being a finish carpenter I get to use design, flow, vision, problem solving, and more to create custom cabinetry and interior woodwork. I find inspiration to be a very useful tool I use every day. It comes from some of the strangest places too. What are some of the ways you’ve been inspired in aquascaping? Hardscape, plants, water parameters, stocking, types of equipment, whatever it may be as long as it’s fish keeping related. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 WHAT A GREAT TOPIC!!!! I say that cause all most every thing in nature makes me think of one of two things. my daughter or aquascaping. i was a diver ( SCUBA ) been skindiving since 8 yrs old. spear fishing in the ocean and rivers. ( NOTE SPEARING CARP WHITE SUCKER FISH AND SQUAW FISH LAMBERAY EELS IN RIVERS was legal in the 70s) Please forgive me i was just a small child. Every tank build i have done was inspired by the things i saw in the bottom of rivers. even now my 75g tank even after watching hours and hours of low tech aquascapes and buying all the aquascape tools my tank looks like a river bottom JUNGLE! you want to know just how bad i have fish keeping sickness. not to long ago i was playing WOW world of warcraft its a online game. i was in a zone called ashnvale that zone is inhabited by night elves and many beast of all kinds. a thick magical wooded forest, lots of wood trees rocks and streams. while killing a few horde players i stopped to think wow that fallen tree would would be a awsome piece in my tank. that whole zone would be amazing scape. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Yes great topic. When I used to wade for trout fishing I always looked for the most root entangled alcoves where water was flowing decently. You could see the smaller juvenile trout rushing through the most dense roots and weeds with ease. This was the inspiration for the original Pygmy tank with most of the tank pothos roots. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 4:23 PM, scott the fishman said: WHAT A GREAT TOPIC!!!! I say that cause all most every thing in nature makes me think of one of two things. my daughter or aquascaping. i was a diver ( SCUBA ) been skindiving since 8 yrs old. spear fishing in the ocean and rivers. ( NOTE SPEARING CARP WHITE SUCKER FISH AND SQUAW FISH LAMBERAY EELS IN RIVERS was legal in the 70s) Please forgive me i was just a small child. Every tank build i have done was inspired by the things i saw in the bottom of rivers. even now my 75g tank even after watching hours and hours of low tech aquascapes and buying all the aquascape tools my tank looks like a river bottom JUNGLE! you want to know just how bad i have fish keeping sickness. not to long ago i was playing WOW world of warcraft its a online game. i was in a zone called ashnvale that zone is inhabited by night elves and many beast of all kinds. a thick magical wooded forest, lots of wood trees rocks and streams. while killing a few horde players i stopped to think wow that fallen tree would would be a awsome piece in my tank. that whole zone would be amazing scape. That’s a great place to draw inspiration from. That would be an amazing childhood hobby. I’m sure it was very exciting under there. Do you have any pics of your tanks posted I’d be interested in checking them out. Lol I can see your friends on WOW…”hey where did Scott go?” “He’s over there staring at that log,… I’m serious look at him “ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 6:55 PM, Atitagain said: That’s a great place to draw inspiration from. That would be an amazing childhood hobby. I’m sure it was very exciting under there. Do you have any pics of your tanks posted I’d be interested in checking them out. Lol I can see your friends on WOW…”hey where did Scott go?” “He’s over there staring at that log,… I’m serious look at him “ LOL NAILD IT On 12/16/2021 at 6:57 PM, scott the fishman said: LOL NAILD IT THIS IS MY ONLY TANK AT THE MOMENT 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 6:57 PM, scott the fishman said: LOL NAILD IT THIS IS MY ONLY TANK AT THE MOMENT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 7:44 PM, Guppysnail said: Yes great topic. When I used to wade for trout fishing I always looked for the most root entangled alcoves where water was flowing decently. You could see the smaller juvenile trout rushing through the most dense roots and weeds with ease. This was the inspiration for the original Pygmy tank with most of the tank pothos roots. Let me ask this. When viewing this tank you can feel the rush of the fishing, the satisfaction of finding your alcove, the peace of nature, or something of the sort? like with the tank I described above when I view it now I feel that color (not even close to replicating the color…yet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 I just realized that I am going to be starting the 4' dining room tank too late for the growth to be adequate in time for competition next year... so I started playing with the hardscape again 😅 Reading through this thread, I realized that I am always building scapes and tanks around the creeks and rivers I grew up playing in: The creek ran down, parallel to the street I lived on, and joined a larger creek at the bottom of the street to create a lovely waterfall we would play in during the summer. Waterfall was all of 10' high, but as kids it felt so much taller🤣 I hadn't connected catching crawdads and tadpoles as a young kid, with my aquarium keeping as an adult. Thank you for this post! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 @scott the fishman I have seen your tank I remember it. That looks like the pic I seen right after your rescape. Has everything started growing in well? What about the pothos on top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 10:10 PM, Atitagain said: Let me ask this. When viewing this tank you can feel the rush of the fishing, the satisfaction of finding your alcove, the peace of nature, or something of the sort? like with the tank I described above when I view it now I feel that color (not even close to replicating the color…yet) Yes when it was set up it was on a low stand. I sat and watched the Pygmy for hours on end and my thoughts continuously strayed to my favorite fishing spot watching the trout. I could almost smell the smells from the streams I used to fish and hear the remembered sounds of the wooded area. Even the cascade from the hob reminded me of the sounds of the stream. I was not a great fisherman because I would get dazzled by just watching the fish in their natural habitat and not even cast. But I sure loved going. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 7:10 PM, Atitagain said: Let me ask this. When viewing this tank you can feel the rush of the fishing, the satisfaction of finding your alcove, the peace of nature, or something of the sort? like with the tank I described above when I view it now I feel that color (not even close to replicating the color…yet) Your tank reminds me of a pond we had on our property in oregon that had a creak running through it that draind into the very river i dove in. very beautiful! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott the fishman Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 7:15 PM, Atitagain said: @scott the fishman I have seen your tank I remember it. That looks like the pic I seen right after your rescape. Has everything started growing in well? What about the pothos on top? yes my stem plants are at the surface of the aquarium every plant is growing lush. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 10:14 PM, Torrey said: I just realized that I am going to be starting the 4' dining room tank too late for the growth to be adequate in time for competition next year... so I started playing with the hardscape again 😅 Reading through this thread, I realized that I am always building scapes and tanks around the creeks and rivers I grew up playing in: The creek ran down, parallel to the street I lived on, and joined a larger creek at the bottom of the street to create a lovely waterfall we would play in during the summer. Waterfall was all of 10' high, but as kids it felt so much taller🤣 I hadn't connected catching crawdads and tadpoles as a young kid, with my aquarium keeping as an adult. Thank you for this post! Thank you for sharing, I know what you mean 10’=20’ to some of our childhood memories. That must of been a wonderful place to play. Do you ever get by to see this today? I wonder how much it’s changed waterfall? Creeks still meet at same spot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 10:17 PM, Guppysnail said: Yes when it was set up it was on a low stand. I sat and watched the Pygmy for hours on end and my thoughts continuously strayed to my favorite fishing spot watching the trout. I could almost smell the smells from the streams I used to fish and hear the remembered sounds of the wooded area. Even the cascade from the hob reminded me of the sounds of the stream. I was not a great fisherman because I would get dazzled by just watching the fish in their natural habitat and not even cast. But I sure loved going. This is amazing! 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 12/16/2021 at 8:26 PM, Atitagain said: Thank you for sharing, I know what you mean 10’=20’ to some of our childhood memories. That must of been a wonderful place to play. Do you ever get by to see this today? I wonder how much it’s changed waterfall? Creeks still meet at same spot? I have not been home to NC since 2013. We were *supposed* to make it back, March of last year, to take my son's ashes to join my mom's..... But covid happened. Since my spouse has to deal with chronic illness and she is immunocompromised, we are waiting for the country to get on board with vaccines *and* masking, so we can safely travel. I certainly didn't think it would take this long🤔 the past 23 months makes me think they need to rewrite the Walking Dead series🤣 When I took my kids home in 2013, NC had been in a pretty bad drought, and the waterfall was barely a trickle. We checked all the watering holes from my childhood, and after 5 hours in the creek my kids were positive I had lied about catching crawdads. There were hardly any minnows, even. Plenty of mosquitoes though!!!! There's a good chance that the coal ash that leaked out from the Duke energy sites have impacted the creeks of my youth. I've looked at satellite images, and I don't think I will be able to recognize most of Raleigh. Between the hurricane damage and gentrification, the landscape has really, really changed.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 @Torreyi hope you get back to NC soon. It’s a crazy world these days, so many extra precautions to do anything let alone traveling. Maybe it will be spring time when you return to give the best chance of a flowing creek. 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 18, 2021 Share Posted December 18, 2021 On 12/17/2021 at 4:41 AM, Atitagain said: @Torreyi hope you get back to NC soon. It’s a crazy world these days, so many extra precautions to do anything let alone traveling. Maybe it will be spring time when you return to give the best chance of a flowing creek. 😊 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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