When you first get into creating an aquascape, you may start to wonder what the easiest style to get started with is…
The easiest aquascaping style will depend on your skill as an aquarist. Your skill will determine the types of plants you can keep as well as the livestock you have in your aquarium. This, in turn, impacts the types of aquascapes that can be maintained.
It’s honestly hard to give a one-size-fits-all answer through the internet. It’s especially hard to give advice when I do not know your experience as an aquascaper or fishkeeper.
Instead, I can give you the gist of the three most popular aquascaping styles for beginners to choose from. You’ll learn the pros and cons of each style and what I think would be the perfect aquascaping style for the absolute beginner in this hobby.
What Is The Easiest Aquascaping Style
In aquascaping, there are a few basic rules people like to follow. Like the rule of thrids, the golden ratio, creating focus points, convex design, concave design, island design, and so much more.
Each of these rules is applied to the different styles of aquascapes you can create in your aquarium. If you are entering an aquascaping competition, it’s important to understand all these rules and know the guidelines you need to follow when entering the competition.
But if you aren’t trying to compete and just want to make a beautiful aquascape, you can be proud of…
Then, you have a lot more leeway and freedom when it comes to creating an aquascape. This also makes it a lot easier since you don’t have to be so strict with your aquascape, and you have the freedom to be creative, which tends to be a lot more fun, in my opinion.
My point is…
The easiest style will be the style that’s easiest for you to maintain. (and this will all depend on your experience)
So, let’s talk about the 3 most popular styles and what makes each of those aquascaping styles so unique…
Most Popular Aquascaping Styles
Now, there are plenty of different styles when it comes to aquascaping. And I’m sure there will be new styles and ideas created in the future. But there are 3 popular styles that most people like to go with, and that’s what I’ll be covering in this post.
If you want to learn about the other styles. Then, be sure to check out this blog post on the different styles of aquascapes.
Nature Aquascape
So, you may think that creating a nature aquascape is all about creating a natural environment in your aquarium. But that’s considered more of a biotope aquarium…
A nature aquascape is all about trying to capture the “essence” or “spirit” of nature in your aquarium. This aquascape has the greatest amount of flexibility when it comes to the types of plants, rocks, and woods you can use.
In my opinion, this flexibility makes this one of the easiest styles of aquascapes to get started with. It allows you to use different types of hardscapes to create your aquascape, and you are free to mix in hardy, low-maintenance plants that are perfect for beginners.
Giving you the freedom to create an aquascape that you truly enjoy.
Iwagumi
An iwagumi aquascape might seem like the easiest, and many people will say this is the easiest aquascape to create, but I beg to differ.
An iwagumi aquascape is all about using rocks as your only hardscape. (no wood for you in this aquascape style). Its a very minimalistic design that doesn’t use many plants, but you’ll notice many Iwagumi aquascapes utilizing carpeting plants.
And if you are trying to create an iwagumi aquascape without a carpet, then you would consider that to be a fairly easy aquascape. But if you plan on trying to grow and maintain a carpeted iwagumi aquascape.
That’s where I would consider that kind of aquascape to be more for an advanced aquascaper…
Some carpeting plants will require high lighting and CO2 injection to get the desired outcome, and a beginner might struggle to create that lush green carpet that’s iconic to breathtaking aquascapes.
And that’s the reason why I would consider an iwagumi aquascape a little more difficult than a nature-style aquascape.
Dutch Style Aquascape
Last but not least is another popular style of aquascape, and that is the Dutch style…
This aquascape does not use any hardscape at all. It’s all about focusing on aquatic plants and, more specifically, groups of colorful stem plants.
A true Dutch style has specific rules regarding the number of species of plants in an aquarium, how much space a group of plants can take up, and even rules about livestock in your aquascape…
Keep in mind, if you have no experience taking care of different species of stem plants or a very heavily planted tank, then this aquascape can be a bit of a challenge to maintain.
And that’s why the easiest aquascape depends on you and your skill level…
What’s The Easiest Aquascape For You
I personally think the easiest aquascape style to go with as a beginner has to be the nature-style aquascape. It gives you freedom with what hardscape you can use as well as what types of plants you can use in your aquascape.
This freedom allows you to use hardscape as the main focal point of your aquascape and have hardy, low-maintenance plants accented around your hardscape.
But at the end of the day…
The choice is always yours, and here’s what I think you should keep in mind when choosing an aquascaping style…
Choose A Simple Aquascape Design
You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. I know it’s easy to go online and look at award-winning aquascapes, and I want to try to recreate them.
But I’d advise you to take a step back and go with a simple design that’s easy to maintain, especially if this is your first aquascape. This will allow you to build the skills necessary to maintain difficult aquascapes that may require more skill to take care of.
Go With Easy To Care For Fish
An aquascape is a living, breathing ecosystem. You’ll need to balance water parameters with plant life and your livestock. Choosing a difficult-to-care-for fish, or any other livestock for that matter, can make things a lot more difficult than they need to be…
I suggest going with easy-to-care-for fish that won’t go around eating the plants of your aquascape.
Also, always research the fish or livestock you want to stock in your tank. Make sure they are compatible with aquatic plants and the type of plants you plan on stocking in your tank.
Hardy And Easy To Care For Plants
And you should research what aquatic plants you want to stock in your aquarium. Some plants require high lighting and CO2 injection to get them growing properly…
But there are also hardy plants that can be grown in low light conditions without the need for CO2 injection.
I suggest starting off with hardy and easy-to-care-for plants if you have no experience taking care of aquatic plants before jumping into other types of plants.
Final Thoughts On What’s The Easiest Aquascaping Style
By now, you should have a pretty good idea about what the easiest style of aquascape is.
I recommend looking online for different types of aquascapes and finding the ones you think you would enjoy the most.
Then, try to come up with a way that you can simplify that aquascape and create something that you feel comfortable maintaining. This all depends on your skill level…
And after that, research as much as you can. Especially about the different types of aquatic plants you want to keep. Ensure you choose plants that you’ll have no trouble growing in your aquarium.
Then pair that with compatible livestock, and you have the recipe for a successful aquascape!
I hope that helps, and let me know if you have any other questions you want to get answered.