Jurați 2022

Hello!! This is Josh Sim from Malaysia. I started aquascaping since 2008 and this is my 15th years in this hobby. I created more than 40 competitive layouts throughout my aquascaping career so far and I think 90% of them were mainly using driftwoods – I feel that driftwood is easier and more flexible to express my aquascaping ideology and creativity. In the earlier stage of my aquascaping journey, I liked to create complex forest layout. In recent years, my style has changed and I prefer layout with simpler structure – my friends said this is because I am getting older (and lazier) but I do not agree! I think creating an impactful layout with a simple structure requires more skill and wisdom, that is something the younger generation will take time to understand. Aquascaping has become an integral part of my life, it is my dream to continue this hobby for as long as I can still carry those woods into my tank.
It is my pleasure to be part of RONAC this year and I wish all the participants best of luck!
2011 – Aquatic Gardener Association Aquascaping Contest (USA): 3rd Prize
2012 – Aquatic Gardener Association Aquascaping Contest (USA): 1st Prize
2013 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Silver Prize, World Ranking # 4
2013 – Aquatic Gardener Association Aquascaping Contest (USA): 1st Prize
2014 – Aquatic Gardener Association Aquascaping Contest (USA): 3rd Prize
2015 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Bronze Prize, World Ranking # 6
2017 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Grand Prize, World Ranking # 1
2017 – Ista International Aquascaping Contest (Taiwan): Grand Prize, World Ranking #1
2017 – China International Aquascaping Contest (China): Grand Prize, World Ranking #1
2018 – Aquatic Gardener Association Aquascaping Contest (USA): 2nd Prize
2018 – Ista International Aquascaping Contest (Taiwan): Grand Prize, World Ranking #1
2018 – Sumida Special Achievement Award (Japan)
2019 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Grand Prize, World Ranking # 1
2019 – Ista International Aquascaping Contest (Taiwan): 2nd Prize, World Ranking # 2 2019 – Ista International Aquascaping Contest (Taiwan): 4th Prize, World Ranking # 4
2020 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Silver Prize, World Ranking # 3
2021 – International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest (Japan): Bronze Prize, World Ranking # 6

My layout always starts from a concept or a story. At this point of my aquascaping journey, material availability or technique is no barrier, and I can basically do whatever I want as long as I have a concept — which doesn’t make things any easier though, because a good concept is the hardest thing to come up with. I don’t do any physical sketching of ideas first, as everything is in my head. But I do search the Internet for pictures and drawings that are close to my concept and try to start from there.

Fukada san is a japanese aquatic designer from the TAU team. So he’s working with guys like Masachi Ono san, Koji Kogure san, Koji Nakamura san and lot of others talented designers !! His layout are always very innovative with an acute sense of nature in all of them.
Fukada Takayuki. Waterscape director. Born in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. In 2008, as a member of the waterscape artist group “TAU”, he started creative activities to express his world view. Individuals will also strive to popularize the aquatic plant layout through appearances in various media, exhibitions of works at aquarium fairs around the world, and workshops. Received the 2013 Pension Award and the 2014 Bronze Award at the World Congress on Aquatic Plant Layout (IAPLC). In 2015, he won the Grand Prix for the first time in 12 years as a Japanese, and in 2016, he won the first ever Grand Prix for the second consecutive year. Currently, besides producing his own work, he has been appointed as a judge for many contests held in various countries, mainly in Europe and Asia. Continue activities to convey its appeal to a wider range of regions and generations.
2021
APB CONTEST (Argentina) appointed as a judge
Underwater Pet Expo National Aquascaping qualifying (Australia) Jury Appointment
Concurso de Aquascaping CARAC 2021 (Mexico) Appointed as a judge
2020
Inaugurated as GEX Aquarista Ambassador
Korea Hardscape Contest Minor League (Korea) appointed as a judge
Korea Aquascsping Contest Minor League (Korea) appointed as a judge
European Aquascaping Championship (Europe) inaugurated as a judge
Desafio de Aquascaping Aquariofilia.net (Portugal) Appointed as a judge
2019
Biotope Aquarium Design Contest (Russia) inaugurated as a judge
2018
Web Aquascaping Contest (Europe) inaugurated as a judge
Aquascaping Spain Contest (Spain) inaugurated as a judge
Korea Aquascaping Contest (Korea) appointed as a judge
LIFE AQUA (MaxLite Engineering, Hong Kong) Ambassador inaugurated
2017
Indoscapersrace (Indonesia) appointed as a judge
PRODIBIO (France) Ambassador inaugurated
Concurso Brasileiro de Aquapaisagismo (Brazil) appointed as a judge
CIPS International Aquascaping Contest (China) appointed as a judge
Arabs Aquascaping Talent (Arab countries) inaugurated as a judge
Concours Artistique de Paysages Aquatique (France) appointed as a judge

My name is Giuseppe Nisi, born in Germany but with apulian origins. Currently I live and work in Bologna.

I approached to this wonderful world of aquariums in 2008 and I  immediately became enthusiast to plants cultivations and I started to attend with attention the Italian forum, Aquagarden.it

After I discovered Aquascaping, thanks  to the Takashi Amano aquariums, and in that moment is started the passion for natural layout. 

For many years I setup and dismantled a lot of aquariums, acquiring experience and getting a lot of satisfactions.

I actively partecipate to different on-line contest like IAPLC, AGA getting good placements (IAPLC2016 98° Place; EAPLC2016 19°Place; IAPLC 2017 66°Place & EAPLC 10°Place ) and some live contest where i got two first placements in the 2015 ( NAQ2015 Live Contest & PetFestival2015 Live Contest 1vs1 ) & one first placement in the 2016 (Contest Live Aquascaping PetsItaly Rimini)

• IAPLC 2012 382°th Place
• ASE International Aquascaping Contest 2010 14°th Place Nano Category
• AAC 2010 Genaeral 158°th Place; mini Aquarium 56°th Place
• IAPLC 2013  686°th Place on 2164 Partecipants
• ParticipatedNaq 2013 italy  Live Aquscaping Contest
• AGA 2014  28-60L ; 200- 320L
• Eaplc 2014 161°th Place
• IAPLC 2014 698°th Place on 2320 Partecipants
• Participated Aquagarden Aquascaping Project 2014-2015 RDA (Rosso d’Autore) by Forum Aquagarden.it main Sponsor Anubias Aquatic Plants & Elos
• Workshop Live PetFestival Piacenza 2014 Italy, Esotikaexpo Arezzo 2015 , Esotikaexpo Bastia Umbria 2015 & Live Workshop Stand Sera,  EsotikaexpoArezzo 2016.
• 2015_Collaborated with Fabio Lorusso to realize  Photo & Hardscape for ABA cataolog by Aquaristica.it
• AGA 2015  <25L ; 60-120Lt
• IAPLC 2015 World Ranking 300th “Fine Works” on 2545 Partecipants
• EAPLC 2015 Standard  55°th Place ; Nano  39°th Place
• IIAC 2015  176°th, 182°th & 186°th
• Workshop Live with Fabio Lorusso Stand Sera NAQ2015 Italy
• NAQ 2015 Italy Live Aquscaping Contest  1°th Place
• PetsFestival 2015 Italy Live Aquscaping Contest 1vs1 1°th Place
• Interzoo 2016 Stand Anubias Aquatic Plants& Aqvainnova – “May the green force be with you…” Scape by Oliver Knott Feat. ITAU (Fabio Lorusso & Giuseppe Nisi )
• PetsItaly 2016 Rimini – Mace Live Aquscaping Contest 1°th Place
• Workshop Live with Fabio Lorusso Stand Anubias – ITAU, Rimini 2016, Italy
• PetsFestival 2016Live Aquscaping Contest ITAU Vs FACT –  1°th Place Team ITAU (Fabio L., Giuseppe N. & Enrico F.)
• IAPLC 2016 World Ranking 98°th Place;
• EAPLC 2016 Europe Ranking 19°th Place;
• Judge of the  AquAgora Capacontest 2017;
• AquaProject 2017 Zoomark – 2mtx2mt Nature Aquarium MiniOceanario in Memoria of Takashi Amano at Zoomark 2017by Fabio Lorusso & Giuseppe Nisi
• IAPLC 2017 World Ranking 66°th Place:
• EAPLC 2017 Europe Ranking 10°th Place;
• AGA 2017 Nano Cube Ranking 2°th Place.
• IAPLC 2018 World Ranking 63°th Place:
• CIPS  – CIAC 2018 21°th Place – 1st Italy selected of live Event on China. (The 27 contestants that reached the top 200 in the big tank category and that are 1st of their country are invited to participate in CLIAC, a big live aquascaping event at CIPS in Guangzhou)

My name is Patrik Németh, I was born in Hungary, but for the last 13 years I have been living and working in Rust in Germany (Europa Park).
I was attracted to underwater life even as a little child, I had a 30l aquarium with Guppies, Xiphos.
At the time, I didn’t know much about this wonderful world.
My first serious set-up was a 300 liter aquarium and I began to research more about how I could keep fish and plants as healthy as possible.
That’s when I discovered Green Aqua and The Hungarian Aquascaping Forum, and for me that was the point of no return. I read 5 hours a day, because I was interested in everything: filtration, light, co2, fertilizing. Honestly, I owe the majority of my knowledge to the guys at Green Aqua and to the The Hungarian Aquascaping Forum they had created.
Later I came across the works of Takashi Amano, who was and still is a huge influence on me.
I knew that’s what I want to do, I was committed and driven to create beautiful scapes. The diversity and symbiosis of nature has always been enchanted, a perfectly functioning cycle.
I started to enter competitions. At the beginning with not much success, but as I progressed I was able to put together better and more beautiful scapes.
From the very beginning I tried to follow the Ada philosophy. For me, the Nature Aquarium Gallery is Paradise itself, and I had the chance to admire Master Amano’s home and work.
I got to Lisbon where I could admire Amano sensei’s last work. In 2018 I attended the IAPLC award ceremony in Japan to collect the recognition for my rank #19.
The following year I participated as the first Hungarian aquascaper at the CINA Live Contest in China where I was ranked #8.
Through this wonderful hobby, I got to know many aquascapers from all over the world and made many new friends.
My favourite part of the work is designing a layout. I usually work with wood and stones, mosses, ferns, and Anubias but Crypts are my favourites.
Today I have 3 aquariums at home: a 45p, a 60p and the big brother 120 (120x60x45).
I am looking for the opportunity to create more natural and beautiful scapes!
My aim is that my hobby should be my job, and do aquascaping full-time. Well, I am still working on that.

Hi, I’m Kevin from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I started fish keeping as a hobby about 18 years ago but got very interested in aquatic plants and designing layout in the aquarium, but wasn’t very good at it so I just try to mimic what others do to learn what is nice and what is not especially from Mr. Takashi Amano.

My first international competition was the IAPLC in the year 2007, which I participated in just for fun to see how it goes, and after that, I’m hooked and I’ve been participating every year and in 2012 I got lucky and won no 8, and that is best so far. I’m still very excited to join aquascaping competition to challenge myself to get better results every year.

I’ve started an aquascaping shop named Nature Inside in 2017, to promote my passion and share my experience with those who are interested in the hobby. I hope more will love and learn about how lovely nature can be through our work and start to appreciate it more.

My name is Ludo BOURDIN and I am 47 years old. I live in France, more precisely in Burgundy. I am an aquarist since my childhood. I discovered aquascaping in the 90’s but I have been practicing it for about 8 years. A few years ago I had the chance to join the group FACT, which allowed me to benefit from the advice of the best French aquascapers at that time. I improved thanks to their contact and their advice and so i had the chance to integrate several times the top 100 in the famous IAPLC contest.
I am now part of the collective “Rocks & Roots french Aquascaping Spirit” whose goal is to promote and share the achievements of its members.
I have a predilection for rock-based compositions.
I am particularly happy and honored to be part of the judges’ team of this edition of the Romanian aquascaping contest. Indeed, beyond the competition, I think that our discipline, far from being only an individual practice, is also made of sharing and fraternity.
I wish good luck to all the candidates.

I’m Mario Perez, I’m 32 years old, Spanish aquascaper.

More than 10 years as an aquarist, passionate about planted aquariums and reef aquariums. In the last years I am mainly dedicated to aquascaping competitions and working as a distributor of aquarium products, Aquariums became a way of life for me.

Part of the organizing team of AQSC Spain (aquascaping competition in Spain), AQSC hardscape contest.
Workshops held in Spain on Nature and Dutch styles.
Due to my passions I worked for various aquarium companies promoting aquascaping in Spain.
We obtained the 3rd place in the Dutch category in 2019.
It is an honor for me to be a referee of RONAC, to analyze the works of my Romanian colleagues, to be able to offer advice where appropriate.
Thank you for calling me to be part of the refereeing team.

Aquascaper și pictor profesionist s-a născut la 6 iulie 1981 în Ivano-Frankivsk, Ucraina.

Încă din copilărie, a avut un interes clar pentru artă. După mulți ani de urmărire a pasiunii sale, a absolvit Școala de Artă Ivano-Frankivsk.

Fiind mereu fascinat de științele naturii, s-a înscris la Universitatea de Medicină de Stat Ivano-Frankivsk.

În timp ce este devotat profesiei sale medicale, el continuă să-și îmbunătățească abilitățile într-o mare varietate de domenii artistice, cum ar fi peisajul realist, fotografia profesională a naturii și designul acvariului natural.

În domeniul designului acvariului, el a obținut recunoaștere la nivel mondial, ocupând poziții de top în competițiile internaționale desfășurate în Japonia, Taiwan, Germania, Spania, Rusia.

2009 – Aquadesign contest, Ukraine 1st place
2009 – AAS, Spain, 5th place
2009 – European Aquadesign Competition, Germany 18th place
2010 – AAS, Spain, 11, places
2010 – CIS Plant Aquarium Design Competition, Russia 1st place (
2010 – IAPLC, Japan, Bronze Prize
2011 – ROAPLC, Russia Silver Prize
2012 – ROAPLC, Russia Bronze Prize
2012 – “Crystal Aquarium”, Ukraine, 1st place
2013 – PADCEE, Russia Silver Prize
2014 – IAPLC, Japan, 22nd place Honor prize
2014 – GAPLC, Germany, 10th place, Honor prize
2015 – IAPLC, Japan, 13th place Honor prize
2015 – IIAC, Taiwan, 11th place Honor prize
2015 – EAPLC, Germany, 9th place, Honor prize
2016 – “Crystal Aquarium”, Ukraine, 1st place
2016 – IIAC, Taiwan, Silver Prize 

Michał Adamek (age 27) is one of the most recognizable aquascapers in Poland.

Being the Co-owner of Aqua Show – Salon Akwarystyki which showcases the famous “The Open Scape” created using Dragon stone. He’s is also Ambassador of Aquaforest company and a proud Aquaflora A-Team member.

He has always been very enthusiastic on the Aquascaping scene, since early 2015. promoting aquascaping on social media and various platforms and now representing his home country Poland in international competitions!

In 2018 he was the first Polish to qualify and participate in CLIAC 2018, competing with the best aquascapers from all around the world in a live event

The breakthrough for him was this year (2019), winning at the Magdeburg “TAoPA” and the  “Aquaflora Nano Aquascaping Contest” during Vivarium Event plus also taking second place in EAPLC.

Michał’s entry, entitled “The Realm of Dragon Rocks” took a healthy 14th place in the CIAC 2019 contest, which gave him the right of passage to participate once again at CIPS 2019 Shanghai, China for the second time in a row, and took a very proud 4th place from top contestants all around the world!

Michał loves to share his knowledge and experiences with all, especially newcomers to the hobby as his passion shines through when talking with individuals or large groups.

He humbly claims, that in competitions it is never about awards! The whole point of his aquascaping journey is the amazing people he meets and the privilege to create underwater worlds for all to enjoy.

Spanish born in 1982 and an aquarist for about 12 years. In recent years, I have oriented my hobby towards planted aquariums, especially; Aquatic Landscaping, participating in international level competitions obtaining several recognitions.

Without family references that precede me in this hobby, in my beginnings the decoration of my aquariums was basic and simple, but my interest in discovering the different Aquascaping techniques, leads me first to the Internet, a place where I meet those who are today great colleagues, and then to the specialized bibliography in English, to treat each landscape as a unique ecosystem.

 These concerns and this dialogue of knowledge have as their meeting point, Aquascaping Spain, of which it was part from the beginning creating the Spanish AQSCONTEST contest which this year celebrates its sixth edition.

I am Marco Aukes, 44 years old and born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was only after I met the fine lady that is now my wife, over 20 years ago, that I got in contact with aquariums. Her brother had one at his room in her parents house, and I immediately got hooked to the hobby. When we moved into our first house together, we knew one thing for sure: we had to get an aquarium of ourselves.
We started with ambition with a 2m long, 800 liter aquarium and started right from the beginning with the Dutch Style: a lot of plants and compositions with a lot of contrasts in color, size, height and shape. When we moved into our current house we took on a even bigger aquarium of 3.10m long and 1.400 liter. That also started as a Dutch style.
When we started the Vivarium event, the largest European event for the aquarium and terrarium hobby, my time got a lot more sparse and the aquarium was transfered first into a biotope. Nowadays it is still a biotope aquarium, but now there is a paludarium added on top. That is a lot easier to maintain than a fully planted Dutch Style.
With my background in Dutch Style Aquariums, I have photographed many of the NBAT contests and accompanied many judges back in the days. Later I have published a manual on Dutch Style on the UKAPS forum to also promote the style beyond our borders. Since a few years I am a judge in the AGA contest for the Dutch Style Category.
I am looking forward to also promote this style now in the Romanian National Aquascaping Contest and I hope we will see a lot of contestants giving their best attempt on this style. As a pre-contest tip I would like to emphasize that the Dytch Style is not just about a lot of plants and contrast in color. Contrasts and variation in different heights (not just low in the front, tall in the back), leaf size and shapes are equally important.
I wish all contestants the best of luck and most importantly: a lot of fun in the proces of creating your best Dutch Style Aquarium!

Who is Ivan Mikolji?

“If you are an admirer of the aquatic habitats of South America, you certainly know Ivan Mikolji!

He’s a world-renowned explorer, researcher, audio/visual artist, and author who tirelessly documents the magnificent diversity and wonder of this beautiful region of the world.  His dramatic underwater videos are seen around the world, and his photographs have graced articles in numerous publications.

Ivan Mikolji is also an extremely accomplished artist, whose beautiful interpretations of the aquatic life of Venezuela and South America are sought after by collectors worldwide.”

Scott Fellman, Tannin Aquatics

Introduction to Mikolji

With more than a hundred expeditions and innumerable publications in different countries, he has demonstrated the authenticity and originality of his artistic passion for photography and painting. The philosophy that moves his creative will is the urgency to preserve the aquatic ecosystems of the planet, and as a first step he considers it necessary to make known the richness and beauty of these biomes. That is why he maintains: “you cannot preserve what you don’t know exists.” And to that work he has dedicated a great part of his life.

Eduardo Planchart Licea
Phd Latin American Art History UNAM

Hans-Georg Evers lives in Hamburg, Germany, and he has been an aquarist at heart since his first days. His passion began when he was a child, and growing up he specialised in African cichlids. In the early 1980s, his main interest switched to catfish, while today the Corydoradinae and Loricariidae are his favourite fishes, followed by the rainbow fish, tetras and any other imaginable freshwater fish. So far, Hans bred and raised more than 450 different species of freshwater fish in his tanks. He is now taking care of more than 50 aquariums in his house.
Hans Evers is a busy traveller, giving talks on fish and collecting species. He fluently speaks English, Portuguese and a bit of Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia, and he has already visited many tropical countries in search of new and interesting fishes and invertebrates species for his aquariums. He undertook countless journeys to the Amazon, mainly to Brazil, where he collected fish in all the bigger affluents of the Amazon river. He also worked in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and the countries of the Paraguai-Parana-drainage, and he has often visited also some Asian countries, mainly Indonesia, Thailand and India. During the last 10 years, he concentrated on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where he collected fish and shrimps all over the island, and on the Indonesian
side of New Guinea. As a result, he has been able to scientifically classify new species: Oryzias eversi from Sulawesi and Corydoras eversi from Brazil are named after him.
Hans published 12 books about his experiences and findings, e.g. “Mergus Atlas vol. 6”, the two volumes of “Mergus catfish atlas” together with his good friend Ingo Seidel, and the “Identification Guide to Corydoradinae Catfishes” with Ian Fuller, and worldwide more than 1000 articles in hobbyist magazines and scientific papers. He has also written more than 1000 articles published in hobbyist magazines and scientific papers. From 2005 to 2008, he was the chief editor of the German aquarium magazine AMAZONAS. Today, he works for the American issue of AMAZONAS as an editor.
Hans Evers simply loves the aquatic nature. He decorates his personal aquariums as nature taught him to do. There is no other way to do it right.
Expert in the following geographical regions:
South America, Southern Asia, Western Asia, Eastern Asia, Southeastern Asia (Indonesia, especially Sulawesi), Oceania (New Guinea and surrounding islands)
Expert in the following fish groups:
Siluriformes: Callichthyidae, Loricariidae, Doradidae, Auchenipteridae
Characiformes: Anostomidae, Characidae, Gasteropelecidae, Lebiasinidae
Atheriniformes: Melanotaeniidae, Pseudomugilidae und Telmatherinidae
Beloniformes: Adrianichthyidae

Giorgi-Khizanishvili

Aquarist with 31 years of experience. Amateur explorer of the local river and its flora and fauna .

Participant in biotope aquarium designs contest 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Co-author of the Wild Aquarium article https://www.mikolji.com/articles/wild-aquarium-article/, Wild Aquarium published Ciklid Bladet Journal. Nº 2/, Sweden 2019, Wild Aquarium published ( Acuario Salvaje ) Revista Challwani, Chile, 5/2018, Author of the article “Dirty Effect” published in the magazines, Chile, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Article “Dirty Effect” Revista Challwani, Chile, 6/2018, Article “Dirty Effect” ( “Smutsig effekt” ) Ciklid Bladet Journal. Nº 2/, Sweden 2019