Legendary Aquarist Takashi Amano

Takashi Amano

Takashi Amano (*July 18, 1954 in Maki, Nishikambara-gun (now Nishikan -ku, Niigata), Japan, † August 4, 2015) was a Japanese photographer, designer, author, cyclist and aquarist. He specialized in photographing aquariums. Amano was considered one of the most influential personalities in the aquarium industry and significantly shaped the natural aquarium. It is due to him that Japanese garden art, as a design element, also prevailed in the planting and design of aquariums. Typical for him were asymmetrical arrangements of aquatic plants with stones and wood roots. He took up design elements of nature. His philosophy was to create particularly attractive living spaces. The goal was not for him to replicate natural models exactly, but to design imaginable biotopes with the means of aquaristics. Nature models were transferred to the conditions of aquaristics. For example, Amano combined plants that come from different continents and socialized organisms whose habitats do not overlap in the wild.

Invertebrates played a big role in his community aquariums. For example, it is due to the establishment of the Amano shrimp in the aquarium. In addition, he often used catfish for algae control. As plants he preferred to use Australian tongue leaf (Glossostigma elatinoides) and flood pond moss (Riccia fluitans).

Amano brought out his own aquarium products with his company Aqua Design Amano, ADA for short. In addition to suitable accessories for planting the pools, he attached great importance to the fact that they fit into the natural aquarium as inconspicuously and harmoniously as possible and do not disturb the view of the plant design. Therefore, for example, some of his aquariums are made of solid glass, without silicone bonding , or the CO2 systems made of transparent glass.

Amanos private aquarium