#1334 PI - First Bank

About This Aquascape

A shared philosophy: The idea of bringing a slice of nature into our living space, inspired by Takashi Amano-san’s Nature Aquarium philosophy, strongly influences how I approach aquascaping. For me, an aquarium should not simply look like nature, it should live like nature. The principle is to find the balance between science and art, function and beauty, while creating ecosystems that are practical, sustainable and able to mature over the long term. Most importantly, plants and animals are not decoration. They grow, interact and gradually shape these worlds together. These are worlds that have been lived in. PI - First Bank Established January 2023; dismantled in early 2025 after approximately two years as a functioning turtle habitat. 'First Bank' was where Notty and Dotty first brought turtle husbandry and aquascaping together for us. It was built around their needs: open swimming space, accessible land, secure shelters, basking areas and natural structures strong enough to be climbed, rested on and explored every day. Designing it meant balancing several systems at once. Their UVB exposure and basking zones were carefully mapped, with a Solarmeter used to verify the conditions across the areas they actually used, while separate plant lighting supported the emergent growth. Water depth, access routes, hardscape stability, planting and filtration all had to work around the turtles rather than simply look good. Rather than separating water from land, we built a planted river bank where stone, wood, moss and emergent growth flowed into one another. Notty and Dotty were not simply inhabitants of this world, they were the world. Their needs shaped the design, and their daily lives gradually shaped what it became. They crossed the stones, climbed the wood, rested beneath the bank and moved through the same routes day after day. Over time, the habitat carried traces of that life, while the planting matured around them. Living with First Bank changed the way we thought about aquascaping. A beautiful environment could also be practical, resilient and genuinely shaped by the animals living within it. It was not a landscape created first and populated afterwards; the animals and the landscape developed together. This was our first river bank - and the beginning of the worlds that came after it. (All photographs submitted as captured, with no post-processing or content alteration.)