The record
What the contests wrote down.
The 2022 layout is a jungle path running to a vanishing point, and all three judges who wrote about it said versions of the same thing. Frederic Fuss described walking the path, a very large open foreground and a route that reaches far back and disappears. Andre Longarco called it vigorous, detailed and strongly shadowed. Juan Puchades Rufino wrote that it took his best score in the big category and that the attention to every single detail was what decided it2.
The 2023 layout is a ravine. Andre Longarco called it monumental and praised the spatial vision, saying the layout seems to develop endlessly. Cho Jaesun singled out the rock overhang placed small near the vanishing point1, which is the trick that makes the whole scale illusion work.
Both entry forms list the plants and animals in English12, but the English is the AGA database’s own rendering of Chinese common names, which is why the 2022 list contains items like "Green Palace" and "tablespoon ping"2. We reproduce the field exactly as the contest stored it rather than retranslating it into names we think were meant, because a corrected list would be our guess rather than the record.
On the name
This page covers only the two records the AGA filed under 赵刚12. The dataset separately holds records under "Zhao gang", "Zhao Gang (赵刚)" and "赵 刚", and IAPLC prints "Gang Zhao". The research judged all of these to be one man. No contest has published that equivalence, so under the rule this site works to they stay separate, and this page claims nothing about the other records. The web address of this page is the name itself, in characters, because there is no Latin form of it in this record for us to use.
向往
AGA 2023 · 3rd1
- Placing
- Third Place
- Contest
- AGA
- Year
- 2023
- Category
- Aquatic Garden, >320L
- Entry number
- 385
- Country, as recorded
- China
- Tank
- 120 × 60 × 45 cm
- Volume
- 323.9L
- Lighting
- LED lights 2
- Filtration
- Stainless steel filter barrel
- Plants
- Coral Mosseplank lowmini lowmini cow hairmini ficuschili figmini pepper grassJapanese dwarfcorianderspoon pingrain crackJapanese high pearlAntler PearlGreen PalaceRed PalaceJapanese snowflake
- Animals
- White Lotus Lampgolden beardblack shell shrimp
What the judges wrote, quoted and attributed
“Monumental. An amazing hardscape work and spatial vision. It is impressive how the layout naturally flows through this ravine and seems to develop endlessly. The highlight of this work is without any ...”
“This artwork brings the appearance of the grandeur of nature into the piece. The positioning of the rock overhang that appears small near the vanishing point is meticulously planned showcasing the ...”
未知的家园 (The Unknown Home)
AGA 2022 · 1st2
- Placing
- First Place
- Contest
- AGA
- Year
- 2022
- Category
- Aquatic Garden, >320L
- Entry number
- 474
- Country, as recorded
- China
- Tank
- 120 × 60 × 45 cm
- Volume
- 323.9L
- Lighting
- NALA E45, four
- Filtration
- NETLEA Filter bucket
- Plants
- Dwarf pearlplantain pearlmini-dwarf pearlBanyanBanyantablespoon pingAoki fernconifer crownpeach peppermini-prickly ashrain crackrushesvanillapink forkcoral mossWeeping Mossmini cow hair
- Animals
- Green lotus lampblack shell shrimp
What the judges wrote, quoted and attributed
“I really enjoyed walking this jungle path. The idea isn't new but it's beautifully executed. We find a very large open field in the foreground and a path that reaches very far and disappears behind ...”
“Spectacular what an amazing layout!! Vigorous full of details good perspective strong shadows and awesome natural atmosphere. All ingredients of a top quality aquascape. You have my respect ...”
“Wow! This tank got my best score in the big category!!! The attention in every single detail is simply perfect. This is no doubt what made me decide it was the best work. Congratulations.”
Image rights
No photograph on this page is ours, and none has been copied.
Every picture-shaped box above is a CSS gradient with a declared aspect ratio. The layouts themselves stay on the contests' own pages, and every entry above links to its own.
At the AGA, copyright stays with the aquascaper and the association holds an irrevocable, perpetual, sub-licensable licence5. Because it may sub-license, the AGA alone could grant us permission. That is the one obtainable route and it has not been asked for yet.
At IAPLC, the entrant keeps copyright and ADA holds a use right, so two parties would have to agree before any image could appear here.
At CIAC, CIPS states that the copyright of the top hundred entries belongs to CIPS and CFAA, so the aquascaper cannot grant it even if willing.
Until one of those is answered in writing, nothing is reproduced. Nobody reading this site should ever assume an image here belongs to us.
The other profiles
More pages, chosen the same way
Pages are built out of the 49 people whose official record carries enough detail to support one6. They are the ones with the most official detail recorded about them, so the choice is reproducible rather than a matter of taste.
- AGA 2023, Third Place. 向往. https://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2023/show385.html. Accessed 8 September 2026.
- AGA 2022, First Place. 未知的家园 (The Unknown Home). https://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2022/show474.html. Accessed 8 September 2026.
- AGA Aquascaping Contest showcase archive, 2000 to 2023. Aquatic Gardeners Association. https://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/. Accessed 8 September 2026.
- Frequently asked questions. AGA Aquascaping Contest, no date. https://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/faq.html. Accessed 8 September 2026. The statement that entries 4 to 10 are displayed in tank volume order rather than placing order.
- Photo release agreement. AGAIAC, Inc., no date. https://agaiac.org/photo-release-agreement. Accessed 8 September 2026.
- Profile eligibility record. content/winners/profile-eligibility.json, generated 8 September 2026. This person carries 18 substantive fields beyond a name and a placing, above the threshold of four, and so is one of the 49 aquascapers for whom a page may be built.
Continue
Where to go next.
The winners
The other forty four people, and the full record of one hundred and seventeen placings.
The world competitions
The two contests behind the placings, and what each of them scores.
Styles and history
The schools these tanks are built in, with founders and dates.
IAPLC
The contest scoring sheet, where half the points go to whether a fish could really live there.