Re: [AGA Contest] Re: biotope suggestions link

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004, Roger Miller wrote:

> Steve's suggestions actually would remove the category, but it would do so in 
> a different way.  The guidelines effectively turn the biotope/nature aquarium 
> category into a separate contest; it would have different entrance 
> requirements and a different scoring system.  The overall emphasis is so 
> different that it should probably even have different judges.
> 
> I could come up with some specific comments, but I think it's more important 
> to first ask; do we want to go that far?

I wrote an extensive reply to Steve's original document a few months ago.
My feeling was, no, I don't think we have the interest at this point to
run the biotope category this strictly.  We don't even run the aquatic
garden category this strictly.  It would require the preparation of an
entirely different contest, as you say, Roger.  This would be good if we
had the demand, but I don't think there's enough interest at this point.

BUT...I also do not believe the biotope category is a useless part of the
contest.  Certainly not the way the "pond" and "illustration" category
were, just grafted on because it's a "contest".  The intention was to have
designs shown off in this category just as in the others, just different
types of designs.  We would still have the artificial category, save for
the fact that people who enter are too saavy to aquascape with plastic
plants and there's been zero interest in the last 2 years.

What I really would like to see is some of the good concepts from Steve's
document evolve into a "guidelines for entering a biotope aquarium." ...
something that would inspire someone to get "the right idea" or try just a
little harder.  Likewise, the same guidelines could be given to the judges
for the same purpose.

For instance:  The biggest gap (to me) between Steve's document and the
realities of our contest is the section on "Biotope Classification". We
just don't have the interest to split the category into the four
classifications.  But the classifications themselves are very helpful to
explain to prospective entrants who might thin, for instance, that the
best one can do with a biotope emulation is to use all plants from Asia.  
It made things much clearer to ME, and I've been looking at them for five
years.  So in a guidelines doc, it could be explained and noted that as
one travels further down the list of categories, one gets further away
from a true biotope and would most likely be given a lower weighting in
the eyes of the judges.  "Theme Tank" is of course what 70% of the
entrants are actually entering, so it can't be knocked off the list. :)

What didn't I see in the document is anything on REALLY inappropriate
entries in the category.  Maybe we could mock some up so as not to
embarrass or tick off a former entrant, but I would really like to get
across the most common problems: 1) arbitrarily-chosen fish and plants 
from different waters (or even continents!), 2) aquariums that have 
absolutely no sense of design entered merely because they aren't "good 
enough" for the aquatic garden category.  

   - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com


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