--- Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com> wrote: > . . . would having galleries of member aquariums > overlap, to a > certain extent, the purpose of the aquascaping contest? Possibly this would finally let us find a home for that awfully hard to categorize category that Karen has talked about. I can't talk about as eloquently as she nor think about it as coherently so don't attribute what I say in the following to Karen. What I have in mind is the category of planted aquaria that encourages folks to submit pics for public viewing without any pretense toward exceptional art -- the tanks that comprise most planted tanks, the ones we *love* even if they ain't Rembrant. I think this stuff was thought to be covered in the former biotope category which is now more strictly described for real biotypical aquascapes. It was even contemplated as a noncompetitive category early in the development of the contest. I think it was always unlikely that someone would submit to a contest any tank that they did not think was exceptionally artistically aquascaped. And I think that's one reason why that old biotypical category never had a lot of entrants other than the purported biotopes (of course, even those were few so it's hard to say). Could be not many will submit pics for a member area either unless they are thought to be exceptional -- which would mean, as Erik suggests, that that's what the contest is for. But I'm not ready to give up on those other tanks yet and it might be something that promotes the hobby more than (or as well as) those frustatingly articulate Amanoscapes and those terribly complexly manicured Dutchscapes. a heathen in NJ, sh ===== Plant your feet in the nation's capital and learn the art of aquascaping Senske style. The Annual AGA Convention, November 12-14, 2004. Registration *and* Banquet only $98 until October 28. Convention Details/Registration at aquatic-gardeners.org & gwapa.org _______________________________________________ AGA-mcm mailing list AGA-mcm@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/aga-mcm