Aquarium hobbyists have a unique competition based on aquascapes, and it generates amazing entries. This annual competition is called the Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. It is backed by the IAPLC (The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest), a Japanese organization. Who knew!? The photos of past winners are amazing; you’ll find the top ten from 2025 below.
From the IAPLC site:
IAPLC 2026, the international contest for aquatic plant layouts where aquarists around the world get together.
IAPLC (The International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest) is an international planted aquarium competition where participants compete with each other for their original “aquascapes” created in aquaria. The participants submit one picture of their aquascapes taken in the current year, and submitted works from all over the world are evaluated by judges who are well-versed in the industry. That’s how the Grand Prix of the year is determined. The contest started with 19 participating countries and 557 works in total entered in 2001, and the total application number and participating counties are increasing every year. Currently, with participating countries more than 60 and the total application number about 2,000, history of the IAPLC is being made as a worldwide contest.
Not only enjoy the planted aquarium as a personal hobby, but enjoy sharing your aquascape with people around the world and enjoy it together. The expansion of the contest is shared not only among those participating the contest but also with people who are interested in the planted aquarium hobby. As a result, the IAPLC has grown into something that attracts a lot of attention.
Some of the rules of the annual aquascapes competition:
- This contest is open to everyone who has a planted aquarium. Only the work created by the entrant (individual) is accepted.
- There is no restriction in aquarium tank size.
- Entry must be a picture of the entire aquarium taken from the front side.
- Plants growing above the waterline are not subject to evaluation.
- Layout remarkably resembling any of the past top winning entries is subject to point deductions.
- Pictures taken at an angle and/or showing only a part of the aquarium are subject to point deductions.
Here are the top 10 finishers from 2025. Believe it or not these are actual aquarium photos, not AI generated images!
First Place: A River … “Somewhere” by Josh Sim, Malaysia.
Second Place: “Spiritual Realm” by Gang Zhao, People’s Republic of China
Third Place: “Primal Burst” by Katsuki Tanaka, Japan
Fourth Place: “Spring Breeze” by Hidekazu Tsukiji, Japan
Fifth Place: “Nebula” by Kiat Fuil Yap, Malaysia
Sixth Place: “Aurora” by Francesco Rampinelli, Italy
Seventh Place: “Life After Life” by Qi Lin, People’s Republic of China
Eighth Place: “Azure Luan” by Liang Jihang, People’s Republic of China
Ninth Place: “Golden Hour” by Tom Ryan, Great Britain
Tenth Place: “Autumn’s Embrace” by Thomas Gueguen, France
Image Credits
All images courtesy of IAPLC
More Art Posts