BryceM

Some odd twist of fate has placed me into the new position of "Aquascaping Moderator". Any of you that have actually seen my tanks will probably wonder why, but despite this, I hope it will be a fun adventure.

A little about myself. I've been keeping some sort of aquaria for all but 3 or 4 of the past 25 years. I started out with goldfish, plastic clown-puke gravel, and deep-sea divers and have gradually progressed, which was a given since there is no possible way that it could have been any worse. I've bred and sold hundreds of angelfish and slowly moved up to the point that now the selection of fish is secondary to the selection of the plants. I currently have a 180g tank, a 46g tank, a 5g endler's tank and a 3g beta tank. Plans are in the works for a new 75g or 90g tank for the waiting room. I'm an orthopedic surgeon, which often interferes with water chages and live fish deliveries, but does provide enough resources to get me knee-deep in trouble, and sometimes ankle-deep in water when i forget to turn the water off.

My personal aquascaping style is probably more closely aligned with European thinking than with Asian influence, but I'm open to art wherever it can be found. I certainly don't believe any one style is better than another, despite what the various contests would have us believe. I'm a big fan of DIY projects and belive that this is the true breeding ground for real progress in the equipment category.

Feel free to suggest ideas for articles or topics that you'd like to see addressed. Dennis prepared a nice article on foreground planting (which may be found in the library) that I will try to use as a model for future projects. One that I will try to do is a description of appropriate pruning/trimming techniques for the various plant types. This is a topic that not much has been writen about and that most people end up learning on their own through trial and error.