*This is the first time that I've done this, and I was not properly prepared to shoot moving subjects, so I apologize in advance for any shaky moments.
With that said, here we go!
We have seen youtubers go head to head. We have even seen podcasters vs youtubers (I have participated in on this one), but have you seen professionals go head to head in an aquascaping competition?
For this video, with the blessings of the ReefAPalooza Chicago show and Julian Sprung of Two Little Fishies, I have gotten none other than Terence Fugazzi of Neptune Systems (who undoubtedly has some of the nicest tanks in almost every trade show) vs Joseph Caparatta of UniqueCorals Wholesale, Manhattan Aquariums and MarcoRocks.com who has perfected his trade by aquascaping for close to a few decades. These two have different thought processes, methods and visions that we, the regular hobbyists, often fail to catch or even replicate in our own aquariums.
For this challenge, they were given:
- the same amount of space (equivalent to about 75g size)
- 2 identical sealed boxes of Julian's Stax rocks
- 15 min. to complete the aquascape
But wait! That's not all!
Julian himself was the judge. He was not allowed to spectate the proceedings to eliminate any bias.
If you know these two guys in person, they are some of the wittiest and funniest guys to be around. Watch these two as they race in a mad scramble to complete an epic aquascaping while dishing out some friendly banter and constructive criticism(?) on each other's work. ;)
Let the greatness commence!
Huge thanks to Peter Cherrick of Reef News Network for providing commentary on this event during the show--a random, last-minute decision.
