One way to heaven - IIAC 2020 #52 - Marian Sterian / Romania

Chuanwei Yu’s 万物自然, the IAPLC 2026 Grand Prize aquascape, is immediately recognisable as a woodland scene. Its lasting interest lies in how that scene holds together. Large trunks establish the setting, finer roots connect its layers, planting softens the structure and fish make the spaces between the wood feel inhabited.

The CIAC 2026 podium offers three remarkably different ways to make an aquarium feel larger than its glass boundaries. Trần Anh Đức’s “Tectonic Memory” builds its world through folded rock contours. Acho Choky’s “Under The Cave” places the viewer beneath a dark canopy. Zhao Gang’s “幽邃” draws us through a planted valley animated by blue fish.

Vietnam’s Trần Anh Đức has won the CIAC 2026 Aquascaping Group with “Tectonic Memory,” leading the newly published Top 30. Indonesia’s Acho Choky takes second place with “Under The Cave,” while China’s Zhao Gang (赵刚) finishes third with “幽邃.”

Vietnam has plenty to celebrate at IAPLC 2026. Ha Le Trinh wins the Gold Prize at world rank 2, while Minh Toan Nguyen earns a Bronze Prize at rank 6. Together, they give Vietnamese aquascaping two places among the contest’s seven leading awards—and two striking aquariums for the international community to discover.

Chuanwei Yu of China has won the IAPLC 2026 Grand Prize, leading a season that also brings a proud moment for Vietnam: Ha Le Trinh takes second place and Minh Toan Nguyen finishes sixth.

Two competitions. One date. A new collection of aquascapes for the world to discover. IAPLC and CIAC have both scheduled their 2026 results announcements for Saturday, October 10. This AquaLibs guide brings together the confirmed schedule, official channels, archive galleries and reading to help you follow the day.

Before the next champion is revealed, there is time for one more look at the aquariums that made the previous season memorable.

A CIAC results list is also a meeting point for aquascaping communities around the world. Read the country column alongside the photographs, and another story emerges: established names holding their ground, more works reaching the leading positions, and communities finding new reasons to celebrate.

In 2024, Rahul Mukherjee finished 63rd in CIAC's Aquascaping Group. In 2025, he reached sixth place. That 57-place advance is one of five compelling stories we can discover by putting two seasons of results—and their photographs—together.

The first three places make the headlines. Keep scrolling through the CIAC 2025 aquascapes, however, and the gallery opens into a much wider landscape: shaded forests, weathered roots, bright rock valleys and fish that give an underwater scene its sense of life.

Every CIAC results announcement gives the aquascaping community a new collection of works to discuss, study and remember. Behind the winning photograph is a longer story: earlier competitions, ideas developed across seasons, and the practical work of bringing a landscape to life.

Before the CIAC 2026 results arrive on October 10, there is time to look again at the aquascapes that made the previous season memorable. The most useful question is not simply which work finished highest. It is how each composition earned our attention—and what we notice when we return to it.

Before a new IAPLC winner is revealed, the previous season deserves a closer look. Which aquascaping styles filled the TOP 300 in 2025? Did the same visual families become more common in the TOP 100, TOP 27 and TOP 7? And what can those layouts teach us about depth, planting and the way fish bring a composition to life?

This image presents a densely planted underwater scene organized around a pale sandy trail that recedes beneath an arch of roots and foliage. A school of small fish occupies the upper-left and central water, while layered greens, reddish plant accents and hanging root-like forms create strong vertical depth. The composition is highly atmospheric and technically controlled, with darkness at the edges directing attention toward the illuminated opening. Because the photograph does not reveal maintenance history, livestock identification or construction details beneath the planting, those aspects are judged conservatively from visible evidence only.