![\"Courtney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7d13577da8b7bafac1563234be162d2ed68a87c258a7cc869b5b8e0e6557c362.png\")
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Charlie Brookman\u2019s first word wasn\u2019t mum or dad. It was \u201cfish\u201d, the Kingsville resident says.<\/p>\n As a toddler, Brookman developed a fascination with marine biology, often captivated by fish tanks and obsessed with the underwater world. \u201cI fell in ponds wherever we went, trying to look at the fish,\u201d says the now 17-year-old.<\/p>\n Living around the corner from the local aquarium, he would visit fortnightly, probing staff for information about how they built and designed their tanks, which formed his introduction to the world of aquascaping.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first levelled up to a big tank of my own, then I was non-stop watching videos learning about it and talking to people at the aquarium about it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Today, Brookman works at the aquarium and has two fish tanks at home \u2013 one freshwater, one saltwater \u2013 of which he takes great care.<\/p>\n Related Article Sometimes called \u201cunderwater gardening\u201d, aquascaping refers to the activity of artfully arranging plants, rocks, stones and driftwood in an aquarium or fish tank environment.<\/p>\n It started in the 1930s in the Netherlands with the increased availability of mass-produced freshwater fish-keeping materials. The Dutch style of aquascaping developed, emphasising various plants to create a flower garden and mostly omitting rocks and driftwood.<\/p>\n Today, aquascaping has blossomed into a globally recognised \u2013 albeit still fairly niche \u2013 hobby with multiple styles such as Iwagumi (prioritises stones as the main feature) and Diorama (inspired by a physical or fantasy landscape).<\/p>\n There are numerous online communities where thousands of hobbyists eagerly share their elaborate aquascapes, often dedicating entire rooms to them or turning garages into personal aquariums, as well as exchanging design and construction tips. The \u201cAquariums and Aquascapes Australia\u201d Facebook group has more than 25,000 members.<\/p>\n The hobby attracts people for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n For Brookman, initially, it was the opportunity to blend his interest in marine biology with creative expression. \u201cA big part of it is how nice it is to look at, and enjoying it as an actual art form,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s definitely evolved into designing something that future organisms, plants or corals will interact with and imagining where they\u2019re gonna go and how they\u2019ll interact with it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Aquascaping also provides a sense of calm. Architect Kevin Chuang, 29, first came across the hobby on YouTube while completing his master\u2019s degree at university. \u201cIt just felt very calming and very natural,\u201d he says. \u201cIn that moment, the stress of the master\u2019s degree just faded, and it was very, very peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n The calming effect might also explain why Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels famously keeps a 200-litre fish tank in his 30 Rock office, where he oversees one of the most high-pressure and stressful shows on television.<\/p>\n Related Article It featured in the documentary about his life, Lorne, and former SNL cast-member Bowen Yang spoke about its reputation in a recent video<\/a> for The New Yorker.<\/p>\n \u201cKristen Wiig, her first meeting with Lorne Michaels, all she remembers from that meeting is, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s a huge fish tank\u2019,\u201d Yang said. \u201cLorne\u2019s aquarium is quite special.\u201d<\/p>\n Larry Liberstein designed and has been servicing that aquarium for over 40 years through his New York-based business, Aquarius Aquariums, which also looks after high-profile clients such as Robert De Niro.<\/p>\n \u201c[Michaels\u2019] staff feed the fish, and he just enjoys them,\u201d Liberstein says. \u201cHe just sits back and watches them. The tank is actually just a few feet from his desk, so he has a perfect position for that.\u201d<\/p>\n So influential is Michaels\u2019 aquarium that Jimmy Fallon got one of his own for his Tonight Show office, also serviced by Liberstein. \u201cJimmy\u2019s is actually very similar to Lorne\u2019s in many ways. I can\u2019t confirm this, but it may be intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n While the research into the exact effects fish tanks have on our wellbeing is limited, the early literature points towards them reducing stress and anxiety, says Danielle Graber, clinical psychologist and director of 12 Points Psychology. It\u2019s why you see them in offices of doctors, dentists or psychologists, including Graber\u2019s practice where there are multiple tanks.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s enough evidence to say that we do see an autonomic shift for most people when they\u2019re exposed to fish tanks, and there are lots of different hypotheses as to why that might be. Most of them come back to the human-animal bond and the biophilia hypothesis, which is one of the big theories around animal-assisted therapy in general,\u201d Graber says.<\/p>\n Animal-assisted therapy refers to an approach that incorporates animals into mental health treatment. Aquascaping isn\u2019t technically categorised as animal-assisted therapy, but it would be considered an animal-assisted activity, which still has many parallels with the biophilia hypothesis. First proposed by American biologist E.O. Wilson, the biophilia hypothesis posits that being around animals, nature and natural environments helps calm our brain and nervous systems.<\/p>\n One 2016 study<\/a> published in Environment and Behavior looked at the physical and mental effects of increasing the number of fish in aquariums on 116 randomly selected participants.<\/p>\n The researchers found that watching fish tanks, even while empty, helped people relax. As the tanks were filled with more fish, the mood of the participants improved along with their interest. Their heart rate and blood pressure, meanwhile, lowered.<\/p>\n Graber says that in her office, there was a noticeable shift in how clients responded to the tanks when staff started taking the aquascaping more seriously and introducing a more naturalistic approach to their design. \u201cThe fish tanks suddenly looked much more natural and people were drawn to them a lot more,\u201d she explains, noting they grew so attached to the fish that when the clinic axotl died, many patients actually mourned.<\/p>\n The concept of the nature aquarium was made famous by designer, photographer and aquarist Takashi Amano in the 1990s. Amano drew on the Japanese aesthetic concept of \u201cWabi-Sabi\u201d \u2013 which sees beauty in imperfection and impermanence \u2013 to create the nature style of aquascaping. It mimics natural landscapes rather than creating a colourful garden like the Dutch style.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the designs favoured by Chuang, who also won the Australian Aquascaping Competition in 2023, came runner-up in 2024 and was ranked 187th in the 2024 world championships.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea is that you are inspired by nature. You\u2019re not copying it, you\u2019re bringing ideas from nature into the aquarium,\u201d explains Chuang, an Edmonson Park, Sydney, resident who keeps what he calls an \u201caquascaping gallery\u201d in his home, which includes seven tanks of varying sizes and designs.<\/p>\n He estimates he spends about $2000 a month on maintaining his aquascapes, but stresses that cost shouldn\u2019t prohibit people from getting into it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all comes down to a person\u2019s budget and what they want to get out of it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people like the really minimal style, so you only need three stones and one type of plant and that could look really amazing. Others might want a very intricate style which requires a lot of different materials, a lot of different plants. The beauty is that it\u2019s for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Brookman invests most of his earnings from his aquarium job back into his aquascapes. \u201cAs much as I try and convince my parents to give me money for it, it can be expensive,\u201d he concedes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth it, though, to be able to sit there, proud and engrossed in his own personal aquarium.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can just watch it non-stop,\u201d says Brookman, who calls it \u201cfish TV\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favourite is watching the corals moving because \u2026 the saltwater replicates the flow of waves, and you can just sit there and stare at the corals flowing around.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor’s pick Chuang agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where I can ponder about ideas and create art. I see it as a collaboration with nature,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are unexpected things that happen in the process that are just as beautiful as the finished product.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Charlie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e354d5adb7e2fa2f82e03efe60c359a03bd0ab69.jpeg\")
Charlie Brookman with one of the aquascapes he designed and constructed. Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n![\"\u201cIt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cb9551bd11ba4ba721a16c9959feb222628079ac.jpeg\")
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Aquascaping enthusiast Kevin Chuang.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Country](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e311fb4b295c7b34eaa68bcf19ef687a2bf7eb27.jpeg\")
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One of Chuang\u2019s aquascapes from his personal gallery. Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Charlie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3399e597f1893be72bfc6f0a05c539b01b369a4d.jpeg\")
Charlie Brookman with his at-home aquarium. Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n![\"Brookman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/56d8681d08fa4c88802ea02810b11f391aa17923.jpeg\")
Brookman especially loves his clown fish because, he says, their personalities become most pronounced when they interact with the coral. Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784122997_519_25d7cf336de18a37316e8ac332396084fb50a715.jpeg\")
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