While it remains a rather obscure and niche hobby here, there is one Malaysian who is well-regarded on the aquascaping scene.

Meet Josh Sim, 49, a proud resident of Johor Bahru, a loving husband and a father of three. When life affords him some free time, he throws himself into his long-time hobby of aquascaping.

This is a hobby that Sim does not take lightly. Since 2009, he has won several international aquascaping awards, and since he’s not giving up his hobby any time soon, perhaps he will continue making waves in the future.

Speaking to FMT, Sim described aquascaping as “creating nature in a box”.

“In this hobby, we aim to reproduce nature scenes in miniature form – underwater sceneries, forest, mountain, canyon, valley, flowing river,” he said.

According to Sim, aquascaping is more demanding than landscaping since he has to work with water in an aquarium.

Additionally, an aquascape is a piece of living art and nothing stays the same forever. “Just like what you would expect from natural scenery, plants will grow, wither, die and regrow or be replaced.”

How did he pick up such a niche hobby though? Funnily enough, it started when he was trying to rear freshwater shrimps.

Hundreds of dead shrimps later, Sim realised that introducing aquatic plants into their tanks would have ensured their survival.

So he began researching aquatic plants, and came across aquascaping. Fascinated, he found himself fully immersed in it.

Soon after, he learned of international aquascaping competitions, open to anyone and everyone.

“I got my hands on some photo compilations of award-winning aquariums from past contests and I was completely blown away,” he said.

“It was really beyond my wildest imagination that aquariums can be created that way.” Inspired, Sim was determined to make a name for himself.

A naturally competitive person, Sim was also aware that he was a newbie who was up against seasoned hobbyists.

“Therefore, I had to do something really out of the conventional trend. I told myself that if I cannot beat them at their game, don’t play their game.”

But one year after embracing the hobby, Sim won his first competition thanks to his entry, “Awakening”, which started a new trend among aquascapers.

He walked away with a silver prize and was ranked fourth globally; again, this was the first ever aquascaping competition he had ever joined.

The following years would be equally kind to him and he remains the aquascaper who has held the title of world champion the most times.

But what does it take to be a good aquascaper? Sim said that one needs to have a good grasp on both science and art.

The former is necessary when it comes to growing healthy aquatic plants; the latter is more challenging as you need to create an aquascape which represents natural scenery.

“I believe the most important quality that a great aquascaper must have is artistic sense and the natural instinct to capture the beauty of nature and to recreate it within those four glass walls.”

The hobby can be a tad expensive however, as good grade equipment often comes with quite the price tag.

While one need not buy the priciest equipment, Sim cautioned against using anything inferior as it could lead to unwanted problems later.

Skillswise, Sim said that novices were always welcomed. “It takes years to master the skill but beginners can always start with something simpler,” he said, adding that there’s no way to fast-track this particular hobby and everyone needs to build their knowledge from the ground up.

For Sim, there is satisfaction in knowing that his fellow hobbyists are looking forward to seeing his future works.

“I also get to know like-minded peers from around the world who have become my good friends and I get to travel the world conducting workshops, seminars and classes.”

Surprisingly enough, he also believes that Malaysia has the potential to expand the aquascaping scene. In addition to an abundance of aquatic plants and driftwood, Sim said Malaysia has many raw talents too.

“What we need is some initiative from related industries or perhaps, some governmental support to push this hobby forward.”