A gift out of Armenia

A custom aquarium cave as a gift.

A cave drawn in Yerevan can become a small part of somebody else’s aquarium. Choose a shape together, take the measurements of the space it will sit in, and make the design theirs.

The lake everything here is measured against

Lake Sevan is the largest lake in the Caucasus¹ and it sits at about 1,900 metres above sea level². It has been a Ramsar wetland since November 1993, listed at 490,231 hectares³. In a country with no sea, that is not a beauty spot. It is the water supply, the fishery, the weather and the holiday, all in one basin.

It fell nineteen metres and handed back a town

Through the twentieth century the lake was drawn down for irrigation and power. The level dropped about nineteen metres², and as the shoreline retreated it uncovered rather than drowned a place people already knew about: Lchashen, a Bronze Age settlement on the western shore, came out of the water⁴.

Somebody chose to live at that edge, in the Bronze Age, for the reason anybody lives at an edge. A shoreline is where the interesting things happen, and a scape in a glass box is an argument about exactly that: where the water stops, where the land begins, and how convincing the line between them is.

The rock in a scape here comes out of the ground here

Stone is the heaviest and most expensive thing to ship into a landlocked country, and this one is built out of it. Basalt, volcanic scoria, obsidian, pumice and tuff are quarried across Shirak, Aragatsotn, Syunik, Gegharkunik and Yerevan itself, and the basalt reserves alone are put at about 125 billion cubic metres⁵. Their composition varies; choose aquarium hardscape for the particular tank and stone, not its name alone.

Which means a scape built here starts with rock bought by the kilogram at builders' prices, and the expensive part of the hobby everywhere else is the cheap part in Yerevan. The hardscape is the old, local, heavy half. The cave you draw around it is a smaller, personal addition.

A small piece, drawn for one aquarium

The cave starts as a digital shape. Its opening, depth and surface can be changed before it is made, so the gift can begin with the recipient’s own layout instead of a standard size.

Choose it for their tank

A single tunnel is a compact starting point; a row or bundle gives you a wider arrangement. Compare the dimensions on each product page with the space in the recipient’s aquarium, then open the design to adjust it.

If it is travelling, include that in the quote request. Ask the workshop to confirm the packed dimensions, weight and protection before you plan around a suitcase.

Make the choice together

For somebody who enjoys arranging a tank, choosing the opening, surface and colour can be part of the gift. Save the project when you are happy with it, or send the design for a quote. Material, price and timing are agreed before anything is printed.