Beginners guide to biotoping

OUR HOBBY HAS come a long way in the last few decades, with a massive increase in the variety of species of fishes and plants, extensive developments in lighting, filtration, heating and the systems n

Walk into a local fish store and you will see numerous types of substrates ranging from bright and gaudy gravel to some very high-end aqua soils designed for planted aquariums. Often, we tend to not p

TO BEGIN THE story of how I came to build a display aquarium in a zoo, we need to go back almost 7 years to when I first encountered these ‘wild’ guppies. I had just started working as an aquarium tec

I WOULD ARGUE that one of the joys of this hobby is encountering people who are as passionate about aquaria, fishes and nature in general as myself. I find it quite wonderful to get into conversation

I’M CURRENTLY READING a wonderful book called Local, by British explorer Alastair Humphreys. After years of trekking across deserts, mountains and jungles he decides to buy a map of his local area ‘so

OF THE MANY pressing ecological issues facing the world today, invasive species come in near the top of the list. The aquarium trade is not blameless in its role of introducing unwanted species well o