The Home of Biotoping

Author: Chris Englezou

Biotopes of Indonesia
Chris Englezou

What exactly do we know about the critically endangered freshwater fish Parosphromenus gunawani?

The Licorice Gouramies The genus Parosphromenus sits discreetly within the taxonomic subfamily of the Macropodusinae, often overshadowed by the popularity of the Betta, Macropodus, and even the Trichopsis. Still, these little bursts of colour and iridescence truly are the gold dust of the Gouramis, somewhat like Bettas, but better! Parosphromenus

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Biotopes of Cameroon | Aphyosemion ahli | Ahl’s Killifish

Aphyosemion ahli Myers, 1933 is a Lower Guinea endemic found in the Wouri River in western Cameroon and southward to the Rio Benito drainage system in western Equatorial Guinea. It occurs in swamps and quiet parts of brooks under forest cover in the coastal lowlands (Wildekamp et al. 1986). It

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Biotoping for charity at the Fish Barn

This Sunday just passed I was invited by the guys over at the well known aquatic store The Fish Barn in Crawley, West Sussex to join them for their “Discus Day” event. The event started at 10am, went on until the late afternoon around 5pm and as well as the

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Ichthyology
Chris Englezou

Does the river blenny Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801) (Actinopterygii: Perciformes) still survive on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus? – Zogaris et al 2014

The river blenny (Salaria fluviatilis) is rarely mentioned in the natural history literature of Cyprus. This has led to doubts about its existence there. Mistakes with mismatched fish collections have occurred in the past, so it is worth asking whether the recorded specimens are actually from Cyprus and whether the

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Chris Englezou
Chris Englezou

Current status of the Mediterranean Killifish (Aphanius fasciatus) in Malta | A Complex Conservation Question

Between the 21st-26th March 2017 I had the opportunity to visit each of five known localities for the Mediterranean Killifish Aphanius fasciatus on the island of Malta. The Killifish is locally known as “Buzaqq” and has historically inhabited brackish to hypersaline habitats at Marsa, Marsaxlokk, Marsaskala, Salini and Għadira. Salini The

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Recreating the Atabapo | Biotope Seminar & Workshop in Malta

Last week I flew over to the beautiful Mediterranean island of Malta as an invited guest to speak at the “Journey into an Aquarium” seminar which took place at the National Aquarium Malta.  This event was organised by Andy Bugeja of Aqualine Malta, the Maltese distribution agent for Naturekind Advanced

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

The birth of the wild aquarium | a tool for conservation

Almost five years ago, artist and river explorer Ivan Mikolji uploaded a video to the infamous video sharing site Youtube which would change the direction of the aquarium hobby forever, sparking a new wave of interest in nature and natural aquarium fishkeeping.   To an outsider, a non-fish-keeper, the “Wild Aquarium”

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Biotope Aquarium Set-Up at Maidenhead Aquatics, Melksham

This weekend I had the pleasure and honour of been invited to Melksham by the aquatic chain store Maidenhead Aquatics to take part in the Wiltshire Plecos & Catfish Study Group gathering. The events are held at different times throughout the year in the aim of bringing fishkeeping enthusiasts of

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Lecture and Biotope Workshop for the British Cichlid Association

This past weekend I had the distinct privilege to be invited to speak at the British Cichlid Association summer convention at the Brittania Hotel in Wigan. I was also asked to do one of my biotope aquarium workshops which teach fish keepers how to recreate a natural aquatic habitat in

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

Rio Nanay biotope workshop at Maidenhead Aquatics in Melksham

This weekend I was invited once again over to Melksham by Maidenhead Aquatics to demonstrate another authentic biotope aquarium set-up. On my last visit here I showed how to recreate the Rio Atabapo during the high water season and this time after consulting with the Maidenhead team about what options we

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Biotope
Chris Englezou

A new species of Pterophyllum?

Having been deeply fascinated with the Pterophyllum genus for many years, I have found myself waist deep in research, analysing data, images and footage and even taking trips into the jungle to better understand the majestic freshwater Angelfish and the factors which influence their distribution and taxonomy. One area of

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potamon freshwater crab malta
Chris Englezou
Chris Englezou

An Endangered Freshwater Crab in Malta | Potamon fluviatile lanfrancoi

Potamon fluviatile lanfrancoi is definitely not the short name for the Maltese freshwater crab. In Maltese language it is referred to as Qabru and was originally described from seven localities across Malta and Gozo islands by D. Capolongo and J. L. Cilia in 1990.  Ten years later the subspecies status

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