Recreating the Atabapo | Biotope Seminar & Workshop in Malta

Chris Englezou Biotope, Chris Englezou, Community 5 Comments

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 Fish Food and featured some other great speakers also including Chris Ingham (Author of the book Discus World), Tristan Camilleri (Director of the Malta Aquaculture Directorate) and Raymond Caruana (The Killifish Conservation Project).   I had the pleasure of being able to speak in great detail with the aquariums curator Daniel …

Biotopes of India | The Western Ghats, Mountain Streams to Mangrove Swamps

Chris Englezou Biotope, Chris Englezou 5 Comments

It is the middle of the dry season in the Western Ghats; I am here in the mountains of southern India at 3000ft above sea level on the border of two states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and I am surrounded by dense jungle. The temperature during the day is not yet scorching but reaches somewhere in the region of 34°C, the canopy keeps me mostly shaded but at night the temperature drops by more than 20°C and it can be a shock to the system. My surroundings are dry but are quite reminiscent of my time in the Amazon except …

Lecture and Biotope Workshop for the British Cichlid Association

Chris Englezou Biotope, Chris Englezou, Community, Events Leave a Comment

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 their aquarium using only biotope-correct species and decor. The event had a humble attendance including some of the most reputable fish keepers in the country, some of whom it was an honour to have listen to my thoughts and experiences. My talk was entitled “Pterophyllum altum and the other angelfishes” …

Rio Nanay biotope workshop at Maidenhead Aquatics in Melksham

Chris Englezou Biotope, Biotopes of South America, Chris Englezou, Community, Events 4 Comments

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 could work with, I gave my suggestions and once the fish list was confirmed, I decided on a biotope aquarium based on a lake along the Rio Nanay in the dry season.  The team at Melksham went right out of their way to try and ensure we had some interesting …

The International Biotope Group on Facebook

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For aquatic Biotope enthusiasts all over the world, Fjällräven Rucksäcke kaufen please join the leading scientists, nike sb ichthyologists, explorers, adidas en ligne authors and nature lovers in the International Biotope Group. adidas zx flux Supported by C.E. Fish Essentials, timberland chaussure Aquapress – Heiko Bleher and Mikolji.

Exploring the Rio Atabapo; The search for true Altum Angels

Chris Englezou Biotope, Biotopes of South America, Chris Englezou 5 Comments

In September 2014, I had the opportunity to travel along the border of Colombia and Venezuela and deep into the Venezuelan rainforest in search of the elusive Altum Angel of the Rio Atabapo and many other amazing species. Here is an account of my journey which was published in the April 2015 edition of Practical Fishkeeping Magazine. Enjoy, Chris. As I stare out of the adjacent window eight thousand feet above land aboard this world war 2 DC3 cargo plane, the only flight going to our location, I am suddenly enamoured by this irreplicable view of untouched rainforest stretching right …

Biodiversity of the Kryos River, Cyprus

Chris Englezou Biotope, Chris Englezou, Conservation Leave a Comment

It was 05/08/2012 and our first stop location on the way to our destination was the Kouris Dam, it is situated at approximately 250m above sea level and is fed by three tributaries, the rivers Kouris, Limnatis and Kryos, the latter of which was of particular interest this day; water leaves the dam via the consolidated Kouris river. During this trip we had set out to first explore the river ‘Kryos’ which in Greek language translates into ”Cold’; although the temperature of the water there was a reasonable 27.9°C in most places. Passing the immense Kouris dam itself and taking …

Finding the Rio Xingú Golden Discus

Chris Englezou Discus Fish 7 Comments

  Brian Middleton was his name, the first man to breed the elusive and incredible Xingu River Discus fish. I tried for years to find him, but he had literally disappeared from the aquarium hobby sometime in the late 1990’s or soon thereafter and seemed unreachable. All I had was one old photo I was able to find online which showed just how magnificent these golden Amazonian gems could become under the right care; if only I could find him… Years passed by and my search had more or less dwindled into some sort of long lost idea .. The …