Hi this is Sarah the welsh half of aquahorti. We are a danish welsh duo living in central denmark. Between us we have 4 aquariums set up and another one in progress. Sarah: I've always been interested in aquariums and aquatic life. This lead to me learning to scuba dive and studing at the School of Ocean Sciences in Menai Bridge,(Bangor). I'm facinated by the different types of plants available and by the variation in nano fish and shrimp. I am hoping to get a collection of mutlicoloured cherry shrimp split throughout the aquariums on clean up duty but have a very territorial, obsessive hunter crowntail betta called Conan who is permanently hungry. Tommy: Also known as the 'Grumpy old Man', started my first aquarium at the age of 5 (I needed a place for storing and looking at the creatures my Father and I cought when we went fishing)... as a huge failure, as I attempted to construct it from a cardboard box, plastic bags, and tape. My first itteration failed within minuts of me pouring water into the finished product, as the water dissolved the cardboard that had not been covered by the tape and thus were directly exposed to the water. After a few attempts I managed to get them to last more than 24 hours, but I ran out of boxes to use, and it was very hard to get the transparent sides to stay smooth and flat. 2 years later my Father helped me build a real aquarium from window glass, aluminium, and silicone glue. It was a good lesson in volumetric calculations as well as biology. When I started university the aquarium hobby stopped, and I never really gave it any thought for the next 24 years. Unlike Sarah I never did any scuba diving, I saw the movie Le grand bleu and got through that into free diving, and got my fill of watching aquatic life that way. It was not until Sarah wanted an aquarium with shrimps and a betta that I got started again. Much have changed over the years, all to the better, and I am still learning new things. I ask many questions and I know that they often gets perceived as a way of testing people. They are never meant as a test, only a mean of aquiring new knowledge. The best questions are those that will challenge both sides of the process, so if you ask me a question I will often start by giving an intermediate answer, and then follow up with a more indepth answer once I have had time to look through books and articles.
Hi Keith, I've considered a marine tank but it's a lot more difficult to keep the water parameters stable and when they move out of balance they move fast. Plus Danish marine life like that in most of Europe is not very interesting to look at. It's lots of similar colours as the fish and invertebrates are camouflaged in sand and mud. The plants are very similar visually to freshwater plants. Marine would involve a lot of extra equipment and water testing etc. I think freshwater is a better option for me and Tommy isn't interested in building a marine aquascape. He is interested in the technical challenge of physically building a marine aquarium and stump but thats just his brain trying to create a more efficient design.
