Germany – Duisburg 1-4 October, 2009
The 12th Zierfische & Aquarium was again a great success almost 30,000 visitors during the 4 days came to see the newest trend in the worlds most beautiful and educational hobby, to listen to top speakers from all over Europe – including Heiko Bleher who had a presentation each day. Whoever was not in Duisburg does not know what he missed. But under Read more everyone can have a small idea of this great exhibition.
Norbert Zajac did again to have one of the biggest events in the aquarium hobby industry come again to another successful end although the worldwide recession. Nearly 30,000 visitors during the 4 days came to listen to top speakers (Heiko Bleher was the only one to give 4 presentations) and to see and buy the newest fishes, aquariums plants and accessories of all kinds with nano-aquariums being one of the top sellers for freshwater and marine biotopes. Heiko Bleher did also decorate 4 authentic biotope aquariums. Zajac had a giant Aquarium display and In it an Amazon biotope with Cichla monoculus and Piranhas – see below with some of the display stands and aquariums and a few of the interesting fishes shown.
The exhibition hall is more then 6000 sqm large and very high – on the elevation are the two speaker rooms. The giant aquarium Zajac showed (a cointainer) was decoaretd with sand and driftwood, Piranhas (S. nattereri), Tucunaré (Cichla monoculus) with Pacu (Colossoma macropomum) and more. The fishes came form the Berlin Zoo. Interesting is that Heiko Bleher started years ago to decorate authentic biotope aquariums and placed Piranhas together with other fish species from its habitat and almost everyone complained and argued… in the meanwhile we can see it in several places, especially in some public aquariums and major aquarium shops. There is nothing wrong with it, as long as the fishes are well fed. And as long as the species come all from one and the same habitat (because then they know each other).
All major manufacturers were present and there were also several companies with wall-aquariums (lower left) and nice display for filter materials (lower right)
The publisher of Germany’s best freshwater fish magazine Amazonas, (Heiko writes for them) had a stand (top), and the shrimp guru Chris Lukhaup was showing his new acquisitions (centre), but now he has lots of competitors as the shrimp-mania has broken out (lower).
Zajac had some large stands and Back to Nature beautiful display’s also some with the fantastic North American Notropis chrosomus with neon-blue colours. A rare site for Europe. And there were many Nano-aquariums, see below.
Rolf C. Hagen came with a complete new Nano-aquarium design – all in one (and in different colours)
Nano’s everywhere, some only with shrimps, some very beautiful with small fishes and even now marine Nano-aquariums nicely done – less nice were those with un-natural colour gravel…
There were some nice biotope aquariums, close to nature. And driftwood is more then ever asked for in Europe do decorate the aquarium more close to nature…
There was also combined with the 12th Zierfische & Aquarium the 1st International (European) Cichlid Exhibition (see photo of the week) and one aquarium had Philodendron growing into the high aquarium for these nice angelfishes, which are the Pterophyllum scalare from the Rio Negro but sold as P. altum unfortunately…also terrible to mix those beauties with a red tank-bred mutant discus…
But all in all a very successful show and will see you again next year, from September 30th to October 3rd, 2010, combined with the 8th International Discus Championships, the largest on the globe
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