About Aquendium
Beneath the surface
For the fish, and the people who fuss over them.
From the editor
Fishkeepers are some of the warmest people in any hobby. Walk into a good aquarium store, with its low hum of filters and rows of tanks glowing like small worlds of their own, and you will usually find someone happy to talk for half an hour about the fish in a single tank: generous with what they know, endlessly curious, patient with a question they have answered a hundred times, and quietly obsessed with getting the details right.
Most fish information online feels nothing like that. It tends to be dated, cluttered, or clinical, tables of numbers as dry as a forgotten tin of flake food, with none of the care behind them.
Aquendium is an attempt to close that gap. The aim is for it to feel like walking into the best aquarium store you have ever visited, the kind where an afternoon slips quietly away between the tanks, run by someone who knows the fish and wants you to do well with them.
Calm, considered, and a pleasure to linger in.
I write and maintain Aquendium on my own. I have kept fish for a few years, part of that time working behind the counter of aquarium stores, where the same questions drifted across the counter every day and it became clear which advice actually worked once the fish went home.
At home I keep a four-foot aquascaped planted tank, an underwater garden that is never quite finished, and I have bred celestial pearl danios, tiny fish dusted in pale gold spots like a night sky in miniature. I am a member of ANGFA, the Australia New Guinea Fishes Association.
Everything here is written the way I would want it explained to me across the counter: plainly, honestly, and with the reasons included.
The fine print
How it is researched
Every species page draws its core figures (tank size, temperature, pH, and hardness) from a single dataset, so the numbers agree wherever they appear. They are checked against SeriouslyFish and FishBase for biology, PlanetCatfish's Cat-eLog for plecos and catfish, Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes for scientific names, ANGFA for Australian natives, and state and federal regulators for what may legally be kept. Tap water figures come from each utility's published reports.
Where sources disagree, the page says so. Each species page lists its sources and the date it was last updated, and the whole site is worked through in regular fact-checking passes.
What Aquendium stands for
Never release aquarium animals or plants into the wild. Several of Australia's most damaging freshwater pests began as aquarium or ornamental releases. Rehome unwanted stock through a store or club.
Keep within the law. Some species are prohibited or restricted in particular states; the aquarium fish laws guide sets out where each state stands.
Honest advice over easy sales. Full adult sizes and real requirements, even when the answer is not the one you hoped for.
Supporting Aquendium
There is no advertising, no sponsored content, and no paywall. The site is built and maintained in my own time: researching each species, checking every figure, drawing the diagrams, and revisiting pages as the science and the regulations change.
Some product mentions link to Amazon, and buying through one earns Aquendium a small commission at no extra cost to you. If the site has saved you a fish, a wasted purchase, or an evening of conflicting forum threads, buying your next water conditioner or test kit through a link here is the simplest way to say thanks. It is genuinely appreciated, and it is what keeps the site growing.
Corrections and contact
Corrections are always welcome. If something on a page is wrong, out of date, or unclear, use the button at the bottom right of any page. Every note is read, and corrections are made promptly.