Aquarists pick Independence Day to show off their collection - The Business Standard

Fishkeeping and aquascaping are beloved hobbies shared by many in Bangladesh.

The hobby can be divided into two broad categories: fish keeping, which primarily focuses on raising, breeding or keeping exotic fish as pets; and aquascaping, the art of scaping the tank, which is inspired by or resembles a part of nature.  

Hobbyists – who are called aquarists – throughout the last decade, have been keeping exotic fish, ranging from tropical to monster such as stingrays, alligator gars, arowanas, discus, and flowerhorns, amongst countless other species.    

Despite a thriving fishkeeping culture, Bangladesh's scene has not seen any exhibitions or expos up until Saturday. Ariful Islam, Akibul Islam, Mortuja Fahad, Rafsan Sumon, Nur A Alam, Md Sahil, Sultan Babu and Shaeed Ripon; on the occasion of Independence Day, organised 'Aquarium Fish Exhibition Bangladesh 2022', the first ever exhibition of its kind. 

Aquarists from all over the city gathered at Muktijoddha Tower at College Gate to be a part of this event.   

The exhibition featured many niches of the hobby: freshwater, monster, marine (saltwater) and planted aquariums. The exhibits also included shrimps, native species and biotope aquascapes.  

"Last month a lot of aquarists went to 'Prani Sampad Mela' at Agargaon. It was a great event, and displayed a variety of exotic animals. But we felt designated space for aquariums did not do justice to our hobby," said Shaeed Ripon. "That's when we decided to take the initiative to arrange an exhibition dedicated to fishkeeping."

However, their desire to organise such an event dates back to 2020.

"We actually wanted to organise an exhibition in 2020, but Covid-19 prevented us from doing so. This exhibition is the result of two months of hard work by our team," added Shaeed. 

Around 35 pet/aquarium stores displayed their exhibits at the event. The common highlight for almost every stall was their collection of exotic fish, rather than aquascapes. Nothing, however, was for sale at the show.   

Azad fisheries, an ornamental fish farm and the main sponsor for the show, displayed about 50-65 different species of fish. Their large aquariums exhibited beautiful monster fish such as Red Tail Golden Arowana, Peacock Bass, Redtail Catfish and Discus.

"Our exhibits only include imported fish. We brought them from our farm at Narayanganj," said Sabbir Hasan, Manager at Azad Fisheries. "They all have different requirements, especially the Discus. They are a very sensitive species."

The organisers were overwhelmed by the response. The exhibition began at 9 AM and the event was full of visitors the entire day. 

"We want to arrange four exhibitions in Dhaka every year. Our plan is to arrange three more of these," said Akibul Islam, one of the organisers. 

"We will try to highlight varieties of Guppy, Goldfish and Betta fish in the future."