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As the name implies it is clear, at least to an Italian, that this fish-house is located in the north of Italy and chances are that it is the oldest (in terms of long time activity) fish-house in Italy (not actually sure but I’d bet on it!) even though the name of the company has changed some times during the many years of its existence. On the top of this page you can see the picture of the brand name and logo of Acquario di Bolognia.
Having visited during my trips abroad Stuart Grant’s fish farm in Salima - Malawi (twice); Yacaruna aquarium in Iquitos - Peru; AB-Zaire and Hustinx Discus in Belgium; Verdujin Cichlids in Holland; I was quite curious - since I had the opportunity - to know how a big wholesaler plant is set up and how it runs here in Italy. Here comes what I’ve discovered. The whole fish-house is divided in several areas such as quarantine/stocking tanks area, plants' tanks area and more.
In the top picture one of the corridors of the quarantine/stocking area is shown; while in the bottom picture there are some glass jars containing some male Betta splendens (Siamese Fighting fish) undergoing their quarantine period (see colour of the water). Below is the water plants area.
The fellow at the left in the pic (leaning over the tanks) is Rocco Erra who led our tour through the whole operation, while on the left (red/white shirt) is Stefania (aka my better half). Because of some works that had to be done at the time of my visit the plant was keeping a very low stock of cichlids (sold out and waiting for more supply). Furtehrmore, the few pics (of cichlids) I managed to get were almost impossible to display here because of their bad [to be kind to them] quality (I regret to report that but it also happens in the best of families!!!). At the same time browsing along the countless tanks proved to be extremely interesting. Let’s see why then..
A huge Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps (Sailfin Pleco) that fashinated a friend of mine to the point of buying it (not directly from Acquario di Bologna since they only supply wholesalers) buy it! Nice fish isn’t it?
A giant Protopteus sp. (Lung fish) - see the pleco in the background, to get an impression of its actual size!!!
To my surprise I also fould some nice critters only partially related to water such as some Uca sp. (Fiddler crab).
Or even not related at all to water - such as these baby Iguana iguana (green Iguana) a reptile, which I will surely keep some time in the future. What a pity they can attain a TL of 1,5 m (5 feet). Given some time and … hoping that Stefania isn’t going to shoot me in the head!!!
That’s all folks (do you remember those cartoons?)… I hope everyone has enjoyed the visit as I did.
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