My name is Adam Critien and I have been fascinated by wildlife since I was about 3 years old. My greatest interest though has always been the aquatic world; and I setup my first coldwater aquarium when I was around 10 or 11 years old.

In the nearly 20 years since setting up that first tank I have kept a huge variety of freshwater, brackish and marine fish, and numerous corals, invertebrates, macroalgaes and freshwater plants. I've also worked in an aquarium shop and later a freshwater fish wholesaler, run a coral farm, worked with a major public aquarium, worked as a Volunteer Zookeeper at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, had my home aquarium system featured in Practical Fishkeeping Magazine; and even served on the magazine's 'Panel of Experts' - covering reader's questions on coral propagation.

Me "meeting" a Reticulated Giraffe in Florida, November 2006.

During my fishkeeping 'career' I have been fortunate enough to have met and worked with some great people at some great places, where I have learnt much. Below are some of the standout 'highlights' of my aquatic experiences, and some of my future plans. I have also started work on a list of every species of Fish, Plant, Invertebrate, Plant, Macroalgae and a few other oddments that I have kept over the years. This list continues to grow...!

		I worked at Hertfordshire Fisheries for around 3 years - most of my earnings were spent in store on fish and plants for the 6 freshwater aquariums I was running at the time! I then moved to a freshwater fish wholesaler where I worked as their Fish-house Manager, and continued adding to my home aquariums!

		I started farming corals at home (with a 650 litre system consisting of 5 linked tanks - all in my bedroom!), and eventually setup my own coral farming business. I traded as 'The Other World' via a dedicated website www.the-other-world.co.uk

		Having made contact with the curator of the Brighton Sea Life Centre I was offered the chance to work in partnership with them, with the aim of creating a huge coral farming display totaling over 6000 litres in volume. Naturally I jumped at the chance!

		My home coral farming reef system was featured in PFK's 'Marine Fishkeeping' special - published in December 2003. The publicity and public interest this generated was hugely helpful as I was trying to promote my coral farming activities, and new venture with Brighton Sea Life Centre at the time. Several photos of parts of my reef system appeared throughout the rest of the magazine!

		The Brighton Sea Life Centre system was featured in the June 2004 issue of the magazine. The article explored the history of the display and our plans for stocking and running the display once completed. There was also a mini "How to" article on to propagating soft corals. As an added bonus, one of the Labrid Wrasse in my home system starred on the front cover of the magazine!

		In November 2006 I visited Orlando in Florida. Highlights of the trip (aside from getting engaged to my long-term girlfriend!) included encountering a 7' Alligator, wild turkeys and poisonous Banana Spiders while out mountain-biking, seeing a family of wild Manatees in their natural habitat, and hand-feeding captive-bred Reticulated Giraffe at the Busch Gardens theme park. The major fishkeeping highlight however was snorkeling in several natural springs, and swimming alongside a 4' Spotted Garfish, as well as observing wild Cichlids and Livebearers in their natural setting.

		The June 2007 issue of PFK features an article I wrote - "Breaking the Surface" - covering how to set up and maintain freshwater Paludariums; including some "How to" information on setting up a planted Amazonian paludarium.

		The October 2007 issue of PFK contains an article I wrote - "Playing the Clown" - covering how to keep Clown Shrimps, Hymenocera picta, in a marine system. I successfully kept one of these amazing creatures long-term and developed a method of propagating nusciance Asterina starfish to satisfy the Clown Shrimp's specialist feeding needs, which is covered in the article.
		Between June 2007 and February 2008 I worked alternate Sundays at Whipsnade Wild Animal Park as a Volunteer Zookeeper. Working in the 'Discovery Centre' I was working with a large collection of Reptiles, Freshwater Turtles, Amphibians, Fish, Insects and Mammals. It was an amazing experience, and I'm extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to work at Whipsnade.

Future Plans

My fiancee and I have just brought a new house on the South coast. We're planning on setting up some breeding tanks for Dwarf Cichlids (mainly Apistogramma's), a Terrarium for Alabama Map Turtles, and an enclosure for Sugar Gliders. We're also hoping to setup a reef tank using only captive-grown fish, corals and invertebrates. As soon as these displays have been setup, I'll post some pictures in the photo album.

I'm also hoping to write a few more articles for this website on some of the species I have kept in the past. I am passionate about conservation, so this is an area I hope to get involved in in the future. Please watch this space...!