Photo credits

These photos show the hobby in general. They aren’t Hidden Reef stock and they don’t show the events in the news stories. Each one is listed with its photographer, source and licence. We resized them and converted them to WebP, and some layouts crop the edges. The article text is original writing, with sources listed on each story.

A yellow and dark clownfish swimming beside pale anemone tentacles.

Photo by Hatem Moushir. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: EXIF orientation normalized; resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 80. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

A planted freshwater aquascape with lush green plants and branching driftwood.

Photo by Duc Viet Bui. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

A vivid fluorescent green coral colony against a dark background.

Photo by Vincent Niochet. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

A striped red lionfish with long, fanned fins beside a textured aquarium wall.

Photo by Fernando Losada Rodríguez. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: EXIF orientation normalized; resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

A Duncan coral colony with pale tentacles extending from clustered round polyps against a dark background.

Photo by Julia Sumangil. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

A bright yellow tang swimming past coral in an aquarium.

Photo by Amada44. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges.

A red and blue betta with long, spread fins in an aquarium.

Photo by Henryk Niestrój. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges.

Looking down at a frozen garden pond with leaves on the ice and stones along the edge.

Photo by Accuruss (Russ Dionne). Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.

A small translucent grey-green shrimp with yellow-orange patches and fine dark speckles, side view.

Photo by Kongkit Macharoenboon, Thomas von Rintelen, Werner Klotz, Chirasak Sutcharit, Warut Siriwut and Ekgachai Jeratthitikul (ZooKeys). Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Changes: Panel C cropped from the published figure to remove the panel letter, scale bar and neighbouring panels; not resized; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing.

Pale pastel table corals across a shallow reef, showing heat stress before bleaching.

Photo by Ryan Goehrung. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

An orange and white clownfish nestled among the tentacles of a sea anemone.

Photo by Diego Delso. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Several pale albino corydoras catfish feeding together on the aquarium bottom.

Photo by Gabriel Resende Veiga. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: Bottom 20% cropped to remove the aquarium frame; resized; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Two small spotted snapping shrimp sheltering among the golden arms of a feather star.

Photo by Rickard Zerpe. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.

A Victorian engraving of people dredging from a small sailing boat off chalk cliffs.

Photo by Philip Henry Gosse (scan: Biodiversity Heritage Library). Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: Public domain

Changes: Page margins and printed caption cropped; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing.

A three-spined stickleback seen from the side, with an orange throat and blue-green sheen.

Photo by Gilles San Martin. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.

Close-up of coral polyps releasing pale spawn bundles into dark water.

Photo by NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (Flower Garden Banks NMS). Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: Public domain

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges.

A transparent rotifer under the microscope, with its ciliated head, body and an oval egg beside it.

Photo by Sofdrakou. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Assorted aquarium filter media: pale foam, white ceramic rings, a black plastic bio-ball and reddish porous granules.

Photo by BS Thurner Hof (German Wikipedia). Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 3.0 (originally GFDL, relicensed).

Upright green stems of Bacopa caroliniana with paired rounded leaves, growing above water.

Photo by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz. Original photo and source page (opens in a new tab)

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Changes: Resized without cropping; converted to WebP quality 82. No generative editing. Display layouts may crop the edges. This derivative image remains licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Diagrams

Drawn for Aquarium News with AI help. They’re simplified teaching pictures, not photos, product tests or scale drawings. The sources behind them are listed in each story.

Four illustrated steps: open a tissue-culture cup, rinse away growing medium, separate small portions, and plant. Substrate-planting example only.

From cup to aquarium

Original schematic: substrate planting is shown. Keep Anubias rhizomes exposed; follow the species instructions.

Evaporation removes water but leaves salt behind: top off with appropriate fresh water. A saltwater water change removes both: replace with prepared saltwater.

Two different water replacements

Original schematic, not a dosing chart. Verify the cause of a water-level change and measure salinity.

Mechanical media trap particles; biological media host microbes; chemical media target substances. A medium can perform more than one job.

The jobs inside a filter

Original schematic. Identify each medium’s job and follow the filter manufacturer’s care instructions.

Schematic: fish waste and food become ammonia; bacteria turn ammonia into nitrite, then nitrate; water changes remove nitrate. Stock lightly for the first weeks and test until nitrite falls.

How a new tank builds its biofilter

Original schematic of the nitrogen cycle in a new aquarium; simplified and not to scale.

Three test vials beside a log card listing tank, date and time, test and kit, result with units, context and the next check. Example entry only, not a target value.

A water-test log entry

Original schematic of a test-log entry; the values are an example, not a recommended level.