You have decided to be a fish keeper, or you are at least thinking about it. You have been impressed by an aquarium you have seen recently, or perhaps you are looking for an interesting spare time activity. You may not realize it, but you are standing at a crossroads! Ahead of you lies just not a new hobby, but, provided you take the right path, a lifetime of enjoyment and a host of new friends. The other roads, however lead to disillusionment and disaster, and yet another aquarium for sale advertisement in the local classified web sites. BAH aims to point you in the right direction, and to ensure that you stay on the straight and narrow thereafter. Our unique hands-on approach tells you what to do, but also what to avoid. Between us we have more years of fish keeping experience than we care to remember, during which, like all aquarist we have learnt from our mistakes and we have come across most of the other likely pitfalls and problems. We hope to help you avoid them. You may find us sometimes blunter than other society or groups, but that is because there must be no misunderstandings where innocent lives are at stake. The key to success is always to know what you are doing before you start doing it. That may sounds obvious, but it’s astonishing how many people think fish keeping is just matter of filling an aquarium with water and adding fishes. Everyone knows that water can be hard or soft, so why assume all fishes will thrive in what comes out of a particular tap? And hardness is just one of the parameters to be considered. From the fishes view point it is irrelevant that you are only a beginner- if you don’t get it right then they will be at best stressed, at worst dead. The moment you acquire a fish you become responsible for its welfare, hence our golden rule: no matter how expert you become, always do your homework first. We cannot hope to tell you everything you will ever need to know, nor can we guarantee success – that still depends on you – but we will guide you through the basic principles of aquarium management. We will discuss the role the aquarist can – and should – play in conservation, a topic which nowadays is increasingly important in our hobby. New species help to stimulate continued interest and fresh blood is needed to strengthen captive breed lines, but over- exploitation of wild stock must be avoided. it is essential that every aquarist shows a responsible attitude, taking the best possible care of his or her fishes, and making every attempt to breed them. As your experience increases, you will realize that your new hobby can, if you choose, involve far more than a living- room ornament or casual pastime. You may become a botanist, entomologist, geologist, handyman – the list is almost endless. No matter in which directions your interest lead you , we hope BAH will be your guiding light.