The Water Gardener’s Bible

I have been fascinated by the aquatic world since I was a teenager. I found it amazing that by adding water to an aquarium or pond, paying attention to the particular conditions within that artificial creation, that you could not only keep but also breed creatures, plants and fish from all over the world.

My interest in ‘aquatics’ led me to have an insatiable demand for information on different tropical fish, saving pocket money for new fish, and asking for aquarium books for birthday presents. In my late ‘teens, I even started working in a local water garden and aquarium shop for nothing – it was sufficient reward just to be able to spend time in contact with fish, aquaria, pumps, plants and filters.

I studied marine biology at university, and wrote a thesis on feeding and digestion in African Tilapia (It was 3 years of pleasure rather than hard work!). Leaving university, I was presented with the opportunity to farm koi for a living, and then a few years later, helped create a new fish farming and aquatic department at a land-based college. Five great years working with fish and students who wanted to learn about how to farm and earn a living from fish and the aquatic world led me back into the commercial world, as the marketing and product manager for a pond and koi food brand in the UK.

There I also answered lots of pond keeper’s questions and queries and toured UK and USA giving talks and presentations on ponds and koi keeping. It was during this time that I wrote hundreds of articles for pond and koi magazines around the world – many of which are published free for you on this site.

I hope you find what you want on the site – it’s a pleasure to share and help you in any way that I can. If you are still hungry for more extensive, refined and professional advice on ponds, then I do recommend my book of the same name ‘The Water Gardener’s Bible’.

Best wishes – and successful pond keeping,

Ben Helm
Water Gardener’s Bible