THE INDOOR WETLANDS STORY

I have been into the fish hobby since I was 7 years old. Around this age, I have been obsessing about having a pet fish to the point I almost got into trouble trying to catch mosquito fish from a nearby community creek (more like a sewage dump). I once tried to convince my mother not to cook a live full grown tilapia she bought from a street peddler, so I can keep it as a pet.

Having done well in school (and making it consistently in the top 3 honor roll) my parents asked me what reward I wanted that one summer. In a pet shop in Las Piñas, we got a 1-gallon glass fish bowl decorated with orange and green plastic plants, multi-colored gravel, and a "NO FISHING" ornament, stocked with a couple of black mollies and swordtails. That was my first aquarium.

Our 1-gallon upgraded into a 2.5 gallon tank, to 20-gallons, then to a customized 300. I've kept goldfishes, angels, barbs, tetras, danios, cichlids, gouramis, snakeheads, flowerhorns, arowanas, kois, fortune lobsters and turtles—all of which ended up either being given away or dying. Like some insufferable beginner, one can keep fish for years but still doesn't know any better especially if he won't bother to do some self-study and research. Have you ever washed your overhead filter with detergent soap and tap water? I did. Did you once keep tiger barbs, convict cichlids, and angels all at the same time in one 20-gallon tank? Guilty. A flower horn died of electrocution because it seemingly found enjoyment in attacking and biting the submersible pump's power cord. Wait—ok, that's one's not my fault. 

As life would have it, by the end of my elementary years, throughout high school, college and early years in the television workforce, I kind of got busy and forgot about the hobby. There were times the "itch for fish" would come back, would buy and set up the tank on a whim, then after a few months would forget about it again following several fish kills. 

In 2007, I happened to chance upon an online forum about planted aquariums and Takashi Amano (the father of modern-day aquascaping) that caught my interest. That's when I truly began reading and researching about the science behind the hobby. The problem however was that there was so little to no available information about the concept of low-demand versus high-demanding aquatic plants back then—to keep a successful planted aquarium, you have to have CO2 injection systems. Moreover, materials and quality equipment were expensive and hard to come by in the Philippines at that time. Given the predicament, I decided to push through the project with my existing aquarium equipment and DIY options. With great determination and very limited yuppie budget, I attempted my first planted aquarium.  

Needless to say, the attempt failed yet again and I decided to move on with my life. The planted tank only lasted for a month, and as soon as the last aquatic plant melted, my younger brother converted it into a bare bottom flower horn aquarium.

It was in 2019, all seemed to be doing great with my life when I fell ill and had to step back from a thriving career to slow down a little. During this period, I didn't know what to do with my life. I was unemployed and still recovering, and I know I needed to do something about my situation. I asked God for some guidance on what to do, to give me a sign on what could be the next chapter for me. 

I was watching a video on Youtube as a form of therapy when a suggested video about nature aquarium popped on my screen. It was a video series by Foo The Flowerhorn chronicling the setting up, maintenance of a Walstad planted aquarium, and the hand-feeding of Kartoffel the betta fish. No talkies, just videos and relaxing music. How the betta was fed with a pair of pincers, the trimming and replanting of plants with the tweezers were so meditative and a thing of mindfulness. The video brought me so much calm that I ended up binge watching one video after another. I forgot so much how aquarium made me feel so happy as a kid and officially, I was hooked again. It led me to researching nature aquariums and fishes once more and boy, how the hobby has evolved since 2007!

Determined to succeed this time, I thought I'd start small. I went to the biggest fish place near my city and got me aquascaping materials, a half-moon betta, and a 1.5 gallon fish bowl (yes, I still did some wrong stuff here, before you kill me please know I have it all figured out by now). Suffice to say, in my second attempt I had built my first successful no-filter, no-CO2, no-fertilizer Walstad planted bowl. The betta was named 'Arriba.' 

Inspired by Foo The Flowerhorn, I wanted to document my observations and fishkeeping journey with Arriba, so I made an Instagram account for my fish on May 27, 2019. Toying on the idea of having a little slice of water ecosystem inside the comforts of my small space (I live in a condo), I named the account 'The Indoor Wetlands.'   I also began experimenting on aquatic plants, creating nano paludariums in small glass vases I called "mini water gardens." A friend saw my piece of work and offered to buy it. My brother asked me to set up two 10-gallons and a 2.5 betta tank for him, so I had so much good practice.  

After a while, I was contemplating making a full-blown brand out of Arriba's fish Instagram account. Not soon after, three more friends asked me to make some more mini water gardens for them, while another commissioned me to set up a 15-gallon aquarium for her new Nuvali home. Then, another commissioned build after another. What started out as a hobby, clearly is turning out to become a little business that even helped pay the bills. We've come full circle.

Finally on June 18, 2019, around 3AM in the morning, I created and posted the official logo for "The Indoor Wetlands," and the rest as they say was history.