It’s like the ‘Top of the Trops’ this month. We kick off with Steve Baker’s all time top five barbs, before launching ourselves into the top ten biotope layouts of 2019’s coveted Biotope Aquarium Design Contest.

We’re also hoping to inspire you through some winter projects in this issue, taking an in-depth look at Hamburg-matten filters (and how to make them), as well as guiding you through making your own river manifold. Always wanted to keep hillstream fish in crashing water? Well, now you can.

This month we’ve revised how we do our retailer visits. Rather than hastily racing around three or four shops in a day, we’ve chosen to start focusing on our favourites, bringing you an immersive report on just what makes them so good. We begin with Wildwoods down at Enfield — a particular PFK sweetheart.

Nathan Hill, Editor