• Tweet

Aquarium Fish International, formerly known as Aquarium Fish Magazine or AFM for short is slated to run its last issue of what was once the leading publication on all things aquarium in the United States. As a youngun’ just getting his start in the nineties Aquarium Fish Magazine was an indispensable resource for learning about news, animals and techniques for keeping everything from african cichlids, rainbowfish, plecos, planted tanks, reef tanks, corals and we eagerly awaited every month’s new issue. 

Just a little over two years ago the famous Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine (FAMA) closed its doors but at the time at least its writers and resources were combined into AFI. This time around, AFI and the remnants of FAMA will be closed for good, with the October 2012 issue to be the final printed issue of Aquarium Fish International that you’ll be able to pick up on newsstands. Although the aquarium hobby is as strong and exciting as ever, the growing costs of print publishing and the rise of blogs like Reef Builders makes it more and more challenging for physical magazines to exist.

We are sad to see Aquarium Fish International closing down, but you can rest assured that good information will still be delivered to aquarists in a myriad of forms. There once was a time when Aquarium Fish Magazine was a ground-breaking publication and we’ll never forget seeing that first image of a zebra pleco on the cover of AFM. Do you have any strong memories of AFM back in its heyday? If so let us know in the comments down below.