The Nuremberg Interzoo 2022 ended some weeks ago, and we’re here, finally, to tell you everything about it, starting with our usual in-depth editorial about this important aquaristic event, which happens every two years.

This has been a very particular year, because the 2020 in-person event was cancelled due to the CoronaVirus, and was replaced with an online event. Needless to say, we were very curious to attend the exhibition this year. It was great, even more than our expectations. But let’s proceed. We, as usual, covered the whole Interzoo 2022 and we came back home with more than 1800 pictures and 130 videos. We already edited the video, but the photos will take a bit more time. In the next weeks we will release more articles the exhibition, booth by booth. And we can assure you than every booth had something interesting to tell, so we suggest that you stay tuned so you won’t miss the surprises, both from well-known and unknown companies. If you bookmark this page you can return to visit it and consult the articles that we’re going to add at the end of the page. This is my eighth Interzoo and I’m positive it’s the most important exhibition about pets’ world. A lot of things changed since the first one, but one has remained the same: the ones who matter come to Interzoo! And those that miss it… looses!

Let’s start with our video of Interzoo 2022

Do you want to see the booths we visited? Watch this video for a tour of Interzoo and a brief comment. The video is in Italian, but you can turn the English subtitles on. https://youtu.be/fAMKY_8BP4U

Let’s begin with the numbers!

The event’s organization said that this year’s Interzoo had 28,000 visitors, with a decrease of 28% compared to the 39,000 participants of the previous one. The aquaristic companies numbered about 170, -54% compared to the previous 369, and 1365 in total, -33% compared to 2019. It’s obvious that the pandemic left a mark. 33% fewer exhibitors overall, and 54% fewer in aquaristic. But this didn’t prevent the exhibition from being interesting and appealing, with serious news. The exhibitors all said that they were really satisfied; even if there were less people the visitors were more interested and willing to do business. Everywhere you could see the desire to meet again. Very, very beautiful.

My fellow travelers were great, we were able to cover almost all the booths we wanted. Since there were less exhibitors, we were able to chat a bit with almost everyone. But it’s hard to visit everything in only 3 days. We know that you’ll appreciate our effort and reporting!

Compared to the previous edition there were less aquariums, both marine and freshwater. We missed seeing Korallen Zucht and WhiteCorals, but especially the beautiful tank of Dejong MarineLife. Every year we expected it, but this time they didn’t attend. But we saw very beautiful ones, as you will see. Reef Factory, AquaForest had very amazing marine aquariums with beautiful corals. All these booths have a dedicated article, but you can check out the video if you want a peek.

There were more fresh water aquariums, mostly by Aquascaping, because of the ease of setup.

Few fish. Few discus, except for a remarkable aquarium at OASE, and some beautiful angelfish. A couple of koi carps, always at OASE. The trend is of a b2b fair, that is designed for sellers and companies that don’t need to see a set up tank to decide the value of a tank or an accessory.

As we said, the participation of the visitors has decreased, due to a decision made by the fair organization four years ago: just a business exhibition with no opportunity to participate if you aren’t credited. Nothing that you can’t bypass, but in any case they kept away families and the simply curious. Below there are some of the products that we’ll analyze in depth in the next days:

We met a lot of friends, producers, and characters. We didn’t get to take a picture of all of them, but you’ll see some pictures in the following articles.

As usual we’ll try to give you the most accurate information possible about the most interesting products that were on display.

Now let’s give the floor to Andrea Carmagnola, a friend of us that came with us for the first time.

Andrea Carmagnola and Interzoo 2022

First of all I want to thank Danilo and DaniReef’s guys for the opportunity to visit Nuremberg Interzoo 2022. It has been a unique experience. It was the first time for me in such an important exhibition; I was pretty amazed by this aquaristic world and the passion of the people, both exhibitors and traders. I though I knew this world quite enough, because I’ve been a fan since I was young, but in truth it was like being a kid the first day of school. I learned a lot.

I will always be grateful to Danilo, Giorgio and Simone for their patience and for all the answers to my many, many, many questions.

This passion for the aquaristic world has always a big part of my life. I had my first aquarium when I was four… And now, also thanks to DaniReef, I’m finally succeeding in combine this passion with my job as environment designer, a dream come true!

I always preferred the freshwater world, so the marine is always a discovery for me. In particular, I love the amazon biotopes and the beautiful Symphysodon (better known as discus).

Given my passions I’ve obviously been linked to OASE, a brand that I really like both for the aesthetics and the functionality of their products. I had the opportunity to get to know them better at their booth; I was amazed by their new biOrb Earth 125, a new vivarium that enlarges the family of biOrb and that will be on the market in the next months… I really can’t wait! It’s a closed system that allows one to recreate a biotope very easily thanks to all the integrated functions, the humidity and the temperature, the lighting and every adjustable parameter, for the formation of an ideal ecosystem. The perfect product for anyone who wants to recreate a corner of nature in their home.

OASE also showcased a new surface skimmer, CrystalSkim, in two dimensions 350 and 500, that I’m really looking forward to test. It must be a real bomb!

For marine aquariums I could write a whole list of products that caught my eye, but I’ll try to comment on just the ones that interested me and that I’m going to use in the tank I’m setting up.

The first one is the Abyzz return pump, which actually isn’t a new product. Not many others compare with their incredible power and the warranty that represents the brand itself.

I also liked a lot of the Schego products, that until the exhibition I had only known by name. They have very interesting heaters available in two lines: one ready to be put directly in the tank, the other more delicate, and designed for an external system thanks to the metal coil it’s made of; both can reach 600 watts of power.

I’ll conclude with Fauna Marin: I couldn’t tell which was the best product but surely the new ICP tests and the Balling system impressed me and these are the two things I’m going to deepen my knowledge about. I already said this and I don’t want to bore anyone but believe me, it only took me a few days in there to fall in love with this world even more. I’m waiting for September so that I can visit MACNA too… if Danilo still wants to put up with me! Now we will proceed with Simone Baglioni.

Simone Baglioni, Hioct999 and  Interzoo 2022

Everybody waited so long for Interzoo 2022. After four years since the last exhibition, because the 2020 edition had been filed due to the COVID, we were also a little worried because of the absence of some companies from South-East Asia and many other leading companies, both American and European (Italian included), possibly because of the ongoing war in East Europe. At the same time, though, the expectations were really high. At first impression, a sense of frustration and loss took us. Those that saw the event in the past years were used to seeing many pavilions dedicated to aquariology. This year, the restricted number of booths limited our visit to 4-5 pavilions while other pets groups had much more space. And with the spread of e-commerce many worldwide companies preferred to present their products online, to avoid investing so many human and financial resources to attend the exhibition. Right now we can’t say if this choice has been successful. But what we stated is that all the operators that came to Nuremberg found themselves with many new enthusiasts, leaving the city with new contacts and business.

We noticed a good quantity of visitors and movement. Then, speaking of news, I can say I saw several fascinating items. There will be time to deepen my report on some of the most interesting products, for now I just want to quote some: I saw many people interested in multi parameter photometric tests (just one tool to use all the reagents), with ICP tests made available by many companies and not just one or two brands.

The selection of food was various and diverse for every kind of fish and coral. There was less news about basic techniques, like lighting, whose only news were from China. Ecotech Marine displaced us by launching the new Radion G6 practically in conjunction with Interzoo, but it’s a sign of the decentralization of the market. The skimmers have already reached high standards of performance so it’s difficult to find other valid alternatives to present. Calcium reactors faded into the background, the trend now is the Balling method, so right now almost every company has its own line. There were some news in the pumps field, increasingly driven towards devices for home assistance.

In conclusion, in the three days spent at Interzoo we figured out that, even if it was far different from the previous editions, it was the new start that we needed, with good ideas to work on for the future. So we stand by our positive opinion, waiting for an even greater return, hoping that the news laws coming in Europe for animal importation won’t irretrievably affect the future of our hobby. Here it is my personal ranking of the most interesting products at the exhibition: 3) The automatic shaking zeolite reactor presented by AGP; 2) The photometric tester Exaqua able to do measurements on various parameters with the option to use reagents of other origin (after buying the license); 

1) The fantastic biOrb EARTH 125 by OASE, a technologically advanced terrarium for the total control of habitats, with an intriguing design that embellishes every place. Enjoy reading the upcoming articles!

Comments, questions and requests are very welcomed! You can write them here in the comments or in any other of our social channels. If you liked the article, feel free to share with other aquarists! [translated by Agnese Poggi]