My name is Haakon Haagensen, born August 4th 1978 in Bergen, Norway where I still live. I have been around aquariums since the age of twelve, first as a hobbyist and later also as a worker in the ornamental fish industry. My career started at the age of 14, when I was offered the opportunity to take care of the aquarium department at my local pet store. I have not left the industry since, and can now look back at over 30 years of experience with dealing aquarium fish and everything related to it. Today I work as a store manager for Dogman & Friends in one of the largest pet shops in Norway. Through my work, I was from early on able to see and keep a huge selection of fish. My fascination for catfishes in particular grew fast, and around the millennium shift I got in touch with a German guy named Ingo Seidel. This was my “way in” to the international catfish community, and opened up a new world of doing articles, taking pictures and later on doing talks at events outside of Norway.
I have been lucky enough to have my pictures used in scientific publications, and I have done several articles for international magazines like DATZ, Amazonas, IGBSSW and Practical Fishkeeping. For the last decade I have been part of the group which publishes new L-Numbers in DATZ magazine. My most significant written work is the Amazonas magazine articles “Chaos In Black & White” (2014) and “Chaos In Black & White II: The Threat Is Real”(2025), dealing with the issue of variation among the many types of Hypancistrus from Rio Xingu, Brazil. I still keep and breed various types of catfishes, mostly Loricariidae species.
I did my first international talk at the L-Number Days in germany in 2013. I have since been back at the L-Number Days, the Catfish Study Group convention in the UK a few times, the All-Aquarium Catfish Convention and the Ohio Cichlid Association Extravaganza, both in the US. I have also done talks for events in Poland and Austria, as well as several in Norway of course. My lectures focus on catfishes and dwarf cichlids. This has given me the opportunity to meet many of my fellow fishkeeper friends in person, which is always fun! If you represent a club or an event and would like me to give one of the presentations below drop me an email at haakonhaagensen@gmail.com or drop me a message on Facebook!
