'Fish helped me after a car crash - now I sell them'

A man's love for tropical fish helped him in his lowest moments after he was seriously hurt in a car crash - and now he has turned his therapy into a career he says he is "living the dream".

Stephen Halsey, 38, of Moreton, Wirral, was driving a car on the M56 in 2016 when it collided with a HGV, leaving him so badly injured he needed to use a wheelchair for the next six years.

He said his father used to breed tropical fish and he had "the bug" to do it too, so he built a "fish room" at his house containing about 100 tanks.

Mr Halsey opened Wirral Aquatics last year and the store - which has a children's play area and a weekly fish club - has already won a string of awards.

He said fish helped his mental health after the crash and during the Covid 19 pandemic they were something which brought him "calm and solace".

He said: "My dream, like a lot of fishkeepers, was one day to have my own shop."

When the opportunity came up, Mr Halsey jumped at the chance and opened his shop in September 2024.

He said: "I'm living the dream.

"It doesn't feel like a job; I get to come and chat to people about fish every day."

The Moreton store holds a weekly "fish club" with refreshments for people to come to chat about aquatics.

"We've got quite a few customers that either live by themselves or have been in a situation like myself who use keeping fish... to help with their mental health," he said.

He said when he set up the business he wanted to make it family-friendly by including a play area, and now holds regular children's colouring competitions.

"I spent years going round shops with my kids and they get bored really quickly, so it was kind of like trying to have somewhere for them," he said.

The staff also maintain the fish tanks at Arrowe Park Hospital's children's department as volunteers.

He said he was "gobsmacked" at being named retailer of the year in Practical Fishkeeping magazine's 2025 awards, and finishing runner-up in the independent retailer of the year category.

His shop was also listed among the magazine's top 40 UK stores.

"We are still very new in the industry," he said.

"We're this tiny little tadpole compared to some of the businesses that have been around for years."

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