I am Lucious Stirling and I created Botanico.
Botanico is a premium aquatic business that is in pursuit of breeding the rarest fish in the UK. I started this journey in July 2026 and now have already amassed a community of 3000 followers across all social media platforms.
At Botanico hospitality is one of our core values and we seek to create a trusting and exciting relationship with our customers. We think the best way to earn your trust is to take you through our journey from Day 1.
It all began in
In 2024 I set up an ebay store called Botanico to sell surplus plant cuttings and sedums. After I sold out on multiple occasions I decided to try my luck at selling other plants. I put a tub in my greenhouse and started growing dwarf water lettuce and duckweed. I managed to sell out all my stocks and decided next year I was going to focus on selling aquatic plants.
In the summer of 2025 my greenhouse was swarmed with ikea tubs filled to the brink with murky water and aquatic plants. I also had four tanks inside growing amazon swords and eventually had to move them into my greenhouse due to frequent spillages. I grew some lovely plants and made a decent profit from it all and had a great time doing so. However in late summer as the weather started cooling down I had a decision to make - sell out now whilst the plants are still healthy or try and keep the plants alive over winter. Ignorant of my abilities to maintain my greenhouse temperature above freezing, I chose the latter and in December 2025 all my plants had died.
In the spring of 2026 I decided to start again. I would be going to uni soon and wanted to raise money to help me achieve this goal. So I thought I might as well do it while doing something I enjoy. I built a whole new setup in my greenhouse, researched different species of tropical fish, rare fish and valuable sectors of the aquarium business. I eventually fell upon Medaka - (Japanese rice fish) and chose a rare variety known as Grandblue KWF. To my knowledge there are only 3 breeders in the UK that breed this specific variety and this is exactly the reason I chose it. It's now late September in 2026 and as temperatures cool down I have many obstacles ahead before I reach my first milestone of paying all my upfront costs of £1100. You can follow my journey on my Instagram and Facebook page (BotanicoUK) to see how I will solve the challenges ahead.
Thank you for following the journey.