Ingo Seidel was born in 1967 in the northern German town of Delmenhorst. After training as a mathematical-technical assistant at a large electronics company in Bremen, he turned his hobby into a career in 2001 and moved to the Berlin area. Since then he has been working as a research assistant for one of the largest ornamental fish wholesalers in Germany.

His main interest has always been the fish fauna of the South American continent and he quickly discovered that catfish were his true love. From 1992 to 2006, he headed the catfish division of the BSSW working group (now IG BSSW). He has been editor of the BSSW Report for several years.

Over the years, he has been able to breed countless armored catfish, loricariid catfish and several other fish species in his aquariums. He has traveled to tropical South America, Africa and Asia and is also an enthusiastic photographer. Ingo is the author of many articles in various aquarium magazines and has published several books since 2002, mainly on armored and loricariid catfish.