A BIT ABOUT ME AND MY HOBBY

[Ron Sower]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum here, so if I post this in the wrong area, please let me know how to correct it.  Came on board thru P4Angels' website.  He and his wife have an awesome fishroom with eggs, fry and juvies in almost every tank!

I had fish in multiple tanks from the third grade until I was 30+ years old.  After a 30 year span with a tank on and off again, I restarted my hobby in a big way.  Until a few months ago I had about 21 tanks up and running to breed and raise various species.  Then in the last few months we moved and downsized everything, including my number and sizes of tanks.  It presents a challenge, however, in this hobby one can really be creative.

I now have a 100 gallon Mbuna tank;
a 54 gallon bowfront "multicontinental" species corner tank with rainbows, white clouds, loaches, glowlight danios, SAE, cockatoo apistos, and long-finned bristle nose ancistris;
and several nano tanks, some with fry and some being cycled to receive nano rasboras.

I will be learning how to breed and rear small fish in small tanks.  There's the challenge.

I'm semi-retired, whatever that means, and I put a lot of effort into working in the Greater Seattle Aquarium Society, of which I am the chairperson of the Philanthropy Committee.  My goal for this committee is to place 6-10 aquaria in elementary schools this year under the auspices of our club.  If any of you have done any of this type of work before, I would love to hear from you either on this forum or by direct email at rondsowe@gmail.com.  I'm always open to new ideas from involved hobbiests.

That's the thumbnail sketch!

Looking forward to the experience here and to hearing from you,
Ron (flr)

[BallAquatics]

Hi Ron, welcome to the forum!

Dennis

[Mugwump]

  It sounds like you are a real fishkeeper, Ron. BallAquatics(Dennis) raises some smaller species, perhaps he'll chime in here and compare notes with you?
  Myself, I'm not sure how many tanks that I have running now days...but it's around 1500 gallons. My wife and I, tinker and putz down there all the time. I raise mostly Angelfish , Cory's and some BN's. My wife tinkers with the Cory's and BN's too. We've both had fish tanks for over 40+ yrs, even before we met, or married. It's a great relaxing and rewarding hobby.
  All in all, fish hobbyists are good folks, and we've met the most wonderful friends through the hobby....Aron and Lori, Bob(Capt'n Bob) and Gale, Scott(B125killer),Frank(Frank the Plumber), Bob(ilroost) are a few on here that we are privileged to know personally. The other members, it seems like we know them well too...but just have never met in person...maybe someday, I hope....
  I like your idea to put tanks in schools. That would wonderful, and an education to future ,budding, hobbyists....sweeeeet....good for you..

[Mir]

Welcome! I think your school project sounds awesome. It will be great for them to learn about proper fish care this way vs. getting one of those "teacher kits" from GloFish where they shove six fish in a 5 gallon with a blacklight constantly on them... lol. Good luck with everything. We need to see some PICS soon!

[Barb]

Welcome, glad to have another long time fish keeper join in.  I have had tanks for over 40 years.  Started really young.  How about Endler's livebearers for school tanks?  The kids would love watching the babies being born regularly in the tanks.  Very easy fish to keep, no heater needed, any water, easy to feed flakes, etc.
Barb

[LizStreithorst]

I would be happy to donate some Endlers for the cost of shipping.  They're tiny fish, though.

[P4Angels2]

Ron it's about time you joined this group your gonna have a lot of fun

[ilroost]

welcome Ron

[b125killer]

Welcome to the forum Ron. It's always good to have people on that know alot about the hobby. I have keep many different types of fish off and on for many years. I'm going to start breeding angels soon I hope. This will be the first time I have tried to breed.

As far as tanks in the class room I don't mind but I have had my son bring home gold fish from school. The problem I had was I didn't have a tank set up for for his new fish. Also the teacher never asked the parents if they wanted or had anything for fish. I was told that every kid in the class got some fish. I'm sure not every one had tanks for them or the resources to keep fish. My son got luck that I  had equipment  for his new friend. 

[Ron Sower]

Tanks for the welcome folks.  I'm pleased Aron and Lori had the link to on their website.  It's fun already...!

Miranda... I really don't care much for the "engineered" fish, but they are probably here to stay.  However, I really promote the "natural" type habitats and fishes as much as possible.  Only when I rescue an "engineered" fish do I pass it on to a school, but with plenty of explanation.

Liz...Tanks for the great offer.  I've kept Endlers myself and passed them on to interspecies tanks at 2 schools. They are fairly plentiful and available in our local club.  Maybe for my own interests later I can buy some from you.  What strain(s) do you keep?

b125killer...I'm not a proponent of sending any fish home without prior parental notification and approval.  Thankfully, our program is not promoting that.  I think many of the goldfish go home from school fundraising carnivals and events.  I was fortunate.  My parents always allowed me to bring home almost any kind of aquatic animal...and I was responsible for proper care of them.  So I was lucky enough to bring home the goldfish.        I and another committee member will visit the teacher who wants the aquarium for an initial "consultation".  We find out why they want an aquarium and how they would like to use it in their classroom.  Then we suggest different fish and decor to reach that goal.  We know we have a winner when the teacher tells us they plan for the kids to have specific duties and responsibilities for the care of the fish.  My most recent install has been that way and the teacher has taken this project much further than I could imagine.  She teaches learning disabled kids and she is going to have them teach the more severe learning disabled class how to have and care for an aquarium!!!!!  This is really cool!   Anyway, at the end of the school year we don't send the fish home; we arrange for them to be taken care of through the summer break.

Enough for now.  Good to be here...Ron

[b125killer]

That's cool that you do that for the teachers. And it's good for the students to learn responsibility and proper fish care. but to just send fish home with kids that's not teaching responsibility. It's good that you have a plan for the fish at the end of the year.  I wouldn't mind it that he brought The fish home. It's just that no one asked if we even had a tank for the poor thing. no warning or anything just a fish in a Ziplock Bag.

[Mugwump]

That's cool that you do that for the teachers. And it's good for the students to learn responsibility and proper fish care. but to just send fish home with kids that's not teaching responsibility. It's good that you have a plan for the fish at the end of the year.  I wouldn't mind it that he brought The fish home. It's just that no one asked if we even had a tank for the poor thing. no warning or anything just a fish in a Ziplock Bag.

In my humble opinion, it would necessitate a call to the teacher with a "WTF" is this??..which is what I am sure happened, knowing you....LOL....Book smart teachers don't equate to 'street smart' folks too often...

[b125killer]

I did call the teacher. she told me she had to get rid of the fish and all the kid got some. and that they were feeder fish and what happens to them happens. I told her that without knowing if the students have a tank or knowledge of proper fish care that the fish will die. I also said that it didn't matter if it was a feeder or not once she took the responsibility of having fish she needed to be responsible to how they are dealt with after she is done with them. My son was luck to have someone in the house with the knowledge to keep his new friend alive. Now he is a big happy comet gold fish. I know it was a feeder fish but it deserved better than what that teacher did to him. at least if it was used as food it wouldn't suffer a death by inexperienced people. I would almost bet that most got flushed as soon as they got home. or keep in a bowl to suffer until it died. Even when I had piranhas I keep my feeders in there own tank and they were feed and cared for till there time was up. I even kept a few in there as pets because they looked cool.

[Jdmcfast]

Welcome Ron! Looking forward to getting to know you and reading all your future posts. Good luck with your new projects.

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