Fish Story Aquarium and Rescue, Naples, FL; two 4500 gal 13'x13'x4.5'

thebiggerthebetter

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Naples, FL, USA
Thanks, guys!

Naples is a waterside gem of SW FL on the Gulf of Mexico. South of Naples is pretty much Everglades but also Marco Island and Everglades City. On I-75 to the north is Fort Myers ~45 min by car, Port Charlotte ~1 h, Sarasota ~1 h 45 min, Tampa / St. Petersburg ~2 h. Hop on I-4 connecting I-75 and I-95 and in ~3 h is Orlando, ~5.5 h to Jacksonville.

South on I-75 (aka Alligator Alley, formally south but in reality ~ straight east) is Ft. Lauderdale ~1.5 h, Miami ~1 h 45 min.

A bit south of Miami is Homestead, ~2 hours from us. Route 41 is scenic and runs through Everglades ((((((midway there is an awesome free place to see gators, fish, birds, reptiles up close and personal but still in the wild - Oasis Visitor Center - Big Cypress National Preserve http://www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/oasis-visitor-center.htm ))))). It's slower and shorter. I-75 Alligator Alley is not so scenic but longer and faster. So ~ the same time.

**************************************************************

We are open to friendly "preview" visits by appointment for now. Free of charge, of course (not that there is that much to see yet anyway), until we open to public at large.

We are always happy to see fellow fish enthusiasts but keep in mind I am often quite busy. As you can imagine I have lots on my plate and I am pretty much alone. We've started our little venture 4 years ago and we need to open soon, says my worn-out conscience and my bread-winning wife :)

The address is both business and residence. We live here too, hence, please be considerate. No drive-by is possible anyway. The dead-end road is small, private, and we are the last property behind a gate:

Fish Story Public Aquarium and Fish Rescue
316 Morgan Rd
Naples, FL 34114

Name's Viktor. Cell 239-595-8586 (no texting).
 
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wednesday13

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Well done sir, and congrats! Beautiful setups. I love big fish in big understocked tanks, thats doing it right. Looks like ill need to plan a florida trip in the future.
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cgibby

Jack Dempsey
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wish you the best of luck with this awesome project viktor great to see something like this being done and someone as qualified and devoted to it as you are


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raideranch

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Cool story, what is that electric yellow catfish? Thx

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thebiggerthebetter

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Thanks, mates! When things go wrong, and they will, they always do, and my enthusiasm nears the end of its rope, I'll think of you :)

Cool story, what is that electric yellow catfish? Thx
What used to be known as Hemibagris nemurus (the formerly-3-species Hemibagrus genus has recently been split into 18, so I am not sure for now) http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=36790&p=283968#p283968 . We ~ only get albinos. They are extensively farmed for food in SE Asia. These are sometimes erroneously called ARTC, Asian RTC, which they are not.
 

SuperDave

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Some Epic fish there man, Nice :)
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Snapped some photos today -

Silver Arowana x3,
Blind IDS (most likely ID),
Harlequin shark (Labeo variegatus),
albino Hemibagrus nemurus,
Leiarius marmoratus x2,
Leiarius pictus x3,
Oxydoras niger x2,
RTC,

Skinned IDS - WARNING - gruesome pics. I had made an error placing my three IDS and the Harlequin shark in one tank initially. In 2 days, I saw the shark started chasing and bothering the IDSs, suctioning to their body. When I returned by nighttime, the shark would not stop, having ignored the food. So I rehomed it into the other 4500 gal. The biggest IDS (2.5') got 95% of the "action". It didn't look so bad at first. Not much of discoloration at all. Looked like soft, very minor, large area, very weak abrasions / imprints. So I thought the Harlequin shark was merely rasping the slime. But in 2 days, the skin on the IDS crusted up and in a week or two it fell off from all of the damaged areas. It's been ~ a month now since the attacks and the big IDS has been healing up so far, so good. It got skinned on both sides. Blind IDS rescue got some damage too. The third smallest IDS has not been damaged.

TSN,
Jau x2 (Zungaro zungaro), ~28" and ~22".

Arowana 1.JPG

Arowana 2.JPG

Arowana 3.JPG

Blind IDS.JPG

Group.JPG

Harlequin shark 1.JPG

Harlequin shark 2.JPG

Harlequin shark 3.JPG

Hemibagrus nemurus 1.JPG

Hemibagrus nemurus 2.JPG

Hemibagrus nemurus 3.JPG

Leiarius marmoratus 1.JPG

Leiarius marmoratus 2.JPG

Leiarius marmoratus 3.JPG

Leiarius pictus 1.JPG

Leiarius pictus 2.JPG

Leiarius pictus 3.JPG

Leiarius pictus 4.JPG

Leiarius pictus 6.JPG

Oxydoras niger 1.JPG

Oxydoras niger 2.JPG

Oxydoras niger 3.JPG

RTC.JPG

Skinned IDS 1.JPG

Skinned IDS 2.JPG

TSN.JPG

ZZ 1.JPG

ZZ 2.JPG

ZZ 3.JPG

ZZ 4.JPG

ZZ 5.JPG

ZZ 6.JPG

ZZ 7.JPG

ZZ 8.JPG

ZZ 9.JPG
 

thebiggerthebetter

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Dec 31, 2009
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Thank you, all.

The IDS has been feeding (much less than usual but nevertheless) and healing. LHS and RHS same as in the pics above:

IDS LHS.JPG

IDS RHS 1.JPG

IDS RHS 2.JPG
 
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