Hi there peoples, My name's Matt and I'm an avid aquarist from a south Chicago suburb, looking to get into keeping freshwater rays and other monstrous fish. I work at an LFS and love sharing my piscene passion with the rest of the fishkeeping public. Though I am a professional, I would not consider myself an expert, because there is always so much to learn about this hobby; this is why I love my job so much, because no matter how much I learn about our aquatic friends, there's never a shortage of new, fascinating things I'm taught by my bosses, co-workers, and very often our wonderful customers.
Right now I have more reptiles than fish: I have a 150g watering trough turned pond with three turtles, a red-eared slider, a map turtle, and a softshell. In my unfortunately small aquarium (29g) I have a leaf fish and large freshwater prawn. Those two are monsters in their own way... the leaf fish is a voracious carnivore with a hefty appetite for guppies, and the prawn is about eight inches long and demolishes entire nightcrawlers (which are often longer than it is) in one sitting. Those two rule their respective territories of the tank.
It's my ambition to construct a large indoor pond of sorts to keep and possibly breed motoro and leopoldi rays, which is what brings me here. Before becoming a member of this site, I would peruse the forums and read what there was to find, and so many of you are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. I'm sure in the near future I'll be lurking around the Marketplace forum and eventually starting a thread to document my foray into monster fish keeping.
Cheers!
~Matt
Right now I have more reptiles than fish: I have a 150g watering trough turned pond with three turtles, a red-eared slider, a map turtle, and a softshell. In my unfortunately small aquarium (29g) I have a leaf fish and large freshwater prawn. Those two are monsters in their own way... the leaf fish is a voracious carnivore with a hefty appetite for guppies, and the prawn is about eight inches long and demolishes entire nightcrawlers (which are often longer than it is) in one sitting. Those two rule their respective territories of the tank.
It's my ambition to construct a large indoor pond of sorts to keep and possibly breed motoro and leopoldi rays, which is what brings me here. Before becoming a member of this site, I would peruse the forums and read what there was to find, and so many of you are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. I'm sure in the near future I'll be lurking around the Marketplace forum and eventually starting a thread to document my foray into monster fish keeping.
Cheers!
~Matt
to MFK