MrGibson Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Hey y’all! Gabe here in Knoxville Tennessee. We’re currently on what should be our last day of sub freezing temperatures that resulted from the polar vortex. Nothing compared to when I lived in the great white north but by far the most snow I’ve seen in Tennessee. Friday was the first day I was able to get the Subaru down our driveway for a short supply run and then we were stuck In again for the weekend. Should get to the mid 40s tomorrow so that’s a relief. Anyway onto the aquarium nerd stuff. Since the week before snow in I’ve been flirting with a re-entry into more serious fish keeping and the freshwater hobby after maybe 6 years away from it. My partner has been setting up a tank for her work and was asking me for input on things. In sharing what I know and researching what I didn’t I remembered how important this all was to me years ago. I’ve had a saltwater nano for the past few years but I’m starting freshwater again with some experimenting with the Walstad method (I’ve been reading and annotating last year’s edition of her book over the last week) and also my first real foray into fish breeding. I tried Betta splendens years ago but I was a dumb 20 year old and didn’t get very far. I’ve currently got a 10 gallon in the works for some white clouds(or maybe medaka if I can find some interesting ones) and neocaridina shrimp, and before long I’ll be setting up a 2.5ish gallon jar and a 30 breeder. Not sure what’s going in the 30 but I’m brainstorming ideas on how to get a walstad to work with electric blue acaras. I put in my first order with aquarium coop this past Tuesday thinking they’d ship this coming week so I’d be good on weather, but they surpassed expectations and shipped that evening. After a few anxious days waiting in the snow for plants and one failed delivery due to the weather they showed up perfectly healthy. That experience is largely why I’m hopping on this forum as opposed to some others. This place seems more friendly too 🙂 Anyway the plants got here Friday and luckily I’d made my one brave trip of the week to tractor supply for some BDBS so I was ready to go. Plants are looking good so far and we’re pearling like mad yesterday. I’ll wrap up here before I go on too long and attach a picture of the current tank as it is. The actual light for this setup is held up at the post office due to weather so I’ll get that tomorrow and see how it all looks. Looking forward to being a part of the conversations here. Remember to keep your hands wet! 😁 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Welcome back aboard! Knoxville, TN is home to my absolute favorite fish-breeding place on earth: Conservation Fisheries. They are a nonprofit dedicated to propagating endangered North American freshwater fish species. I visited last March. Blew my mind… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/21/2024 at 10:03 PM, Fish Folk said: Welcome back aboard! Knoxville, TN is home to my absolute favorite fish-breeding place on earth: Conservation Fisheries. They are a nonprofit dedicated to propagating endangered North American freshwater fish species. I visited last March. Blew my mind… Woah I had no idea! That’s so cool! I wonder if they’re the ones helping repopulate lake sturgeon around here. Definitely need to look into it! Thanks for the welcome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/21/2024 at 10:26 PM, MrGibson said: Woah I had no idea! That’s so cool! I wonder if they’re the ones helping repopulate lake sturgeon around here. Definitely need to look into it! Thanks for the welcome! After taking a quick peek I think I’m going to be submitting a volunteer application soon. Super rad we have a place like that here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/21/2024 at 10:33 PM, MrGibson said: After taking a quick peek I think I’m going to be submitting a volunteer application soon. Super rad we have a place like that here. They’ve forgotten more about fish breeding than I’ll ever learn. Derek and I have exchanged fish. He hooked me up with Fieryblack Shiners that he bred… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/21/2024 at 10:39 PM, Fish Folk said: They’ve forgotten more about fish breeding than I’ll ever learn. Derek and I have exchanged fish. He hooked me up with Fieryblack Shiners that he bred… Wow that’s a crazy looking fish. It looks like I missed the application window by a week for the upcoming volunteer season but I’ll try to catch the summer season for sure. Seems like exactly the kind of place I want to be involved with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/21/2024 at 10:45 PM, MrGibson said: Wow that’s a crazy looking fish. It looks like I missed the application window by a week for the upcoming volunteer season but I’ll try to catch the summer season for sure. Seems like exactly the kind of place I want to be involved with. Several of the team members are active on FB groups. Check out: “NANFA - North American Native Fishes Association” and “North American Native Fish Keepers” NANFA is a hilarious blend of Field Biologists, Conservationists, Aquarists, and Fishermen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/22/2024 at 1:24 AM, Fish Folk said: Several of the team members are active on FB groups. Check out: “NANFA - North American Native Fishes Association” and “North American Native Fish Keepers” NANFA is a hilarious blend of Field Biologists, Conservationists, Aquarists, and Fishermen. I’m pretty sure I have an account from years ago on the nanfa forums. I recall being excited about the biodiversity of East Tennessee and wanting to keep some of the beautiful native fish, and then being very disappointed when I learned our wildlife agency has disallowed that. I’ll check out the Facebook groups and see what it holds. Appreciate it! 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I’ll always love tropical fish, but lately I’m a native fish pusher 😂 I shared a few photos of some we’ve kept over the last several years last week… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/22/2024 at 1:35 AM, Fish Folk said: I’ll always love tropical fish, but lately I’m a native fish pusher 😂 I shared a few photos of some we’ve kept over the last several years last week… Wow cool fish is right. I’m so jealous of your rainbow shiners! They’re basically at the top of my list for North American natives that I want to keep but they’re found in Tennessee waters. I swear the second I move out of Tennessee I’m setting up a tank for them. I definitely want to get some of the gulf coast pygmy sunfish too. Those males look wild and the fisherman in me likes that they’re sunfish. I used to live in Florida and over the past week it’s crossed my mind to drive down there to visit some friends and see if I can collect a few of those on the way back up from the Tampa area. That or try to find someone who’s got some healthy ones to sell. Either way I need to do some more research first. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/22/2024 at 1:46 AM, MrGibson said: Wow cool fish is right. I’m so jealous of your rainbow shiners! They’re basically at the top of my list for North American natives that I want to keep but they’re found in Tennessee waters. I swear the second I move out of Tennessee I’m setting up a tank for them. I definitely want to get some of the gulf coast pygmy sunfish too. Those males look wild and the fisherman in me likes that they’re sunfish. I used to live in Florida and over the past week it’s crossed my mind to drive down there to visit some friends and see if I can collect a few of those on the way back up from the Tampa area. That or try to find someone who’s got some healthy ones to sell. Either way I need to do some more research first. I’m doing research on your regulations. I’ll get back to you… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 You definitely would enjoy becoming a member at the East Tennessee Aquatic Association (ETAA). I looked into regulations in TN. It’s a gray area with tank-bred Notropis chrosomus. They’re technically both part of the ornamental fish trade, and a native species. Laws strictly forbid taking from native waters to jeep in home aquaria… but may allow for non-local sources. But against this, they are also not allowed to be imported. Safest bet is “no.” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGibson Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 On 1/22/2024 at 10:56 AM, Fish Folk said: You definitely would enjoy becoming a member at the East Tennessee Aquatic Association (ETAA). I looked into regulations in TN. It’s a gray area with tank-bred Notropis chrosomus. They’re technically both part of the ornamental fish trade, and a native species. Laws strictly forbid taking from native waters to jeep in home aquaria… but may allow for non-local sources. But against this, they are also not allowed to be imported. Safest bet is “no.” That’s the conclusion I came to as well. The rule against importing class c species dashed my last hope lol I’ll definitely check out ETAA! They seem like my kind of people 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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