Introduction: We have very little interest in fish from stores. The native fish of Florida, especially those of the area just north of Tampa Bay, will be found here. Collecting is done with a large net of fine mesh on a handle some eight feet long (about 2.5m); also, some fish are acquired from local shrimp fishermen, who inadvertently catch many other creatures besides shrimp.
Sept 5, 2000: A hardware problem is preventing me from scanning my recent photos, including some of the saltwater creatures to be found near where I live on the west coast of Florida. This will soon be rectified.
Both are "20 gallon tanks"* with undergravel filter and
artificial vegetation. Slightly unusual, in that they contain
NO creatures from stores. All of the inhabitants were gathered from
natural ponds, flood-prevention ponds and ditches within a few miles
of where I live on the west coast of Florida.
*some 16+ gallons, really.
(you would have to have a "20 Gallon Tank" OVERFLOWING, with
NOTHING else in there, to maybe just barely get 20 gallons in
there.)
You will see that there are creatures here similar or identical to some that you see in the aquarium store. What's going on here?
Briefly, I was collecting water creatures to feed to a turtle.
(Click
here to read that story.)
In the shallow water I was collecting from, as expected, I found
mosquitofish and tadpoles and a small crayfish here and there.
A friend who was with me - and who has sharper, younger eyes than
I, saw a spotted "guppy" and netted it. (This turned out to be a
spotted Gambusia affinis holbrooki.) To jump forward, within
a few days there were in the house 2 tiny cichlids, possibly Port
Acaras (Aequidens portalegrensis); a couple of the "wild guppies";
and a couple of very small crayfish. In the succeeding weeks there
have been more expeditions, resulting in more additions.
Details of the "Mystery Fish" are
here
...that's the 'entry', such as it is, to any of several pages of photos of
the aquarium's denizens, who are thriving and growing. ...as does
this website - keep checking in for more stuff to be added.
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