I have a list of the fish I have kept in home aquaria here.

I have also written a number of fish profiles and articles, these can be found by visiting the Aquarium category in the archive.

I also take a large number of photos, and have one of every fish I have kept. View those here.

My first word, according to my mother, was “fish”, and my earliest memory is of the fish tank they had while I was a baby. I think this image inside my head, and vague memories of my mother cleaning the tank, are the major reason why I began to yearn for a tank of my own once I had moved to the USA.

The research I did before owning a tank, and the depth that I dived into the hobby, were enormous. I began with a small 10 gallon tank, Zebra Danios and some Cory Catfish, quickly upgrading to a 55 gallon tank and adding some other types of fish.

My 55 gallon, 2009.

At this time, we were living in Massachusetts. When we decided to move back to Illinois I had to formulate a plan on how to move the fish, I read a lot of information and managed to move – with no losses – all of my fish 1000 miles across the country.

I started to find some new sources for my fish in Illinois, but learned relatively quickly not to trust the fish store. With a mixture of bad advice and a lack of training, many chain stores are now somewhere I refuse to shop. This was an important learning experience.

Violet Goby, 2010.

I eventually found a store called Animal Island in Midlothian, Illinois. This is where my journey really began, because this store accepts fish returns for store credit… So I have used this to keep many different types of fish, getting experience and knowledge in a relatively short time about a huge number of species.

At one time I had two large tanks and five small tanks all running in our small apartment. Right now I have three large tanks and am growing out some of the fish so that when we buy a house (hopefully in 2012), I can install a larger tank and let them run wild.

My Vulture Catfish under night time LEDs, 2011.

My advice, and really the best way to learn, is to read, read, read. Use different sources and first-hand reports on forums specifically. I always make very good use of my iPhone internet access while in the fish store so I can research while actually looking at the fish.