Fish Lore Aquarium Forum Member Spotlight on MissMTS

I was born in San Diego, CA and grew up in a happy house with my mom, dad, younger sister, and numerous pets (dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, hamsters, turtles, birds, iguanas, rabbits, etc). Animals have always been and will always been a huge part of my life. I started dancing at the age of 3 and it has always been a part of my life since then. All through school I danced 25-30 hours extra-curricularly and began dancing at the college level when I was in 8th grade.

In my senior year of high school, I met my boyfriend (now husband) Mike. Soon after I graduated I moved to UC Irvine to major in dance. I stayed up there for about 6 months and had a very hard time because I was too attached to my hometown. I have always been such a homebody and being close to family has always been important to me. I also missed Mike very much. I moved home and started going to a community college and began teaching dance full time.

After about a year and a half, Mike and I decided to open up our own dance studio. It was a very ambitious thing for us to do at the age of 20, and we really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We started our business with 18 students and sublet studio space from another dance studio. This got to be very expensive as our classes kept growing and we needed to rent more space. After the first year we decided to rent a location of our own. We found an old warehouse space and converted it into a dance studio with a HUGE dance floor as well as a lobby, waiting room, and homework room. We have been in our new location for two years now and our business has grown so much.

I have sustained some major dance related injuries, so I will be cutting down on my teaching schedule this upcoming year. I am not able to dance anymore so teaching is difficult. I am also going back to school this summer to finish up my degree.

I started fish keeping in November because I had always wanted an aquarium and I wanted a hobby that was unrelated to my job. I got my first tank and started doing research. All of the different types of fish astounded me and I wanted to find a way to keep them all. We are in a one bedroom apartment with limited space; however, that did not stop me from getting a new tank whenever I had the extra money. I now have 11 tanks and enjoy every minute that I spend maintaining them.

The Aquariums

Tank 1: Fish: 3 Keyhole Cichlids, 1 Cockatoo Cichlid, 3 Peppered Cories, 2 Sterbai Cories, 1 Albino BN Pleco Tank Size: 29 Gallons Substrate: Small Natural Colored Gravel Filter: Whisper 30 Temp: 78 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: Rocks Plants: Java Fern, Moss Ball, Sword Plants (unknown type), other Misc. Low Light Plants Lighting: 28 Watt, T5 Strip Light
Tank 2: Fish: 1 Platinum Angelfish, 1 Blushing Angelfish, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Butterfly Pleco, 1 Pair Yellow Face Borelli Cichlids, 1 Honey Dwarf Gourami, 1 Pearl Gourami Tank Size: 29 Gallons Substrate: Small White Gravel Filter: 2 Whisper 30's Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.2 Decor: Rocks and Driftwood Plants: Java Fern, Sword Plants, Jungle Vals Lighting: (2) 15 Watt Strip Light
Tank 3: Fish: (All Juveniles) 6 Yellow Labs, 4 Pundamilla Nyereri, 5 Cynotilapia Afra, 5 Male Peacocks, 3 Obliquines, 2 Synodontis Catfish Tank Size: 70 Gallons (Tall) Substrate: Medium Natural Colored Gravel Filter: 2 Whisper 20's, 1 Whisper 40, 1 Aquaclear 50 (Hopefully getting a canister filter soon) Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.8 Decor: Rocks (collected from a field and sterilized by bleaching and boiling) that are siliconed together to create a rock wall with caves and crevices for the fish. Plants: Artificial Lighting: Single Strip Light
Tanks 4 and 5: Fish: Bettas (5 gallons per fish): 1 blue and red crowntail, 1 peach crowntail, 1 black orchid crowntail, 1 red half moon Tank Size: (2) 10 gallon tanks Substrate: Small Black Gravel Filter: Whisper 10 Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: Small Caves and Rocks Plants: Java Fern and other Low Light Plants Lighting: Single Strip Light
Tank 6: Fish: 2 Marble Angelfish, 6 Gold Tetras, 3 Three-lined Cories, 2 American Flag Fish (temporarily in tank to treat algae problem, then being moved to 80 gallon). Tank Size: 29 Gallons Substrate: Medium Sized Natural Gravel Filter: Whisper 40 Power Filter Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.2 Decor: Driftwood Plants: Anarchis, Anubias Nana, Misc. Swords, etc. Lighting: (2) 15 Watt Strip Lights
Tank 7: Fish: 1 Pair Mexican Firemouth Cichlids, 4 Swordtails, 1 Albino BN Pleco Tank Size: 29 Gallon Substrate: Small Natural Colored Gravel Filter: Aquaclear 50 Temp: 78 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: Slate Rocks silicone to form caves Plants: Swordplants Lighting: 28 Watt T5 Strip Light
Tank 8: Fish: 1 Orange Australe Killifish Tank Size: 2.5 Gallons Substrate: Gravel Filter: Whisper 3 Temp: 78 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: None Plants: Java Fern and Java Moss Lighting: Florescent Strip Light
Tank 9: Fish: 1 Veiltail Betta Tank Size: 5 Gallons (long) Substrate: Black Gravel and Black Sand Filter: Whisper 10 Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: Small Cave Plants: Java Fern and Anarchis Lighting: Florescent Strip Light
Tank 10: Fish: 9 Juvenile Discus, 15 Black Neon Tetras, 5 Turquoise Guppies, 1 Royal Pleco Tank Size: 80 Gallons Substrate: Medium Natural Colored Gravel Filter: Aquaclear 110 and Aquaclear 70 Temp: 85 Degrees pH: 7.4 Decor: Driftwood, Artificial Driftwood, Clay Pots Plants: Artificial Lighting: 40 Watt Strip Light
Tank 11: Fish: 2 Halfmoon Bettas (Divided), 6 Flower Shrimp, 2 Mystery Snails (black and ivory) Tank Size: 10 Gallons Substrate: Red Sand Filter: Whisper 10 Temp: 80 Degrees pH: 7.6 Decor: Driftwood and Caves Plants: Java Fern Lighting: Flourescent

Future Plans

My husband and I are currently saving up to buy a house. When we finally move into our new place, I want to get rid of most of my smaller aquariums and set up a few more large ones. Many of the fish that I have in my small tanks can be combined into one large peaceful community tank. I would also love to upgrade my Africans to a 125 gallon, and my Discus to a 200 gallon. If we had the space, I would love to have a koi pond in our front yard. Ideally, I would also like to get a custom Betta tank made. It would be one long tank (10 to 15 feet) with several dividers in it to house and display all of my betas without having them in a million different tanks all over the house. However, these are all lifetime dreams, and depending on space, money, lifestyle, as well as many other factors, I may not get these dream tanks set up.

I would eventually like to be a stay at home mom, so this would probably give me a little more time to devote to my fish. I would really like to expand my knowledge and try breeding fish and set up a saltwater tank. Right now, my future is pretty much open ended and undecided. Anything can happen, which is a huge comfort to me. I do know that fish keeping will always be a part of my life and I thank all of my friends on this site for helping me along the way.

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