Member Spotlight - Kate (CapeKate)

Hello fellow fish lovers. My name is Kate and I live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. I have been in love with this hobby of fish keeping for a long time and only recently have plunged into fish keeping head first. When I was a little girl we never kept fish, but my sister and I had 6 parakeets flying around our bedroom. My list of pets have been mostly cats and dogs while I was growing up. In the late 70's and then into the 80's I tried keeping fish for my children but it ended up being a disaster with no experience and with no computers at that time it was very hard to gain the knowledge that is available to us now. I decided to wait til the time was right to try again. Now that the children are all grown and out of the house I have been able to take the time to explore my love of fish keeping once again. Researching everything I could find, I wanted to do it right this time.

I started out with a ten gallon tank 8 months ago that I found at a yardsale and it has grown from there. After doing some reading I found that the ten gallon just wouldn't do, so I bought a 29 gallon tank and proceeded to set up a community tank. FishLore was my first stop at educating myself. Thank goodness for the Internet! Fish keeping has been a learning experience that has at times brought heartbreak when loosing fish and joy when it all comes together. The serenity that comes with this hobby is something that I will never give up on.

29 gallon tall community tank. Right now it is home to two small Discus and one German Blue Ram the sole survivor of the original three. I use an AquaClear 50 filter. 200 watt Visa Therm heater. Rena Air 200 air pump with a bubble wand. Natural pebble substrate with silk and plastic plants and a few river rocks.
29 gallon Angel fish Tank. Home to two Angel fish, I have no plans to add any other fish in that tank. AquaClear 50 filter, Ebo-Jager 200 watt heater and a Second Nature Challenger 11 air pump, with bubble wand. Blue gravel, silk and plastic plants and river rocks.
55 gallon Discus Tank. Right now I have 3 Discus fish in there with three Cardinal Tetras. TopFin 60 filter, AquaClear 50 filter. TopFin XP-30 air pump with bubble wand. All Glass Aquarium 200 watt heater. Natural pebble substrate with live Amazon Sword plants, assorted silk and plastic plants and driftwood.
10 gallon Male Betta tank. (Phoenix) Top Fin 10 filter, Hertz 50 watt heater, Top Fin air pump with bubble wand. Light and dark blue gravel substrate, silk amazon sword plant and live plants (Mondo Grass and Frill plant) with river rock.
10 gal Male Betta tank. (Glory) AquaClear 20 filter, 50w heater, unknown name air pump, bubble wand, natural pebble gravel with silk plants.
10 gallon divided betta tank. (Precious and Darling). AquaClear 20, slim-tech 50watt heater, Elite 801 air pump and bubble wand with blue gravel and silk plants.

I have tried keeping a variety of fish in my tanks and some with little sucess for the reason that my PH level in my water is very low and acidic at a 6.0 - 6.4 reading my choices are limited. Right now my stock is low and hopefully I will be able to purchase more at some time in the future.

I have kept many species of fish over time to include:

• Discus
• Bettas
• Angelfish
• Tiger Barbs
• Dwarf Gouramis
• South American Bumblebee Catfish
• Spotted Cory Catfish
• Albino Cory Cats
• Platies
• Dalmation Mollies
• Black Neon Tetras
• Serpae Tetras
• Otocinclus Catfish
• Cardinal Tetra
• German Blue Rams

I really would like to add more of a variety to the 55 gallon Discus tank and still searching for compatible tank mates. My wish list for more fish include, the Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids and more German Blue Rams, Harlequin and Lemon tetras. I recently saw a photo of a Clown Killifish that I really fell in love with. I want to add more live plants, better light system for them and more driftwood to the tanks. I am constantly shuffling decorations around and with many new ideas from fellow Fishlorens, I am always ready for change. Right now I have no plans for more tanks as these tanks keep me pretty busy as it is.

Thank you for the chance to be a spotlight member. Becoming a member of FishLore has gained me a wealth of knowledge from fellow members as well as making many new friends here, and I want to thank everyone that has taken the time to offer me advice when help was needed. You are all so greatly appreciated. Thank you, Mike for making this forum available and for all the mods that have contributed working to make this site what it is, a warm friendly place to come to.

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