Member Spotlight on iloveengl

Hi there! My name is Rebecca; I go by iloveengl on the forum. I'm a graduate student studying communications and composition and I'm also working on a teaching license for secondary education. I taught undergraduate English courses at my university for two years and I just accepted a position as speech and drama director at the local high school. Teaching is my absolute passion. I can't explain it, but I get a thrill when I'm in the classroom with students, sharing in their ideas, watching them learn and grow. I even really enjoy tasks like lesson planning and grading. I don't know how it worked out, but I know I'm really lucky to have a job that I truly love.

My other love in life is caring for animals. My husband and I enjoy a vegan lifestyle and once we have our own home, we want to become foster parents to help shelter animals find loving homes. We have three ridiculously spoiled cats who we love beyond words, and we are now the proud parents of many beautiful fish and invertebrates.

When I was growing up, I always had fish for pets, mainly livebearers, but it is not until recently that I feel I've really become a mom for my fin babies. This past summer, my husband and I decided to try out fish keeping, so I came to FishLore hoping for a few pointers. What I found was an entire online family who truly and passionately care for the welfare of these creatures and who are always willing to give their advice and support. I explored the site, did loads of reading, and we set up our first tank. A few months later, I was poking around the lfs and met Melvin, the dragon goby. My husband and I fell in love, and the MTS just evolved from there.

20g freshwater with sand substrate and fake plants
Filter: Whisper 20-40 HOB
Temperature: 76 F
Livestock: two fancy guppies, one otocinclus, two honey gouramis, six albino corydora catfish, and two mystery snails.

55g brackish with sand substrate, fake plants, and moss balls
Filter: (2) Aquatech 30-60 HOB
Temperature: 76 F
Salinity: 1.006
Livestock: one dragon goby, eight bumblebee gobies, 6 mollies, 3 platies, and 8 guppies.

10g divided with glass marble substrate and fake plants
Filter: HOB
Temperature: 78 F
Livestock: one male crowntail betta and one male veiltail betta.

I have an empty 12g that I would like to turn into a divided betta condo as soon as we have the funds. I'm also hoping to find room for a 5" giant apple snail. One day, we would love to upgrade to a couple of 75g brackish and freshwater tanks.

Thank you for nominating me for member spotlight! Foremost, I'm thankful to have a husband who cares as deeply about animals as I do; his help and humor have made this hobby that much more enjoyable. I want to say thank you to Ken and Lucy for the advice, support, and kindness you've shown; if not for your help, I may have given up after the heartbreaking loss of my first guppy Marty, who was bullied to death by another male, and my adorable little ADF Vincent, who lost the fight with Chytrid Fungus. I have received so much good advice and so many laughs from members of the forum and I truly am thankful to you all for helping me make happy homes for my fishies. I give my final thank you to Mike for creating a site where so many people can comfortably and safely gather together and share in this wonderful hobby. Cheers all!

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