Member Spotlight on Lucy

Hi Everyone, I'm Lucy.

I grew up in the country in New Jersey. I've always had animals around and living in the country had my share of aquatics... catching tadpoles, salamanders crayfish, you name it. Yeah, I was one of the kids always at the pond seeing what I could find. Heck, I still do!

My husband and I now live in Tennessee with our 2 daughters. One is off to college and the other in high school. I've been a stay at home mom since my kids were small and kept busy volunteering in whatever activities they chose over the years. Many of those years I was a girl scout leader. You haven't lived until you've taken 9 little girls camping in the woods! It was great fun.

We've always been pet people and at one time had 3 dogs, 2 cats and a guinea pig. Oh and 9 hermit crabs. Right now, the only 4 legged pet we have is a cat, but I'm sure that will change when the right critter comes along and needs a home.

My first experience with fish was goldfish, like most people. My parents had an aquarium with 2 goldfish that lived for 10 years. I've had gold fish on and off over the years.

I got into tropical fish was a couple of years ago. My daughter wanted an aquarium for her birthday. We took her out and she picked out a 10 gallon set up from what was supposed to be a reputable LFS. Like many people, we were told, let the tank run for a week and add fish. My daughter chose guppies. After a couple days they were all dead. Sadly, she no longer wanted fish.

I couldn't convince my daughter to try again so last year I bought my own 10 gallon kit and swiped her heater. In researching the type of fish I wanted, I found Fish Lore. That's when I found out about aquarium cycling and realized that's what we did wrong.

I loved the look of cardinal tetras but by the time my tank cycled I couldn't find them so my 10 gallon tank is home to serpae tetras and neon tetras.

My next tank was a 5 gallon hex with a broken filter that a neighbor gave me. She had a goldfish in it and it's living condition was horrible. I brought it home and put it in my daughter's 10 gallon for the winter and he now happily resides in a friend's pond and will winter in her 55 gallon tank.

I cleaned up the tank and my husband modified it to accommodate an HOB and added a visi therm stealth 50 watt heater. That was home to a betta girl but cleaning the hex proved stressful to her, which in turn stressed me. Since I happen to have a lid for a 10g lying around and the heater and filter in the 5 gallon could easily handle a 10 gallon I decided to upgrade her. She loves it, I love it and we're all happy.

1.5 gallon Hex quarantine tank: 1 African dwarf frog

10 gallon tank: 4 serpaes, 2 neons (I recently lost 2), fake plants, gravel, a 5-15 HOB and a visi-therm stealth heater

10g: Home to my betta girl Prissy. Her tank has silk plants, small river rock, a 5-15 HOB and a 50w visi-therm stealth heater.

30 gallon: Empty at the moment... my stocking wish list keeps changing.

I hope to have the 30 gallon tank up and running by the end of the summer, I have to make some room first. I was going to put the ADF in with the tetras, but I'm really enjoying him, so I'm thinking about getting him friend with a tank of their own.

First, my family, for taking the time to help me and not rushing me in the pet store just so I can look at fish. And of course Fish Lore and it's members. You've been an endless supply of information and support and for this, I thank you all.

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