Member Spotlight on meenu

Hi! My name is Meenu. I am 36 years old and live in San Antonio, Texas. I am married with two young children. I am a prosecuting attorney who is absolutely enamored with my family and my job. I was born in India and grew up in Texas.

As a city girl, I grew up with very little exposure to nature. In college, I got my first pet - a fish in a one gallon tank. That didn't go well, and soon after I got it, I no longer had a pet. I got my second fish tank during law school. This time I had, in a 2.2 gallon aquarium shaped like a globe, a common pleco, a snail, and a red-tailed shark. Although they were all friends, they did not survive an outbreak of ich, and this tank was laid to rest after a year. Needless to say, I did not know what I was doing either time.

For my next foray into pet-keeping, I decided to try my hand at cats. My neighbor took in a pregnant stray, and when the kittens were born, I fell in love with a little white bundle of fluff named Rani. Soon after, guilt set in, as Rani was alone all day while I was at school and work. My pet kitten then got a pet kitten of her own, Josh, who was a rescue from a shelter. Although I quickly discovered that I was allergic to my kitties, Rani and Josh were in my life for 7 years. At that point, the allergies worsened to the point that I started having severe breathing problems, so the cats had to go to a new home.

At one point, I decided I missed having fish. I put a betta in an unheated and unfiltered cup, hardly bigger than a coffee mug. He was a beautiful boy who only survived for a few months. At the time, I didn't understand what went wrong.

On October 1, 2009, I started a new tank. This time, I decided that rather than having a small bowl, I wanted something a bit larger. I ended up with a 30 gallon aquarium. My four-year old son was excited, proclaiming "Great, now I can get a fishing pole!"

Because I hadn't ever had a large tank before, I decided to spend some time researching. I spoke with several employees at various fish stores. Armed with a lot of "knowledge," I proceeded to set up my tank and buy Nutrafin Cycle. I found Fishlore, and posted a question about its use, only to promptly find out that it isn't recommended. That's when I knew that everything I learned from the store employees was unreliable.

At the recommendation of FL members, I found some Tetra Safe Start, and started out with my first fish, some danios. The next several weeks turned out to be one debacle after another. After much stress, a lot of advice from members of the forum, and four bottles of TSS, I had a cycled tank! I also had a newly-developed obsession with learning about fishkeeping.

A couple of weeks later, I ended up on bed rest due to medical problems. During this time, with nothing else to do and a laptop at my disposal, I found myself on Fishlore for hours at a time. I learned and learned, and posted and posted. My thread count kept going up an up. Now, with only 4 months on the website, and over 2,500 posts, I realize that I probably need an intervention.

I have a 30 gallon long acrylic tank. It measures 36x12x16 inches. I have a Fluval 305 canister filter, which is really great. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. I use the API master test kit. My water parameters tend to be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and about 5 nitrates. I use Tetra Aqua Safe and Seachem Prime as my water conditioners.

The aquarium is home to bandit cories, some guppy boys, neon tetras, and some marbled hatchetfish. They are fed flakes and shrimp pellets. I give them an occasional treat of freeze-dried bloodworms soaked in garlic juice. They go nuts over this. It must be very tasty!

I have toyed with the idea of feeding them nori and freeze-dried daphnia, but have not purchased either yet. I am not adventurous enough to feed homemade foods.

I used to have 6 danios, but they were insane. They ate the tail off of one of my guppies, and promptly got rehomed. One of my guppies showed some aggression towards the others, but that resolved itself.

If I ever find any endlers livebearers, I will get 2 males immediately. They are gorgeous fish, but I can't find any in this area. I also would not mind having one "centerpiece" fish, but have not decided what I want, so that is on hold.

I am intrigued by angelfish and dwarf puffers. My favorite fish is the yellow tang. I also like bettas. As none of these is compatible with my current setup, all remain a distant dream.

MTS has not set in, but only because my husband keeps such desires under control for me. For now, I am sticking to my one tank - but who knows what the future holds.

Although I have had fish for almost fifteen years, I consider myself a new fish keeper. Until I found Fishlore, I knew nothing about this hobby.

I have to thank all of the members and moderators of Fishlore for being there for me when I needed them, and also for allowing me to pass the knowledge I've gained to others. This has been a fun experience, and the members of this forum have become my friends.

I also thank my little boy for not going fishing in my aquarium, and my daughter for loving the "bish" and the "bubbles". More than anyone else, though, I have to thank my husband, who grudgingly does my water changes for me when I am unable.

List of Fish Lore Member Spotlights