About Me
I am a born and raised Pittsburgher, who just graduated in May 2009 from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in Computer Science. I now live and work on the South Side of Pittsburgh.
Since joining the IBC, my goal has been to breed and possibly show quality bettas. I keep the health and safety of my fish as my highest priority, with breeding as a second. I have not yet settled in on a certain color or type by any means, although I find myself drawn to the physique of plakats.
Growing up, I have always had one kind of pet or another. I don't remember when the 10 gallon tank went up, but I know I was quite small. The first fish in that tank that was my very own fish was a fantail goldfish that I had won at a state fair. It lived about 2 years. I remember waking in the morning and going to feed my fish. My goldfish was not in the tank. He had jumped ship and landed in my stuffed toy pile. It was kind of a scarring experience and my fish tanks have had lids ever since. The first pair of fish I ever had bred were my rosy barbs. The babies ended up under the gravel or getting sucked in the filter as we really didn't expect them to breed. Only one deformed baby made it to juvenile stage but then died of an unknown cause. Eventually the 10 gallon went down, but a 2 gallon hex went up. It held a super small goldfish for awhile. It was too small for him in the end and we lost him due to misinformation. After a few year hiatus from fish (my brother had a 30 gallon tank running so I wasn't entirely fishless), I purchased my first betta. He was a gorgeous steel blue veiltail named Storm. He went into the 2 gallon hex and lived there for a good 3 years. It was the memory of how easy it was to care for Storm compared to the other fish that prompted me to purchase two male veiltail betta on my 19th birthday so that they might live with me in college. Three years and several months later, one of those fish is still around, in fact he is right next to my computer as I type this resting on his heater. His amazing personality prompted me to read up on bettas, their proper care, decide to get into breeding them, and purchase my first halfmoon. Hopefully he will stick around to see the first spawn that is a direct result of his awesomeness (he did).
Other pets I have had or lived with in my life include 4 dogs (collie husky mix, alaskan malamute, 2 chocolate labs), 1 cat (american short haired tabby), and 6 guinea pigs. The fish include bettas, guppies, rosy barbs, tiger barbs, bala sharks, black tipped sharks, angelfish, gouramis, danios, glass catfish, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, black skirt tetras, upside down catfish, green sevrum, apple snails, african dwarf frog, african clawed frog, and rainbow shiners.
