Tampa Fish Gents

10/22/2024

Finally got the baby geos to cooperate long enough to get a better pic! 🤣 they roam around the whole tank but seem to have settled near the filter intake as their favorite spot. They’re already starting to show some color and are getting along with the rest of the tank, they seem to enjoy staying in a pretty tight group with only a few that will break off and wander. So happy to again have one of my favorite fish probably of all time once again. Excited to watch them grow up.

04/09/2024

04/09/2024

One of my favorite things about having tanks in my office is trying to find where this guy is every morning 🤣. It is a freshwater flounder, and sometimes I find it scooting along the sand, and sometimes all I see are tiny eyes looking out from under the sand. It’s one more of the unique fish we have here and always entertaining to watch!

03/27/2024

Our Rubberlip Pleco “Rubby” just hanging out…like he does all the time 🤣

It’s been a while again, but we had almost a full tank crash in the Aquashella tank, a rescape of the 11 gallon in the office, some new additions around here 🙈🤣 so we’ve been busy and trying to catch back up. Several cool updates to share around here, but for now enjoy some Rubby haha.

02/25/2024

Decided to split off the chicken/quail content into its own space as it has been an amazing journey and becoming its own entity. is the head chickenista, and heads up the chicken/quail operation from when he was given eggs to now, when his own hens have started laying. Now a flock of quail have been added to the mix. Be sure to give it a follow to see how the journey has gone, meet some of his ladies, and if you’re local keep an eye out because soon eggs may be for sale!

02/18/2024

On this episode of “What the Farm is Going on Here?” 🤣

Michael wanted to start adding quail to go along with the chickens outside, and found someone who had 5 and he was able to give them a nice space in the chicken’s old coop since they now prefer their outdoor structure. These are 7 month old Coturnix and already laying, so maybe they’ll teach the chickens how to start! Lol. Rest assured they’ll be well cared for and just as spoiled as his chickens. Never a dull moment around here!

02/06/2024

Had to show off the elassoma gilberti males living in the new tank!! They’ve settled in and are coloring up nicely, still a bit shy and coming out periodically, but I’m excited to see them comfortable. We received a breeding colony of 13 from a gentleman in Tallahassee where you can find them in the waterways. Might have to get more!!

02/04/2024

Been a long while since we last posted, but we finally have a bit of an update to share.

First, the 14 gallon cube which was one of the tanks in Jimmy’s office had a seam break, so the tank and stand had to be replaced. All the fish in that tank survived though, and now live in the 20 gallon in his office at the base of the new stand. We found a much stronger stand and moved the 11 gallon and the 20 gallon over to it, and added a new 31 gallon tank, a Clear Mini 30 from Waterbox Aquariums which we purchased from one of our new local LFS Aquatic Galleria. We would like to give them a special shoutout too, because most of the wood, stone, plants, and internal filter came from them! If you are in the Tampa/St. Pete area and need to get a tank going, you should pay them a visit and tell them we sent you! This tank will be a FL native fish setup, and so far we have bluefin killifish, Florida flag fish, and a breeding colony of a stunning species of pygmy sunfish, elassoma gilberti. All can be found locally in FL, and may add a couple more native species before calling it done. We did add some Rust (Rabauti) corys to this tank and they’re not native to FL, but if you know us you know there are corys in every tank so we had to put some in. Really excited to see this one grow in and get fully established, but it’s off to a great start!!

01/06/2024

Apparently it’s and we almost missed it!! Super thankful for this flock and all the joy they bring (along with their craziness) and how each of them make every day a little bit better…bird people know what we’re talking about lol. They’re also like fish tanks, once you get one…you can’t have just one 🤣 as long as you have the ability and capacity to keep them of course. They’re the coolest. Emmett, Frodo, Ruthie, and all the country star chickens wish everyone a Happy National Bird Day from our flock to yours!

12/15/2023

It’s been a while, apologies to all but this time of year is a bit difficult but has also been crazy busy. The “Aquashella tank” is well underway, and outside of a bit of green hair algae (nutrients still balancing), it’s thriving. We wanted to highlight one of its residents, the male apistogramma cacatuoides!! The female didn’t want to cooperate but the male is big and colored up nicely. He is stunning, gets along with all of the tank mates, and is one of the quality fish we got from . Really excited to show some more of this tank off now that it’s becoming more established.

12/01/2023

Wanted to give a shoutout to a new LFS in our Tampa Bay Area!! Have been a repeat customer of theirs and they’re just getting started. When you visit, you can tell the difference in the quality of care they give their fish, the store design, and the selection of supplies/aquascaping materials!! They’ve helped us get the new tank off to a great start with some stunning livestock and will definitely be working with them on any upcoming projects, rescapes, and ideas too. If you are in the Tampa Bay Area whether a visitor or local, you have to go check them out!!

11/28/2023

This is our Rubber Lip Pleco (L146) who now lives in the new tank from Aquashella to assist with the plant/driftwood cleanup as everything has begun to settle (more to come on that tank later). Generally don’t like to name fish but we’ve always called this guy “Rubby” and he used to live in our SA/CA Cichlid tank, but now has a much more chill and less busy home in this tank. He hides a fair amount, but you can tell he’s working/eating constantly because the glass is clean and there’s less and less biofilm on the driftwood. Loving how the rest of this tank is coming along, but wanted to showcase this pleco because he has been out and about at the perfect time for his picture lol.

11/23/2023

Happy Thanksgiving from the Tampa Fish Gents zoo to all of you!! We are thankful for all of our fellow fish/bird/animal friends and your support. We hope you enjoy the day and spend it making memories with your people!

11/23/2023

Hagrid got to meet one of the neighbor dogs today, and had a blast!! Mia is an adult 93lb German shepherd and generally barks like crazy at anyone who walks by. She calmed down and there was a bunch of tail wagging, so her owner and I decided to let them meet and play…they both enjoyed it so much, and when I took him on his evening walk he was looking for her when we passed by. She is one of two neighbor dogs that he is becoming really friendly with and helping him become a little more brave and playful!

Also, he’s now 40lbs, still smaller than my two and Mia, but it’s looking like that won’t last long lol.

11/19/2023

One year ago today Tampa Fish Gents was created after we started with a 40 gallon and 75 gallon tank!! We didn’t know what was going to come from an idea of sharing the fishkeeping journey, but it has been amazing to have met so many other great fishkeepers, get the VIP experience at both Aquashella Dallas and Daytona, and be able to put things we’ve learned to practice in aquascaping, fish breeding/husbandry, planted aquariums, and just how to be better stewards to our living ecosystems.

Here’s a progress journey of our 75 gallon SA/CA Cichlid tank from what it started as up to today!! Excited to see what another year will bring.

11/18/2023

Progression post featuring the tank I was asked to help scape with other creators back at Aquashella Daytona. We used Dragon stone, Super Naturals Jungle River, were given a piece of driftwood called rosevine (I think?), a Whale 120 filter, and an light. Needless to say that driftwood is a major problem. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring it home, however some of the rocks and substrate shifted around in the transit home. Once home, I tweaked the design a bit and then the driftwood began to cloud the water and release tannins and some organic gunk into the tank which was not good. 3 big water changes later and throwing out the driftwood, it cleared up nicely. The rescape now features a cave, with Java ferns (kinda makes it look like a volcano), a ton of crypts, ludwigia, and Christmas moss. We upgraded from the Whale 120 up to the 200 after their advice, then worked with us on finding some amazing pieces of ghost wood and it’s all coming along so well!! That’s the cool thing about the Aquarist/Fishkeeping community, everyone is so helpful and willing to assist.
We did start adding fish as it’s been cycling since Aquashella basically, and we have a Japanese Trapdoor snail, two amano shrimp, and 6 Celebes Rainbows. They’re just starting to get comfy and color up, and we’re thrilled! We’ve never kept rainbow fish other than dwarf neons, so definitely excited to see their colors and behaviors. While these are adjusting, we’re currently considering what else to add to this tank! Feel free to send some ideas.

11/08/2023

After 21-22 days of incubating, chickens have now joined the zoo 🤣🤣🤣!! There are Australorps, Bielefelders, Brahmas, Cochins, and Splash Marans in this group.

1st pic is a group shot in their tricked out play pen,

2nd is Reba, she was the first hatch

3rd is Shania

4th is their group album photo…probably 🤣

In total so far we have 12, stay tuned for the final count lol. They are (all female names until we can tell for sure)
Reba
Dolly
Shania
Loretta
Patsy
Tanya
Faith
Trisha
Martina
Jewel
Pam
Wynonna

I think you can catch the theme here lol. If any end up being roosters, the names will change but we’ll see. They’re doing great so far, and excited to see them grow.

10/30/2023

Recently one of our neighbors who has a couple predator tanks asked if we’d be interested in rehoming a couple of his Leopard Ctenopomas. We said yes, and one now lives in our big 125g community tank, and the other lives with our Central and South American cichlids. These are really unique ambush predators, and very interesting to watch! They get big though, and I saw a video online that said they could go in a 40 gallon and there’s no way. If you keep them, give them enough space! Both of ours are 5-7” in size, our neighbor said they’re 2 years old so we’ll see if they keep growing.