My Little Intro

[Toby_H]

Hey guys,

Yes my name is Toby

I started keeping “exotic” animals when I was around 8 (my Father kept them before me) and kept them continuously until my early 20s… then after a few years break I started keeping South American and Central American Cichlids (fish).

Well it’s been about 7 years that I’ve gone from keeping fish socially to being an addict, but I can stop anytime I want. The first few years I just collected fish I liked, but in the last few years I’ve started breeding them and most recently I’ve taken the challenge of breeding Blue Jack Dempseys, and in turn strengthening their line with selective breeding and the introduction of wild caught fish to their gene pool.

I’ve grown from keeping a 55 gal tank to having just over 1,000 gallons of tanks in my home. Well, it’s getting worse. We’ve just bought a house and I am converting 260 sq ft of the 2 car garage into a fish room (the rest will be my wood working shop to build stands and cages). I currently have 1,750+ gal of tanks to move in, a 600~700 gal DIY tank planned for this summer and room for an additional 600 gal of tanks if I need to grow further.

The room is kept at 80*F +/- 2*F and I will use a dehumidifier and/or air diffuser to keep the humidity down to 65%. Since this “happens” to be the perfect environment for a Tegu… and they can be dog tame… then why not have a mascot!!

The only Tegu I have personal experience with was a Dwarf back in the 80s. He was the meanest little thing I’ve ever come across. He didn’t stay with me long. I loved his body shape and general attitude (when he was alone and the cage was closed). I’m really looking forward to seeing the same body shape, but bigger… and the same attitude, but friendlier… in a nice Black and White Arg Tegu.

As I’ve never kept this species and I’m several years out of practice at keeping lizards, I expect to have a lot of questions. I’m pretty good at looking up things on the internet but nothing beats the guidance of people with direct hands on experience that can respond to specific questions.

I’ve added a few pics with brief captions of some of my fishies…

~Toby

Blue Jack Dempsey male w/ Regular JD female (breeding pair)


Young adult male Gold Jack Dempsey


Male Gold Jack Dempsey and Blue female Jack Dempsey with offspring


Male Blue Jack Dempsey


Male Blue and Regular Female Jack Dempseys (breeding pair)


This is my favorite tank, 6’ 125 gal, sits behind the sofa in the living room


Blue Jack Dempsey and Black Ghost Knife


Blue Jack Dempsey


13” Female Oscar looking right atcha! Notice the white eggs on the bottom of the tank behind her. You can also see the tip of her males nose.


300 Gal Rubbermaid (6’ round)


3 eyed leopard frog I caught in a pond near a power plant in Detroit (where I grew up). It’s over 10 years old and appears healthy. The third eye is blind.


My dining room back when I was single


This is a 6’ x 2.5’ @ 3’ tall cage I built for a boa. The tank is now in storage and available if I need to use it

Yes the frog pic was a joke… everyone knows Detroit is too polluted for 3 eyed frogs to survive

[GOT_TEGUS01]

great pics I was a salt water fish keeper for years awesome fish You got to love tegus welcome to the tegu
jeff

[jose2187]

is that frog real?

[jose2187]

is that frog real?

[Toby_H]

lol, the frogs not real at all... I stumbled across the picture as a joke online and have enjoyed making the Detroit deformed frog joke every since...

[meanah]

haha nice tho dude. i wanna try out one of the tubs one day. welcome to the forum/family.

[GOT_TEGUS01]

Is that a 300 gallon stock tank :
jeff

[Toby_H]

Is that a 300 gallon stock tank :
jeff

Yup... I've used it as an indoor Cichlid pond for around 5 years... it's not the best view in the world but if your goal is to keep a lot of fish very happy nothing beats it...

[Frizz]

Hi Toby

We have recently off loaded all our cichlids, nowhere near your scale we had about 30 when we finally changed our tank to cold water.

They are great fish and the closest I think you can get to marine fish for colours and patterns without actually having marine fish.

We had an assortment of african malawi's, including a green terror, peacocks, various tropheops, frontosas, aulonocaras and I must admit they are the most pleasing fish we have ever owned, but we decided that we were not going to keep fish anymore and so decided that we would give all the cichlids to a reputable aquatic shop, it was sad as some of them we had from small had grown into some beautifully coloured big fish.

I rescued my fav tho a severum with a deformed fin who I took pity on when he was a tiny dull fish in a shop who no one wanted. He now resides in a tank alone with a pleco and is thriving living a grand life. :lol:

Our plan to not own fish didn't last long either we changed the tank to cold water and it is now home to Casper & Cleo the Ghost Carp who were tiny little things when we got them and who are now great big lovable things :lol: :lol: