Women of the Aquarium Industry - Felicia McCaulley article on Aquanerd Blog

I'm honored to be featured in the latest Aquanerd blog titled Women of the Aquarium Industry - Felicia McCaulley

I also found out that one of the customers that frequents my place of employment, the Fish Factory in Bristol, PA, has a tattoo of a photo I took. What a small world! He most likely found the photo on the internet and added it to his reef-scene tattoos. Little did he know, the tattoo he has was photographed by someone who not only lives in the same city as him, but works at his local fish store! He discovered this while reading Aquanerd's article about me and saw the photo his tattoo is based on in the article. The photo is of a Trapezia crab in an Acropora secale I used to have when I lived in Wisconsin. It's awesome that a stranger got a tattoo of one of my pets.

Extinct in the Wild Ameca splendens breeding in captivity

I've been a fan of livebearing fish all my life, so naturally, I've always wanted to breed enangered or extinct Goodeids. The problem is, they are hard to find. Thanks to Msjinkzd, I have a breeding colony of six Ameca splendens, my favorite extinct in the wild Goodeid. I took them to the Fish Factory in Bristol, PA where I work and put them in our 90 gallon corner display tank (you're all welcome to visit them any time!) They are finally old enough to breed, and sure enough, have been dropping fry.

my young pair of Ameca splendens



young male Ameca splendens



Their parents at Msjinkzd





Some of the tankmates in the 90 gallon display:

a pair of rare Alfaro culturatus Knife Livebearers



 More about Ameca splendens from Wikipedia:


"Ameca splendens, a bony fish from the monotypic genus Ameca^[2] of the splitfin family (Goodeidae), is commonly known as the Butterfly Goodeid or Butterfly Splitfin. It was formerly found throughout the Ameca River drainage in Mexico; the type locality is Rio Teuchitlán in the vicinity of Teuchitlán, Jalisco. The species was only ever found in an area about 10 miles (15 km) in diameter.^[3]
Today, the species is rated as extinct in the wild by the IUCN, though it is noted that this assessment is obsolete:^[4] a remnant population has been found to persist in El Rincón waterpark near the town of Ameca. Possibly, it also exists in a feral state in the USA; individuals apparently derived from escaped or introduced captive stock were met with in southeastern Nevada.^[5] For some time, it was a popular fish among aquarists, but hobbyist stocks have declined quite a lot more recently, placing its survival in jeopardy."

My 90 gallon Saltwater Aquarium

It's been a while since I posted an aquarium update, since a lot has changed. I've moved and changed jobs this past year, and things have been hectic. Not too hectic to continue keeping fishes. Many of the fish I brought from Wisconsin a couple years ago have passed away, some from old age. I still have Stormy, my Blue Jaw Tilefish, and Cleopatra, my beloved seahorse, one of which I raised myself who is the daughter of Hoover and Juniper.

My 90 gallon "reef"

My lovely Stormy, the Blue Jaw Tilefish, is best friends with my new Blue Tang.



Some of you might remember Mandy, my Sustainable Aquatics Fancy White Ocellaris. She's a couple years old now and paired up with an ORA Naked Ocellaris, and they are finally old enough to be practicing spawning. Let's hope for eggs soon.



 A picture of Mandy from Nov. 2011, notice the color change!



My newest fish, a beautiful Blue Hippo Tang named "Dory" of course.



All the fish are very tame!





saltwater Sailfin Molly - a freshwater fish that can live in saltwater also





a 4" Sixline Wrasse

"Nubs" the Bearded Dragon

"Nubs" is a 2 1/2 year old female Bearded Dragon. She lives with me in a dining room and living room of a Philadelphia row-home. She has a basking area and a heating pad under the TV stand, and also likes to be put on the windowsill of our big bay window to watch the fish tanks and the cars driving by. She eats about 3 dozen large crickets a week, and gets daily meals of bearded dragon food and fresh vegetables like carrots.

Nubs is pretty much exactly like having a dog. She does have a large cage, but we started letting her out more and more, and eventually, she hated going in her cage at all. This situation wouldn't work for every bearded dragon in every home, but Nubs is a special lizard. She is potty trained to go on plastic bags in the shoe corner, but sometimes misses and gets the shoes. She's extremely friendly and outgoing, always coming out to check out visitors. She loves to fall asleep on her favorite people's chests, snuggling up to our necks.

Nubs is missing a hand and part of her tail because she was injured by her brother as a baby. This is common with young dragons. She doesn't let it bother her, and she runs all around the house at full speed after basking in her favorite spot.









 

Felicia's Lizard and Snake Terrarium

This tall Exo-Terra terrarium houses a Northern Brown Snake, a female Green Anole, a female White Lipped Anole, and a pair of Five Lined Skinks. The substrate is Eco-Earth for burrowing and live plants. The live plants include a potato, some radishes, chicks and hens, and moss. A basking lamp provides heat and UV light.

I found the Northern Brown Snake on my sidewalk a few months ago on a warm day, and decided to bring him inside. I just happened to have a reptile habitat that my friend Susan left me when she moved to Florida. The snake is difficult to care for; it took a while to figure out what it eats. He only ate snails at first, but now will hunt for very small crickets.