Maybe its not so central but at least I'm in Virginia.

My name is Rubie and I just got my first aquarium. It's a salt water tank with random fish I find in it (I crab for a living). I have 3 feather blennys, a baby gar, and 3 oysters. I also have no clue what I'm doing. I kept my 2 original feather blennys in an unused soft crab float (crabs kill them). They looked cold. So i bought a tank and moved them in the shed. They eat softcrab legs and love love love bloodworms.

Im also an artist and equine/canine trainer in the afternoons. I have no idea why i have fish other than these little guys are really sweet. Any advice would be welcome.

Welcome to the forum Rubie! We are glad to have you! I for one have never kept any saltwater fish but I am learning. What part of Va are you from? How did you find CVAS?

Hey Rubie, welcome!! I wouldn't be able to give you one bit of advice on salt water tanks but when I saw you were from Callao I had to say hi. I have family out there and my grandmother (god rest her soul) lived on the water in Callao and my memories of going there as a child are WONDERFUL!!!

Welcome Rubie, glad to have you join us. Make sure to include some pics of your setup when you can. There are a few "Salty's" in the club so they will be willing to to share their knowledge and experiences. Just ask away. Look forward to hearing more from you.

welcome to the forum

i believe you said callao, correct? welcome to the forum!

Thanks for all the welcomes! Callao is kinda halfway between Kilmarnock and Tappahannock. I believe I found yall looking for information on feather blennys. I've had beta fish before but they aren't nearly as sweet and personable. I also kept them in a cookie jar...I've never had an actual tank unless you count the floats or the big oyster growing tanks we've got. I took pictures this morning. Im not exactly done with my tank yet, but I like how its coming.

Unusual look! Just a bunch of old oyster shells (I think) and water. I like it! Hope it works out for you.

Welcome to CVAS! I don't know Callao but I LOVE Tappahannock and visit it whenever I can. Java Jake's, Lowery's, and Driftwood Aquatics are my usual haunts.
Glad to have you with us.

Oyster reefs are a feather blennys natural environment. We have oyster shells laying around everywhere around here; my uncle has an oyster house. I believe there are 3 live oysters in there. There's also barnicles, muscles, and what I believe are periwinkles. I had to turn the heater off because I didn't need spat sticking all in my tank...but I guess it'll happen anyway with this warm weather. My fish love to eat bloodworms and baby shrimp I catch while crabbing, earthworms, and soft crabs. I haven't tried store bought foods yet. I also haven't seen the gar eat yet. Come to think of it, I don't even know what they eat. I'm planning on getting some gravel to put in the tank. Any ideas?

Welcome to the forum, Rubie!

I think you ought to harvest sand yourself and rinse the heck out of it to use in the tank.

The gar is a fresh/brackish species that won't enjoy full marine, and is an ambush predator, meaning you'll need live food, like small minnows/guppies or something like that - they swim by and he'll snag them, hopefully.

I just recently sold my sailboat ( ) that we kept for years in Kinsale, so I'm very familiar with Callao, and I love the area. I've also spent summers my whole life in Mathews, and know Mobjack Bay very well - there are a lot of neat species that I've been thinking about keeping that are found there, so I'm very interested in your setup. What I'd really like to find are a couple of baby "sugar toads" (puffers) but when I see them in shallower waters they are already grown, and I think they hatch out in deeper water, so no luck yet there.

Keep us posted!

Did not know that about the gar. What do you mean by "full marine" Ill just have to hope he gets enough bloodworms. He's small. About 4.5 inches. Id like to see him eat a minnow. If I find some baby sugar toads ill save them for you.

Ah. I found him in the mouth of the Rappahannock. The bay is in sight. The saltwater i use is half from where he came from and half from our softcrab floats (made with crystal sea). This whole fish thing is turning out to be harder than I thought. I'll have to check the salinity when I get home.

It sounds like you ought to be in good shape! You don't have to geek out about it completely, lol. If the fish are happy and healthy then no worries. If you're using water from where the fish came from, then from your own floats it ought to be fine. The mouth of the Rapp is extremely variable so the fish found there can tolerate big swings. Even if you measure the salinity there one day it could be different the next, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I tend to GEEK out to the max on every little thing but it doesn't have to be that way - you can enjoy the hobby any way you like. I think its great that you are able to collect your own specimens - that's an ideal situation in my book.

Well...my first feather blenny flew out of the crab pot and landed in my lap. This whole experience has been one surprise after another. Thanks for the advice! It's really helped me a lot.