Well, I made it!

I thought that we had decided against having a forum? Oh well, I'm glad we have one!

I'm in very, very south central Alabama, where the air is hot & humid, the vegetation is lush, the streams are muddy and tannic, and the fish are plentiful. We don't have much of anything you might call winter down here, but we get a lot colder than Florida. Alabama has a whole lot more fish species than florida though! North Alabama has a lot more species than we have have down here in the south, but ours are pretty darned spectacular. Some of you have already made the trip down here to sample our piscene treasures, and if you others ever make a trip down here yourself, you won't be disappointed. We found some 33 species in only 4 sites last time.
The Flagfin Shiner is the fish which really sparked my own interest in native fishes. I had of course kept a few "little gray ditch fish" on many occasions over the previous 15 or so years of fishkeeping, but 21 years ago I discovered the flashy Flagfin in a nearby swamp, and the rest was history. It still took me many years to figure out how to breed them, as well as other natives, because I was still stuck in "tropical mode" for a long time and didn't really have a good grasp of things like overwintering and seasonal simulation and the like which our natives often need for spawning. I also didn't have a chiller. Once I got one, though, I was off and running. It's kind of funny, really, how this hobby began with natives, but those natives were pretty much forgotten when importing tropicals became practical. Now the fish of the hobby's infancy are as mysterious and virtually unknown as they were a century ago, rarely mentioned in any books on the subject of fishkeeping. That's why it took me so long to get the hang of them, of course, and it's also one of the main things which attract me to natives. I really enjoy the "frontier" feel I get from native fishkeeping. I was almost getting jaded with tropicals, and natives have made things interesting again. I've bred about 400 tropicals and a dozen marines, but it's the natives that really give me any real breeding satisfaction anymore. Breeding tropicals is easy. Want a challenge? Try Natives! You can't just look up the "recipie" with natives like you can with tropicals, so getting them to spawn is a matter of actual accomplishment. At least that's how I feel about it now. Ask me again in another 20 years, once I've finally caught up to some of you other guys who currently make me look like a rank amateur in comparison.

I suppose that most of us tend to work most with what we have handy. With that in mind, my specialty is shiners of the Pteronotropis complex. I also have a lot of other various shiners, along with Pygmy & Bluespotted sunfish and a couple of darters, but the "complex" still has my main focus just as it did 20 years ago. Breeding-> 4 down, 5 to go! ( well, actually, they're getting ready to move the hubbsi & welaka to a separate group, and add the Redeye N. harperi to that new group, so I guess my count will soon be way off, eh? )
(( They should have split these off a long time ago in my opinion, but I'm a splitter anyway. Still, the differences are pretty obvious, so even the lumpers shouldn't mind. The harperi caught me by surprise, but female welakas and harperis do indeed look nearly identical, I have to admit ))

Well, that's about it, I guess. I'm not a complete moron, although I've played one on TV. I'm glad this new forum is here, and I'll be using it.

I'm glad you made it by. I'm also glad you will be active on it. Now convince the rest of them to join!

I can't help but notice the number of people in the south (AL/LA/MI) on here already. Hope to get out with you guys one day.

Yeah, we're down here, but spread out pretty thinly, so it's hard to get together much. That might be why so many of us are here on the board? Help us! We're stranded!

Welcome, and keep the good posts coming! Matt

Welcome. I've said this before but here goes...I'm in Alabama frequently (southern portion too). I'm always looking for new water as I live pretty far away. If you ever need a seining partner give me a yell.

My goodness a lot guys from the area. I would love to get a half dozen of us to get in the water together.

good to have you, there so seem to be a fair amount of us here in AL, MI, North FL, LA we should try and get up