Hello from Texas

M

MarkinTex

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Hi there, not a zoo professional, though an avid enthusiast of zoos and public aquariums, as well as a lifelong aquarist as a hobby. As an aquarist, I'm committed to biotope aquariums, which means aquariums that try to replicate a specific habitat, with only fish and plants that would all be found together in nature. Currently my main tank is a 55 gallon paludarium, Amazonia biotope (photo attached). I also have a garden pond with fishes native to my area (currently western mosquitofish, sailfin mollies, orangespotted sunfish, dollar sunfish), and my backyard is an NWF certified backyard habitat. I have a bachelors degree in biology, masters degree in environmental management. Used to work in soil and groundwater remediation, now I work for company that recycles waste chemicals for beneficial reuse. Married with a stepson, daughter, two cats. Like to hike, sail, kayak, scuba dive, travel, cook, and fish.

My home zoo and aquarium are the Houston Zoo, which is pretty good, and Moody Gardens in Galveston which is good too but has gotten too expensive for what it is. Probably the best zoo in Texas would be Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, with Fort Worth Zoo and the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville vying for second. Best zoo I've been anywhere has to be the San Diego. Best Aquarium would be either Monterrey Bay or Baltimore.

Thanks for having me!


List of every zoo/aquarium I've visited:
Houston Zoo
Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid and Aquarium Pyramid
Sea Arama Galveston (no longer in existence)
Downtown Aquarium Houston
San Antonio Zoo
Gladys Porter Zoo
Dallas World Aquarium
Fort Worth Zoo
Fair Park Aquarium Dallas
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
Sea Center Texas
Texas State Aquarium
Sea World Texas
San Diego Zoo
Vancouver Aquarium
Monterrey Bay Aquarium
Aquarium of the Pacific
Audubon Aquarium New Orleans
Disney Animal Kingdom
National Zoo
National Aquarium, Baltimore
Miami Zoo
Monkey Jungle, Miami
Parrot Jungle, Miami (now Jungle Island)
Miami Seaquarium
Tokyo Sealife Aquarium
Zanzibar Kilosas Conservation (Zanzibar, Tanzania)
 

Attachments

  • Paludarium.jpg
    Paludarium.jpg
    125.2 KB · Views: 3
Last edited:
Welcome and hello from the Netherlands ! Nice to have another "fish-person"on the side, there aren't that much around here on ZooChat :).
Hope you're gonna enjoy your time here on ZooChat and keep us informed about your zoo-adventures.
 
Hi Mark, welcome to Zoochat. Your biotope aquarium and pond sound cool, as does your wildlife backyard. Do you get a lot of migratory birds coming through Houston and using your yard habitat?
 
Welcome to ZooChat! I went to high school in San Antonio and lived some years later out in Del Rio. It’s always nice to see a Texan on the site and please post photos!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top