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Howdy, my name is Thomas. I'm from the tiny southwestern Missouri town of Stark City, which is aptly named and about 40 miles straight north of Bentonville. I can't remember a time when there wasn't aquarium in my house. Currently, I have a 50 gallon saltwater setup with a Volitan Lionfish (Pterois volitans), a 10 gallon tank with a male/female pair of Japanese Firebelly Newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster), and several tanks of assorted sizes sporting various kinds of Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens).

I also spent two consecutive summers in highschool as a Hatchery Technician at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, where I cared for 8 adult and 1,500 juvenile Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). Due to my time at the hatchery, I am very interested in the captive care of sturgeon, and I would like to eventually add Sterlets (Acipenser ruthenus) to my private collection. I am also interested in gar (Lepisosteus spp.) and catfish.

Welcome to the forum. Our club has members with many and varied interests, and we're always interested in people who add to that information base. We do meet the second Saturday of each month (this coming Saturday), and we love to have you join us, although we do understand the problems associated with a long drive. We toured the fish hatchery a couple years ago, and were really impressed. Denny

Thank you! I'm more one for unusual fish, large and small. I even had a pet shop owner ask me once, "You like odd things, don't you?" I was considering coming down to the meeting this Saturday. It's not that bad of a drive, I've been down to the Rogers/Bentonville area many times. Were you at the hatchery after they opened the new visitor's center?

Yes we were. We got a wonderful tour of the hatchery and the new center. Denny