Hello from Tampa (Florida) -- Cool Trivia

starsplitter7

Registered Member
Sep 17, 2007
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Tampa, Florida
Hi there!

I am relatively new to keeping fish -- two years. I am absolutely addicted. :) My favorites are my loaches and catfish, but I also really enjoy my bichir, elephant nose and eels. I have 7 tanks, including one for cherry shrimp. I am almost finished cycling my new 55 gallon tank and beginning to stock it. Mostly moving growing fish from other tanks.

Some cool trivia: I spent about 15 years working at Planetariums and museums teaching people astronomy and space science. I became the lead caretaker for A.M.I.G.O., a tilapia born on the space shuttle during John Glenn's flight. The project was called Aquaculture in MicroGravitational Orbit. They wanted to find out if fish born in microgravity (in orbit gravity is about 92% of that on the Earth) would grow bigger and faster than fish born on Earth. Amigo grew very quickly, but because he was the only fish who hatched, nothing conclusive could really be said. They wanted to display the fish, and so I got to take care of him at my museum, his mate Marie, and about 400 fry. :) They wanted to know if he could reproduce after being exposed to radiation during hatching. No problems.

I look forward to learning new things. Tanja
 
:welcome: thats really interesting about the tilapia! is the experiment going to be done again to get better results?
 
welcome to the site love to see people take it a step further and try new things
 
AMIGO

:welcome: thats really interesting about the tilapia! is the experiment going to be done again to get better results?

The lead investigators for this project came from Hillsborough Community College (I had nothing to do with the project, but my museum knew I liked animals, so they thought I would be the best person to take care of him. I knew nothing about fish, but the scientists gave me all the info I needed to care for Amigo.) The original plan was that when the International Space Station was completed, they would try to hatch and keep the tilapia on the ISS for longer periods of time. Unfortunately, there has been an incredible delay for the ISS since we lost Columbia and then had following problems with the foam from the External Fuel Tank (orange tank). So I lost track of the mission for the A.M.I.G.O. project. Amigo and Marie passed away a few years ago, but their offspring still live at MOSI. What amazing fish with incredible personalities. Amigo loved to have his picture taken and would chase all the other fish out of view. He would face right, then left, straight on. . . like he was posing. :)
 
Thanks! :)

Thanks to everyone for welcoming me to this forum. :)
 
Hello and Welcome to the AC...
 
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