New Des Moines Trustee - Justin Schwebke

Please join me in welcoming Justin Schwebke, our new trustee for the Des Moines Region. We are excited for him to take over and feel that he will do a great job for the region. Here is a little background information on Justin.


You're a college student at Iowa State, what year are you and what do you study?[/b]

I'm an Junior at Iowa State, my major is Agronomy - Field and Business Management. Without going into detail, I learn a lot about crops, corn, soybeans, etc, biotech, and ag business. I grew up in Northern Illinois about an hour and a half northwest of Chicago.



How long have you had saltwater aquariums?[/b]

I started keeping saltwater fish after I graduated high school in 2009. My first saltwater tank was a 29g fish only. I brought that tank with me to Iowa State in Fall of 2010, but downsized to a 10g when I moved home for the summer. I kept my 10g for a semester, then came winter break. I had nobody to look after them so I turned them over to the pet store and then I was out of it. It seemed keeping fish and moving don't play well together, and as a College student I seemed to move a lot! I started keeping fish again this year as I feel I'll finally be staying in one place, and joined GIRS shortly after.



What size is your current tank and what do you have in it?[/b]

Currently I actually have 6 aquariums! I started off with a 30g Half moon, then after joining GIRS I just followed the opportunities as they appeared!

Display tanks:[/u]

DT 30g Half Moon with 4 Blue Damsels, 2 Firefish Gobies, a pair of Ocellaris Clowns, and a few corals.

DT 15g Tall with a Maldivian Clarkii.

DT 30g Tall with a mated pair of Yellowstriped Maroon Clowns, and a Longnose Hawkfish.

Other:

20g Long Hermit Crab Adoption Tank with about 30 hermit crabs covered in Aiptasia and Majanos that would have otherwise been killed in a tank breakdown, that I plan to carefully fight the Anemones off of, then potentially breed.

Berghia Nudibranch Breeding: [/u]

30g Long solely for breeding Aiptasia.

20g Long with Aiptasia LR for purpose of eventually studying and noting the effectiveness of Berghia as a control mechanism for Aiptasia infestations.



What's the most rewarding part of keeping Saltwater fish?

Well, nobody can believe I have 6 aquariums so it's rewarding when somebody stops by and wants to talk about them. I rave about the behavior of my fish and tell stories that testify to their character. I avoid stories about things like the extra hour past bedtime I put in last night when my ATO tubing came loose and dripped all over the carpet behind my sump. I don't think dogs and cats are the only pets with character. It might not be obvious in the pet store but saltwater fish are not just colorful, they have personality, I like that, and I like my aquariums to show off that character.