My intro

Hey everyone!

My name is Tom and I recently took over as GM at VIA Aquarium in Rotterdam NY. I started there before opening as the Guest Services Manager and have been pushing forward for the last 18 months. My family has had turtles/tortoises off and on for my entire life and now I'm looking to introduce some to the aquarium.

We do have 2 Mata Mata turtles featured in a smaller tank with leaf fish and a couple pleckos, but I want to do more with turtles in general and introduce them into other exhibits as we move more towards showcasing ecosystems instead of species.

Our current freshwater exhibits focus a lot on the Amazon because they tend to have the most colorful freshwater fish. It wasn't really intentional, but when going for impact; they have the best.

We have six 3500 gallon FW tanks, one that was an Adirondack River with Trout is being converted to Discus. Next is a Lake Malawi cichlids tank, followed by Thailand with Knifefish, Bala Sharks, and Iridescent Sharks. Then a Hudson River Tank with Pumpkin seeds, Blue Gills, Sturgeon, Paddlefish, Perch, Bullheads, and Small Mouth Bass. Our last two big tanks are Amazon river tanks with Pacu, Red Bellied Piranha, Shovelnose catfish, Redtail Catfish, and various tetras.

Our 7 smaller FW tanks have Blind Cave tetras, Electric Eels, Electric Catfish, Cardinal Tetras from Project Piaba, the Mata Matas, and then Archer Fish. So you can see the Amazonian influence.

At first I wanted to add a few Red Cheeked sliders to the new Discus tank, but with the amount of money we're spending on the fish, I can't really risk turtles getting snappy. So we're looking at other tank options.

One idea we had for Tank 1 before the Discus proposal won, was Southern US as we have two rescued Alligator Gar and a rescued Mississippi Map Turtle. That got voted down, so the MMT is still in a quarantine tank waiting for his call up.

We have a koi "pond" which is set up like a big raceway, and thought about adding turtles there. But, to avoid them inevitably learning that when the koi run to a certain spot there's food and then having guests get nipped, we'd have to find a way to make an attractive flow through partition in the biggest bend.

So that what brought me here. I was googling some turtles from Thailand for sale and linked here! Can't wait to connect with professionals and veterans in the community!