Devin Espinoza

Devin is an integral member of the Texas Area Killifish Organization and one of the younger members of the AKA.

“My love for aquatic life began in the small town of Iola, Texas.  My grandparents owned a small piece of land that had a quaint creek running through it.  The aquatic life in that creek was diverse and plentiful.  As a young boy, I spent countless hours exploring that creek.  I would don my rubber boots and equip myself with a minnow net, enthusiastically curious about what I would find. I marveled at all the little fish and crustaceans I managed to catch.”

“Eventually, I traded my rubber boots for a pair of combat boots when I enlisted in the Marines and traveled the world. Instead of finding beauty, I discovered just how much destruction humans could bring upon nature. Jungle streams full of trash, beaches, rivers, and marshes used as expedient dumps.”

“Because of my travels I have witnessed wet markets full of fish and animals I have only seen in books. During my downtime, I would frequently seek out pet stores and live fish stores to see what they held. When I saw my first killifish I was stunned; it was like nothing I had ever seen before! Before me swam the stunning Golden Wonders, and from that moment on I was hooked, so much so that once I left the Marine Corps, I pursued a degree at Texas A&M in Ecology and Conservation Biology and took every ichthyology and wetland class they had to offer. During my time in college, I amassed a respectable fish room that held over 60 tanks and some 50 species of Killifish. I specialize in warmer water Killies like Epiplatys and my personal favorite Nothobranchius.”