Evan Baldonado is an animal lover and his passion includes all living things, including fish. So when he won a goldfish at the Duveneck Harvest Festival, he was determined to keep it alive. “I set up my fish to survive, but I heard from my friends that their fish only lived only a short time,” Evan said. “That made me sad, and and I wanted to do something to educate people about how to care for their fish so they could live longer.”
Educating the Duveneck community about how to care for fish
The following year, Evan created a caresheet about how to tend to pet goldfish and passed it out at Duveneck’s Fall Festival. But while he was happy to help keep many more creatures alive, Evan was still uncomfortable with fish- especially goldfish- being doled out like toys.
“I don’t like the idea of live animals being handed out as pets to people who don’t necessarily want them,” he said. “But I knew that the tradition was special at the festival, so I convinced the organizers to switch to betta fish, which live longer and need less space than goldfish.”
Evan at the Duveneck Harvest Festival helping educate people about how to care for their newly won pet fish.
Launching a website and YouTube channel
When Evan entered seventh grade in 2013, he wanted to reach a broader audience so he created a website called AquariumKids.com. And to bring his information to life, he began making educational videos and posting them on YouTube.
fair goers at Duveneck read about fish care
Not fishy: AquariumKids videos garner over 1.5 million views
There must be a lot of eager fish owners out there, as Evan’sAquariumKids videos have been viewed over 1.5 million times. His video entitled, “The 10 Best-Looking Freshwater Fish” has been viewed over 350,000 times.
His secret?
Evan’s videos feature simple graphics, clear information and catchy headlines that deliver information about how to create and tend an aquarium in the “best of” or “Top 10” formats that are so popular on YouTube.
Pursuing a passion for animals and the environment
Now a rising senior at Paly, Evan’s passion for animals and the environment has only grown in the years since his first Harvest Festival at Duveneck. He took an environmental science elective last year, and is completing a research internship at Stanford this summer. “I find aquatic ecosystems fascinating, so maybe I’ll pursue learning more about them in college,” Evan said.
He also created a section of AquariumKids.com about climate change to educate visitors about the impact of earth warming on the ocean and the creatures who live in it.
Using debate skills to make a case against giving goldfish as prizes
Another of Evan’s passions is debate. As the captain of Paly’s Lincoln-Douglas debate team, he is also good at building a convincing argument about why aquaria are good, but giving fish away as prizes is bad.
“Aquaria give us a connection to nature that helps people relieve stress and wind down,” Evan explained. “But fish should not be given to children as prizes without parental permssion.” Evan will make his case against using fish as prizes in an Original Advocacy speech event next year (but it should be noted that the goldfish he won many years ago at Duveneck is still going strong!).
Evans goal is to educate people about why fish like this one should not be given to children as prizes.
To learn more:
- Visit AquariumKids at http://aquariumkids.com/.
- Check out Evan’s videos on YouTube
- Contact Evan by email: evanATaquariumkids.com
all photos courtesy of Evan Baldonado
Vic…A great column/report about a clearly fascinating young man…A well done to him and to you for bringing evan and his interests to our attention…