nora hickey dvm

Nora Hickey, D.V.M.

Nora is a practicing fish veterinarian currently living, working, and fishkeeping in Washington State. Nora has been keeping fish since the age of three when her grandfather, a passionate aquarium hobbyist, gifted her a small aquarium with zebrafish. While attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her undergraduate degree, Nora volunteered at the New England Aquarium in the Freshwater Gallery; she also completed an internship in the Aquarium Medical Center during that time.

Nora decided to combine her dual interests in fish and medicine by becoming a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. During veterinary school, she spent time training with veterinarians and aquarists whose names aquarium hobbyists might recognize from columns and articles they have written for fishkeeping publications–Dr. Myron Kebus (founder of the first fish-only veterinary practice in the Midwest), Scott Dowd (founder of Project Piaba), Dr. Tim Miller-Morgan (aquatic veterinarian and developer of the Oregon Coast Community College Aquarium Sciences Program), Dr. Roy Yanong (professor at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory in Florida that provides fish health services for ornamental fish farmers), and Dr. Chris Keller (veterinarian for the Tennessee Aquarium).

Nora received the 2022 Outstanding Veterinary Services Award from the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association for her work with salmon at tribal hatcheries in Western Washington, and she is a Past President for the American Association of Fish Veterinarians. Nora is particularly interested in Corydoradinae catfish and maintains several aquariums featuring them at home.

Jennifer O Reynolds Picture

Jennifer O. Reynolds, M.A.

Jen worked as a Senior Biologist at the Vancouver Aquarium for 15 years after completing her studies in aquaculture technology. Her lifelong passion for fish started when she was just a year old, captivated by the aquarium her parents kept at home. Throughout grade school, Jen maintained small aquariums in her bedroom, which expanded into other areas of the home as her fascination grew. Support from her family, including her grandfather, a scientist specializing in fish biology, was critical in cultivating Jen’s interest. She spent her childhood catching tadpoles in ponds and writing letters to aquarium hobbyist magazines, eager to learn all she could.

Over the years, Jen gained wide-ranging experience in the aquatics industry, from conducting underwater research in Lake Tanganyika and breeding rare freshwater stingrays to opening aquarium exhibits, conducting dive surveys, and working in aquaculture, aquarium product sales, and maintenance.

An avid photographer and writer, Jen authored the chapter on freshwater stingray care in the 2010 Elasmobranch Husbandry Manual, a key guide for public aquarium professionals. She has also written for Amazonas, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Aquarium Fish International, and Cichlid News, and contributed to scientific manuscripts. Her Master’s thesis explored the psychosocial dimensions of public aquarium work.

These days, Jen works in finance and is a community representative member of Simon Fraser University's Animal Care Committee. She spends her free time tending to and photographing fish species that fascinate her in her many home aquariums.