March 5th, 2026

Welcome to this edition of the BTDarters Newsletter! As always, we hope you are having a great week!

Please note that the season for ordering our southern U.S. fishes is still OPEN! Contact Us for details!

Twenty-fifth Anniversary Celebration!

Well, we are pretty much in celebration mode here! For those of you that don’t know, BTDarters was formed in September of 2001. So that makes September of this year our 25th anniversary!

As such, we have some special things planned. We are forming partnerships with other companies to bring you more products and services. You will be able to see one of our new partnerships below.

Also, you’ll see that we will be running some specials during the year. Please see below for our current special on Northern Collecting Trips.

And we’d like to thank you, the customers, for 25 great years! We couldn’t be doing this without you! We’re so happy to serve you and are thrilled that you like our offerings!

As always, we're glad you've joined us! And we hope you enjoy this email newsletter! Thanks!

As a point of note, please do not reply directly to this email newsletter. It has come to our attention that some people have been doing that, and we have not been getting the emails. If you need to contact us, please use the email addresses bt@btdarters.com or info@btdarters.com.

Wayback Machine – Early Days!

As part of our 25th year celebration, we want to show you a throwback to our early days. For those of you that don’t know, the Wayback Machine, or Internet Archive, takes snapshots of all sites available on the web and holds onto them for posterity. As such, using the Wayback Machine, we’re able to “transport” you to a historical version of our website!

Have a look at the links below. They are snapshots of our site from 2003. As you can see, we’ve come a long way with the appearance and ease-of-use of our website! Also, I personally think that the current version of our logo is much more “appealing” than our old logo. But, I’ll let you be the judge of that!  

Northern Collecting Trips at 25% Off, if Booked by March 31st!

So, we still have openings for our Northern Collecting Trips! These are offered out of our Milwaukee, Wisconsin location. Normally, you pay a $100.00 downpayment to reserve your spot in line to come collecting with us. Then, we go out collecting and you pay for all fishes that you take home, minus the $100.00 you already paid.

Until March 31st, 2026, if you book a trip with us, you still pay the $100.00 downpayment. However, the total cost of all fishes you take home is reduced by 25%. So, if you were going to take $200.00 worth of fishes home, you only pay $150.00!

Such a deal! Contact us soon, if interested. As long as you book by March 31st, you get the discount. Even if the trip happens at a date after March 31st.

Partnership with Subterra Bioworks!

For a long time, we’ve wanted to be able to offer native aquatic plants, to be kept with your native fishes. As such, we’ve formed a partnership with a local Wisconsin company called Subterra Bioworks!

Located in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, Subterra is a tissue-culture company. For those of you that don’t know, tissue culture is a way to produce plants in a sterile environment. As such, any tissue-cultured plants you receive are always free from diseases and pests, like snails and nuisance algae.

Have a look at Subterra’s offerings by visiting the link below. They currently sell the U.S.-native Riccia fluitans, as well as some plants that are not necessarily U.S.-native, but available in the aquarium hobby. Additionally, we have committed to provide them some source material for other native plants. Hopefully, those offerings will come available in the upcoming months.

Again, please check out Subterra’s website below. And if there’s a native plant that they don’t cultivate that you would like to get, please Contact Us. We might be able to make it happen!

Local Request For Help!!

You may not know this, but BTDarters is currently a one-person operation! However, we've been growing by leaps and bounds over the last year. As such, we're actively searching for help to run the business. Fortunately, a friend out-of-state has offered some remote help. Which we really appreciate! However, we are still looking for some local help (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA).

If you or anyone you know local to the Milwaukee area is interested in learning what it takes to run a successful retail business and gain some experience, please reach out! We need to find someone that we can really trust and depend on, for at least a few hours a week. Financial compensation may not be available immediately. However, we're more than happy to barter in fishes and experience gained!

If you or someone you know might be interested, please Contact Us!

Thanks for 25 Great Years!

Just as a reminder, southern collecting season is still open. If you are interested in a list of what we can get, please drop us a line. Southern collecting season is open until it gets too hot to collect fishes in South Carolina. And northern collecting season may open as soon as this weekend.

Well, that’s it for this edition of the BTDarters Newsletter! We thank you for 25 years of business, and hope you enjoy this newsletter journey through our 25th year!

As always, if you have any questions, please drop us a line or give us a call. And if there’s anything we don’t currently offer, but you would like to see, please drop us a line. We might be able to make it happen!

Thanks!

Brian

Brian J. Torreano - Founder and Owner of BTDarters

In Case You Didn't Hear, We Were On the Air!!

This is a repeat announcement. We've got a bunch of new subscribers this week and have left this in for their information.

We were recently the featured guests on the Pet Life Radio podcast! The episode, "Going Native with Brian Torreano of BTDarters," is live! Hop on over to the podcast webpage (button below) or the episode on iHeartRadio (button further below) to listen. We hope you enjoy!

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Have you checked out "The Alphabet Zoo" by Cymande Cannon, with illustrations by Brian J. Torreano? This vibrant picture book with its striking illustrations and unique alliteration reinforces learning and will make you and your child smile!

For more information, or to purchase a copy for you or your loved ones, please click the button below! Thanks!

Unless otherwise stated, all content is Copyright Brian J. Torreano/BTDarters 2026. Content not owned by BTDarters is used with permission.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

414-374-2824