I think the opening page should not be long and super saturated. It should be light, airy, welcoming. Overwhelming someone chases them away.
It would be good to have, in every sentence of that opening statement ,"blue link words" (or in keeping with our color scheme, green link words) where...
I really like this idea.
'Also was put off with the length and technicality of the fish list (though, when I've had aquarium probs in the past, we did eventually cover at least 90% of that).
The friendlier intro paragraphs are much less challenging. I vote to incorporate them, or much of...
What about those tall skinny evergreens people used to line driveways and property lines with in the 1940s-50s? They grow fairly quickly. (I don't know if they're cedars, so might not be good to have close to tortoises...)