Please (Re) Introduce Yourself!

[cabinetmkr39]

Hi I'm David , I started my fish hobby in 1969 in phila with a Metaframe 10 gallon tank with a metal light that got so hot it would burn you set on a metal stand with a bubble up HOB filter and no GFI."Dam that was dangerous" lol. My mother and father always had fish when I was young . Moved to Joppatowne Maryland in 1978 where i bought my first BIG tank 34 gal. Stocked it with fish from all of the local fish stores "Back then there where atleast 10 with in 25 miles of Joppatowne.
I've kept New world , old world , Saltwater for a couple years , Koi still.
Now I breed mostly malawi cichlids Peacocks. Presently have 33 tanks wet with fish.and a 5000 gallon koi pond with over 30 koi in my yard.
Join the CCA a few years back and its been a wealth of info and friendship.There are pictures of my fishroom online here.

[cabinetmkr39]

Im on Bills left. Bills the dude from Jerrrrsey with the HUGH Auction on Sept 30 2012.

[bschuhart]

Hi, I'm Ben. The fish bug began when my 5th grade teacher asked my to take care of the classroom aquarium, that was 1967. I then got 2 - 10g tanks. Next I worked in a LFS as a teen (Wet Pet Center in Reisterstown, MD). In those days I also raised Paradise Fish in an outdoor pond in he summers.

In college I had a 29g on my dresser in the dorm with Lake Malawi cichlids, a real chick magnet,, or at least I thought so. in the mid 80's I had a 110g Reef tank, then In 2001 it became a fresh water tank. In 1994 I set up a 150g in the School Office were I worked, with Malawi cichlids. 2010- I met Dave (from the post above) and Pat when trying to get fish donated to restock the 150. They told me about CCA, I came to the meetings and my single 110g became a 14 tank fish room in about 6 months. Sorry to say I had to dismantle the fish room and only have a 65g SA and 40g Lake Malawi tanks. a 180g show tank is in the works.

I'm a professional musician and teacher(band director)by trade.

[msjinkzd]

• Where you're from

I live in Northeastern York, PA with my husband and two daughters. It is about 1 1/2-1 3/4 hour drive for club, and worth every minute. I lived in Philadelphia for about 10 years, where I met my husband and we started our family. I have college degrees in art, psychology, and art therapy. I worked professionally as a veterinary technician for many years, both at cat specific hospitals, and as an exotic pet technician until we started our family.

• Whether you're a member and why (or why not)

Absolutely! My entire family has a membership. I travel a lot to different clubs and have found CCA to be the most fun group, as well as inviting to families, of all. We all really enjoy hte meetings and hangouts though our schedule has gotten a little hectic as of late and it has made it more difficult to attend them all as my children get older (and busier). CCA gets teh best speakers!

• What kind of fish you keep

As for cichlids, I have west african dwarf cichlids, discus, and my oscar (Captain Crankypants). I have kept and bred a ton of apistogrammas as well as other dwarf cichlids. I really specialize in freshwater invertebrates and nano fish (under 2"). I do have a special fondness and love for extremely large primitive fish (gar and polypterus), of which I also keep. I call them my "big boys" and they are my pride and joy. I also have tons of cories, aspidoras, brochis, ancistrus, hypancistrus, pimlodella, etc that I work with.

• Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future

I hope to hire an assistant and also build a true fish building in the near future. My speaking schedule has really taken off, and I need help (anyone near York??). My goal is to continue to supply healthy, interesting, and uncommon small fish and invertebrates to the residents of the US. I would REALLY like to make it over to visit keepers in Europe, and to hob knob with some of the people who are doing the scientific study on the little creatures I find so fascinating.
For anyone who wants to see pics of more of my setup and critters, I post pretty frequently on my website, msjinkzd.com

Here is a picture of one part of my fish room:

[turfboss]

Where you're from -

I live in Severna Park MD with my wife Cheryl - I grew up in Northern IL and Southern WI - moved to PA in 1973 - to VA in 1978 - and to MD in 1983 (Cheryl is from a little town just out side London in the UK) - In addition to having been raised on a farm in the Midwest I spent 8 years in the USAF (Security Service) - ran the family farm for 7 years before going back to college (at age 32) to get a Doctorate in Computer Science. I worked for different computer companies (Burroughs Corp and CSC) before forming my own company (Verdix Corporation) and taking it public in 1982. About 15 years ago we sold that company and 10 years ago I started another company (TargaPro) marketing and installing synthetic turf systems (hence the Avatar - turfboss).

Whether you're a member and why (or why not) -

As well as being a member of CCA - I am a member of ACA, PVAS and GWAPA. I believe in supporting the organizations which help support my hobby but just as importantly I want to help those organizations become stronger and more supportive of new members as well as those who are just getting started in the hobby. In addition, the camaraderie, the friendships already made and the information sharing I enjoy with the members of the various organizations is what truly makes the hobby so enjoyable.

What kind of fish you keep -

I started my fish keeping back in the early 70's (while at the Univ of Wisconsin) with fancy guppys which I bred and sold to a lfs in Madison. I was out of the hobby till the fall of 2011 when my eldest son (who has 4 tanks) got me interested again. We recently moved into a home with a basement which I have converted to a fish room - and am in the process of redesigning and rebuilding to accomodate more tanks. I currently have 34 tanks (not all full at the moment but working on them). I have several species of Cichlids - from Convicts, Yellow Labs, Red Zebras, FlameTails, Severums and Demadoni as well as several different species of Corydoras and Ancistrus.

Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future -

I have recently started seeing the fruits of the spawning efforts pay off with recent Nicholsi and Albino BN spawns. My goal is to breed and raise the offspring to make a business out of what has become more than just a hobby. I am a DIY guy and love to design and build things which make the fish keeping easier so am in the process of putting in a fish room which I hope to be completely automated - so far I have the house re-piped in areas to install a 5 filter water system and am installing an air distribution system, automated water changing and untimely computer controlled lighting, tank heaters (as required), and humidity and air exchange systems. I am also in the process of setting up my web site to share (with journals and a blog) the development of my fish room as well as to be able to market product to sell.

[FishInMaryland]

Hello!!


My name is Ruth and I currently live in Davidsonville, MD. I was born in DC, grew up right down the street from where the CCA meets in Silver Spring, so haven't fallen too far from the tree, really. I started with tropical fish when I won a betta at some garden-home show at the Cap Centre around 1976-77 or so, when I was a teenager. Ended up with various fish in a couple of what were probably 10-15 gal community tanks. After college, I bought a house in Rockville, tried the fishkeeping thing again, but everything kept dying. In hindsight, that was due to a million mistakes that I was making, so my earlier successes must have been due to dumb luck, because I had been making the same mistakes all along. Got out of the fishkeeping hobby.


Fast forward 20 or so years, to about 2004, to the house my husband built us here in Dville, and I got the idea to start up another tank. My husband doesn't do anything small, so while we were out responding to Wash Post ads for 20-30 gal tanks, he suggest getting something bigger, and I ended up with a 125. Had about 8 parrot cichlids that acted more like dogs than fish, and a blue channel cat that was just getting bigger and bigger, and scared the bejesus out of me. After the canisters leaked 2x, putting about 10 gal of water onto our hardwood floor each time, DH said NO MORE! The existing 55 was OK, and after many deaths of fishes in that tank not suitable for our hard, high PH water, somebody at HOT suggested Africans. Thank goodness, because I love them! I have no goals with the fish, since I'm still just tickled that I'm not running to HOT with a problem, or dead fish, every week, and can just enjoy the fish! I have two 55s with mbuna, 4 small angels in a 10g, and about 8 cories in a 20L. All except one of the 55s is in my son's room. Don't know how he can sleep with the racket, but at this point, he probably couldn't sleep without it! At some point, if the basement is ever cleared of CRAP, I would like to set up the 125 down there again, and get the Peacocks or Tropheus that my son wants.



I am a member of the CCA because I like the people and I like to hear/see what others are doing. I am the membership chair, which means I maintain the membership list and crank out membership cards. You have probably seen me at meetings, since I usually bring my 7 yo son and my 86 yo mother!

[chris_todd]

Hello, my name is Chris Todd and I have a problem. I have too many obsessions. Tropical fish and aquatic plants, amateur astronomy (both visual and astrophotography), time lapse photography, carnivorous plants, orchids, tournament chess, and probably some more I haven't yet discovered.

I can't remember when I joined CCA, but it was not long after I joined GWAPA (one of our friends, Judi, is a GWAPA member and suggested it).

I started keeping fish back in Grad school in Pittsburgh. My graduate advisor had a real menagerie in his house, including snakes, turtles, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds, all of which he got at the local LFS, Elmer's Aquarium in Monroeville. Amy and I stopped by there and got a 20 high, and did a pretty standard community tank with a few plants that never lasted very long.

When we moved back to the Baltimore area around 2000, the tank went into storage, but a few years back a friend of ours who travels a lot had an incident with an air hose in his 65g that resulted in the tank draining all over his kitchen floor, so we took it off his hands and the rest is history.

Right now, I only have a few tanks setup, though I have had as many as 19 tanks. I've kept a variety of New World and Old World cichlids, as well as gouramis, tetras, rasboras, rainbows, and catfish of various kinds. I'm in the process of moving my tanks around, and when finished I'll have a planted 75g community tank with mostly SE Asian fish, a 90g with three Oscars (currently about 6"), a 110g African tank with Vics, Yellow Labs, Peacocks and Haps, and a 150g plywood tank that will eventually house some Geophagus and other SA cichlids.

I haven't attended many meetings in the last year, as family/home life and my other hobbies (I mean, obsessions) have kept me busy, but with the basement renovations winding down and the tanks getting setup again, I hope to be more active in the near future. I like being a CCA member because of the incredible knowledge in the club, and the friendliness of everyone I've met here. It's a highlight of any month to get to attend a meeting and reunite with my fishy friends, hear a good talk, and get awesome deals on fish in the auction.

[golsama]

Hello everyone! My name is Samantha and I'm from Gaithersburg, MD. I am currently in an accelerated graduate program at the University of Maryland working towards my Master's in Elementary Education (as well as certification).

I have been a member of CCA since March 2010 and have attended all meetings except for maybe one or two since then. I found CCA through the recommendation of an employee at a LFS. I attended one meeting and then went home and officially joined. This club has helped me tremendously and has definitely sped up my learning curve when it comes to cichlids. I am a member because this club is filled with lots of awesome people that I really enjoy talking to and getting to know, has great speakers, and is just overall the greatest club!

I started off with a typical tropical community tank and then became interested in shellies. In less than 3 years, I have gone from 1 10 gallon to 16 tanks ranging from 2.5 gallon (bettas) to 55gallons. I even built a custom 3 shelf tank rack with the help of my handy parents this past summer!

I currently keep both Old World and New World. I have a West African tank, 5 species of Shell dwellers, Julies, Cyps, and Calvus. I also keep quite a few New World tanks. I have a convict pair (feeds the turtles), pair of white crayfis, german blue ram pair, dwarf cuban crays, tetras, rasboras, angels, and BN plecos. In addition to fish, I keep amphibians, reptiles, a cockatiel, cat, and two rescue dogs that make each day a party!

My current goals are to successfully breed my BN pleco pair that carries the red marble and long-fin genes, L. stappersi, German Blue Rams, aspidoras pauciradiatus, and possibly my white crays (thanks Christine! I love them!). I am also wanting to get into salt water.

[hollyfish2000]

I'm Holly from Gaitherburg (originally from California). I got into fish a few years ago when my horse (my original obsession) was not doing well and I needed to entertain myself. I started (not kidding here) with a five gallon tank and three black tetras. I quickly outgrew the expertise of my local Petsmart and graduated to a 30 gallon cube from Congressional Aquarium (paying full freight!) that seemed freaking huge.

I got interested in cichlids early on -- apistos, rams (blue and Bolivian) and curviceps. Thanks to Andrew TFW (who was exceedingly patient) I ended up getting into peacocks AND plants (not originally in the same tank, but now both of my African tanks are planted). Andrew got me introduced to CCA as well as some members, including Jon and Matt, I later met Tony, who lives nearby, and who I gave the combination to my front door before I'd ever met him in person! I only have four tanks, smallish tanks: 45-gallon mbuna + one ruby red peacock boy ad lucipinnis; 58 gallon rainbow cichlids + assorted cories, BN, tetras, rasboras; 40 breeder wiht ruby red colony and lucippinis; and my 20 gallon high "swing" tank that currently has a pair of rainbow cichlids and a zillion of their babies that I have no idea what I"m going to do with!!!

I have no real goals. I'm happy with my tanks and although there are other fish I'd like to keep, I can't have any more or any bigger tanks than I have. So for now, I just buy more plants! (as you know from previous auctions)

I forgot to mention -- I am both a horse and a dog person with two golden retrievers and two retired racing greyhounds. If you want to know anything about greyhounds (really, the world's most fabulous dog), send me a PM

[iamzrad]

Hello everyone! My name is Phil and I currently live in Baltimore. I've been keeping "fish" every since I was little when my parents used to "setup" my small tanks with from what I remember were mollies, goldfish and some tetras. When I was 12 or so, I asked for a larger tank for Christmas (just a tank with accessories, no fish). Well, I received a 29gal from "Santa" that year, from which I later learned that actually my Grandma got for me. I went to Exotic Aquatics (which was directly across the street from me) and got some fish. I think they were mollies and gourami's and such. Side note; I've been going to Exotic Aquatics (too bad they are now gone) ever since I was a little kid. My dad always took me there and when I got older and was allowed to cross the street, I started going on my own. There is a photo somewhere in my parent's attic of me standing on a step stool looking into one of the store's tanks.

I didn't get into "cichlids" and other advanced fish till I was 16. I had a part time job and saved enough summer money to buy a 55gal tank. At this age, EA moved to their last location and since I had a Jeep for my first car, it was perfect! I had no idea what cichlids were but the guys at EA pointed me to the correct section and I picked out the common and most bought "mixed" cichlid tank. There were some red zebras, cobalts and more. I had this setup for about 5yrs and finally decided to go bigger. Bought a 75gal and filled it with peacocks and some nasty mbuna's. At this point, I had a little section of the basement to my "fish room" where I kept smaller tanks for breeding, spare parts and all. I only kept about 4 tanks max for display tanks only.

Fast forward to today and I am in love with cichlids. When I was getting serious into fish keeping I was like everybody else looking online, asking friends and talking to LFSs. I googled "local fish club" and came across CCA. Another side note: I tried to join CCA in August of 2008 but for some reason my email was marked as "spam" and I couldn't get in touch of Pat at all. I think my emails were getting blocked and junked mail. I think CCA switched forums at the end of that year and a new email/member system or something and FINALLY my email was accepted! YAY!

Currently, I keep Lake Tang fish as my main type of fish. I have tropheus, petros, gobies, some syndontis and a few mbuna. My scale of tanks isn't impressive any more as I work 12+hr days and am rarely home. Also, currently looking and finding a house to buy takes up so much time, it's sad to see how little I have time for fish keeping. I do all I can but sometimes, I can't help it. But all of my stock is healthy and sound.

Last year was a very exciting year for me in fish keeping as some know, my crowned Victorian won multiple awards at ACA! He was a Pundamilia nyererei that just simply shined at the show. I was proud as can be (even though, lol, I wasn't there to except any awards... opps!) But the great members I have met in this club kept me updated and held on to my trophies as I picked them up later the following day. Unfortunately, a few months later in the fall, I found the poor fellow struggling to keep balance in the water and looks as if something made him sick. I was very sadden that I was going to lose this fish and after keeping an eye on him for a couple of days, he didn't make it. His trophies and plaques are hung on the basement wall with a photo of him, in remembrance.

This club is simply amazing and it's members are living proof of that. Never have I seen a more dedicated and resourceful group of people doing something they all love. You all are the core of this club and in the words of every member, CCA IS THE BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD!