• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

Please (Re) Introduce Yourself!

dogofwar

CCA Members
Hello Everyone,

CCA has over 200 members, nearly 100 folks show up to most meetings...and probably hundreds more are signed up for the forum.

Please take a moment to introduce yourself (or re-introduce yourself) including:

  • Where you're from
  • Whether you're a member and why (or why not)
  • What kind of fish you keep
  • Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future
  • Whatever you like :)
Thanks,
Matt
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I'll start it off.

Hi, my name is Jon Clark and I am an addict. A cichlid addict.

I've been a member of CCA since 2009. I started keeping fish when I was a kid and was really stoked when I got my first huge tank (a 29) when I was 12. I kept 3-4 tanks through high school but shut them down when I went to college. I did keep some pets through college, going through my reptile and turtle stage, and actually had a diamond back terrapin that managed to stay with me the whole time - he passed away a year or so again after 14 years.

I got back into fish keeping around 4 years ago when my brother was moving and couldn't take is 75G tank with him to his new home. I set it up at my house and caught the bug again. Since setting up the 75, I've added another 14 tanks and currently have over 600 gallons of tanks in the house.

My passion is Central American cichlids, specifically cryptoheros and archocentrus species. I have 7 different wild type convicts along with myrnae, centrarchus, multispinosis, and cutteri. I have a few acara types, some pikes, and severums. I really enjoy observing the pair bonding of these fish, and love to watch them grow out their fry. I haven't been a prolific breeder but am starting to try to grab batches of fry to grow out from time to time.

I've recently set up my first malawi tank with zebroides, rusties, and a group of ruby red peacocks. So far so good with them. Hopefully I don't like them so much that I have to try to get more tanks into the house. I think I have pushed the limit with my wife.

I'm originally from the DC area, growing up in Montgomery County and currently living just over the Frederick County line in Urbana. I love being a member of the CCA. I have made some really good friendships over the past few years through the club and I still learn something new all the time. The club is a great way to share my love for the fish with others that feel the same way. It's also been a great way for me to spend time with my kids. They come with me to meetings and actually learn something. I set up my son's first tank last week.
 

verbal

CCA Members
Where you're from
Whether you're a member and why (or why not)
What kind of fish you keep
Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future
Whatever you like
My name is Jesse. I grew up in Maryland - PG County. I currently live in Reston.

I was a PVAS member in high school. Got back into PVAS again about 5 years ago and joined CCA during the ACA convention.

I am a member because I feel that fish clubs are a very important part of the hobby.

I keep a pretty big variety. I have a lot of catfish. Mainly plecos(tons of BN), but also a Chaca chaca, petricola and 3 groups of cories. Oh yeah I also keep a few Cichlids. I have the most groups of Apistos, but also some Africans.

I have breed a fair number of fish, but most of them have been easy ones. My goal is to get my L-204(Flash Plecos) to breed.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
Not all Fish Geeks are Guys....

Hey Everyone, I'm Christine. I grew up in Arizona, but have been in the DC area (both VA and MD) for the past 9 years now where I'm a microbiologist by day. I joined CCA as a member at the end of 2010, so I still consider myself a relative noob in the club.

I started out in college with mainly your average Big Box Petstore angelfish, cories, and livebearers. Then when I moved out here, I donated all of my tanks to a school and mothballed the hobby for a while. I've just gotten back into it and am now up to 27 tanks (thanks to a VERY VERY patient husband). A quick check of the calculator puts me at 615 gallons total. I keep a wide variety of fish...I've got mbuna, a few tangs, shellies, some dwarf cichlids, Angelfish, and the highly praised Rainbow Cichlid.

I'm not sure I really have many fishkeeping goals, per se, but I love DIY projects and I'm always trying to make things better or more efficient in my tanks. Lately I've been trying my hand at aquascaping with plants (joining GWAPA is on my to-do list). I'm also a member of ACLC and ECC, but I consider CCA my home club.

I love coming to the meetings and hanging out with my fellow Fish Peeps.
 

Jefft

Members
Hello ya'll my name is Jeff Terrell. I am new to fish keeping and even newer to CCA. I have at this point attended a cookout at Jon's beautiful home and one meeting. I cant wait for more! I currently live in Millersville, Maryland but I hail from down south. I am a former Marine and a teacher, Political Science and History were my specialties. (any discussion or debate on the previous always welcomed with me.)
I entered the hobby and the North in a unique manner I suppose. I made the move from the South to the North (yes I consider Maryland North), into retirement, all for the same reason. To be closer to the Veterans Administration and health services. At the admonishments and chastisements of the the Doctors treating me for PTSD I was pretty much butt kicked into fish keeping.
I started small with all the mistakes 99%ers make. No real information or knowledge, no real research and an original intent to head into salt water fish. My first tanks were, as I said, small a 29g bow front in which I mixed and matched various fresh water fish (tanks and fish all purchased through Petco and Petsmart). All of which are now safely and happily under the care of the little girl in the apartment across the hall.
My first step into cichlids came as I walked into my Local Fish Store, House of Tropicals. Walking in there is a rather large tank which contains nothing but Africans. I stood looking at all the colors of this variety of fish and thought "why am I looking into salt when these guys are fresh water?" Thus is began. Again I made mistakes. Who in their right mind purchases a 75g with stand for $1,200.00 retail? I did. I also bought my fish based on what I found pretty or attractive to my eye. I have been fortunate to lose very few fish to aggression and none so far to poor water. Much of my success and the survival of my fish is owed directly to CCA and the fish keepers you will read other posts from in this forum. Specifically and HUGE thanks to Sarah Roberts for recommending CCA. Jon Clark for a seeded filter in exchange for a new one. Biggest props to Chris "Reel addiction" who has actually come to my house in order to make sure I was testing water properly, providing another seeded filter, having me over to his home and creating a stark raving jealousy of his HUGE tanks and tank wall. Currently. I have that 75g, 55g,40g breeder, 30gallon cube I call my grow out tank.
My immediate goals include, 1. finding that rare deal on a 125 or better tank, so I can move the fish in the 75g and 55g into a large community tank and those currently in the grow out cube into the 75 and 55 to get even bigger. 2. Expanding the number of 40g breeders I have in order to segregate my breeding colonies. 3. Getting all my species to breed.

I am the proud owner and keeper of several different species.
Yellow tail acei, Copadichromis borleyi Kadango ''Red Fin'', Yellow labs, Cynotilapia afra cobwe orange black, Metraclimia callainos nhkata bay cobalt zebras, Metraclimia sp. Elongatus Cherwe Cherwe, Sciaenochromis fryeri electric blue Ahili, Cynotilapia Mphanga Rocks, Cynotilapia sp. “Hara” Gallireya Reef, OB peacock.
So far I have had sucess breeding in my tanks the red empress, rusties, yellow labs, Cynotilapia Afra Cobwe Orange and black, and the ahili. I really want to see the Cynos and Mets. breeding especially the elongatus.

Next!!!
 
Aloha, my name is Dustin, I am born and raised in Hawaii. I've been keeping fish now for 8 yrs. Bought my first two Oscars and a 20 gal to commemorate the birth of my son. They soon grew out of that 20 and proceed to kick the **** out of each other, so I returned the weakest one to my lfs. Currently I own 3 55 gal and 1 40 gal breeder tank. I have some cori cats, Pictus cats, a banjo cat, a couple of bumblebee cats, a couple of plecos, 2 Achara cats, 12 inch black ghost, 26 inch tire track Eel, silver arowana, syn catfish. I'm halfway done building my 430 gal aquarium for my aro and Acharas. I plan to build me 2 more 210 gal aquarium later. One for my Eel, one for my black ghost and pictus cats. My wife wants convicts so I'll probably get some soon. I want a bunch of fire mouths and another fire Eel would be great. Gotta finish my current project first to free up some aquariums.

Sent from my LG-P509 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

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Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Aloha, my name is Dustin, I am born and raised in Hawaii. I've been keeping fish now for 8 yrs. Bought my first two Oscars and a 20 gal to commemorate the birth of my son. They soon grew out of that 20 and proceed to kick the **** out of each other, so I returned the weakest one to my lfs. Currently I own 3 55 gal and 1 40 gal breeder tank. I have some cori cats, Pictus cats, a banjo cat, a couple of bumblebee cats, a couple of plecos, 2 Achara cats, 12 inch black ghost, 26 inch tire track Eel, silver arowana, syn catfish. I'm halfway done building my 430 gal aquarium for my aro and Acharas. I plan to build me 2 more 210 gal aquarium later. One for my Eel, one for my black ghost and pictus cats. My wife wants convicts so I'll probably get some soon. I want a bunch of fire mouths and another fire Eel would be great. Gotta finish my current project first to free up some aquariums.

Sent from my LG-P509 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Welcome to the forum, Dustin. We'd love it if you'd put up a separate tank build thread on your monster 430. That's pretty sweet. :)
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
  • Where you're from
  • Whether you're a member and why (or why not)
  • What kind of fish you keep
  • Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future
  • Whatever you like :smile:
My name is Pat
I am from Forest Hill MD
I have been a member for over 10 years
I have a few peacocks in a small fish room.
accomplishments? I have held several different positions within the club.
Goals? none at this point.

OH, and I have been keeping fish for about 45years or so.
 
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Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Southern Maryland with a few fish is home.

  • Where you're from
  • Whether you're a member and why (or why not)
  • What kind of fish you keep
  • Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future
  • Whatever you like :smile:
My name is Frank and I live in Bryans Road, Maryland
Moved here in 2003 and joined CCA in 2004 or 5 just to talk with other fish people and to see what fish they keep, and am still doing that.
I keep too many fish. Keep replacing smaller tanks with larger ones. Mainly in it for the challenges of getting the fish to reproduce and get their fry to grow. New challenge with each new fish. So I like certain livebearers like red velvet swordtails and red way platys and red deltatail guppies, and I like a few very colorful killlies like orange australe and A striatum and A gularis. And i love angelfish, been know to raise a few good ones, but it is always a challenge to raise good angelfish. But what i have found is if you choose the best of the fry, they often turn out to be all males, no females, so you start all over. I also like peacocks and love N pulcher for their graceful shape and movement. I also raise a few BN and corys and petracolas and pencilfish and rams and --
The current challenge is to get a nice looking koi (hate that name) angelfish with a pleasing amount of red. I am also trying some spotted L number ancistrus and some electric blue rams and some firemouths. Fire mouths do not seem hard until you try to find some with great color.
 

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Hey all,

My name is Tony Horos (Chip is a friend of mine). I was into fish as a kid, vicariously though my parents who kept a couple of 20Hs and a 55 with standard tropical fare. Growing up, I kept all sorts of critters - snakes (found local varieties as well as a couple constrictors), skinks, anoles, iguanas, turtles, frogs, crayfish, hampsters, guinea pigs and a chinchilla.

I went to college at Georgia Tech and again caught the fish bug when my next door neighbor had a 55 Malawi setup. I set up a small tank - 20H with some gouramis, a rainbowfish and a bunch of plants. When I moved back, I set up my parents' old 55 Metaframe and started up my own Malawi setup. Shortly after, my 20H planted tank became a 45H with CO2 and rainbowfish.

In about 2002, I got bitten by the saltwater bug and joined CMAS and WAMAS. I had two smaller reef tanks rolling - a desktop at work and a 26 bowfront at home with all the electronic bells and whistles.... 250W halide plus actinics, calcium dosing, refugium, skimmer, sump with auto-topoff, etc. Had a collection of healthy SPS, but it required daily testing, occasional overflows and "stocking resets" every 5-6 months when the power went out.

In 2007, my wife Maria and I moved from our smaller house in Rockville up to Gaithersburg and got our current place with a basement. I was getting tired of fussing with saltwater and returned to cichlids. I got involved in the CCA in 2008 and a lot has happened since then.

At one point, I had about 35 tanks set up, but have replaced a bunch of smaller ones with larger ones, so am down to a more manageable 25 or so. A few years back, I was almost entirely into Lake Malawi, having kept 7-8 different breeding groups of peacocks, 7 different Protomelas groups and a plethora of other haps and mbuna groups. Breeding-wise, I think I'm up to somewhere around 40 different species/variations of Malawi cichlids now.

As with many cichlid keepers, my interests have expanded over the last couple of years. I started keeping some Tangs - Tropheus, Altolamps and other rock-dwellers, shellies, some featherfins and Cyps. I've also gotten into some new world fish in the last year. My 45 planted tank has become a discus setup and my old 6' 150 all-male Malawi tank has become a SA eartheater setup. I also have some uncommon plecos, synos, a couple of cory groups, west Africans, Vics, some Parachromis and am about to put together a Central American mid-aggression community.... So yeah, I'm sort of all over the place.

When I'm not changing tank water, I am a construction manager for a large cast-in-place concrete construction company. My wife, Maria and I have two dogs - Elvis and Timmy. They are the two in my avatar and aren't really all that vicious, lol. I go shooting pretty regularly and we're both into volunteering for a dog-adoption group called K-9 Lifesavers (see my link below).

I love the CCA. Many of my best friends are those who I've met in the club over the last 4-5 years.

232323232%7Ffp73485%3Enu%3D34%3C7%3E846%3E257%3EWSNRCG%3D3573%3C47%3A99348nu0mrj
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
  • Where you're from
  • Whether you're a member and why (or why not)
  • What kind of fish you keep
  • Some fun fishkeeping accomplishments or goals for the future
  • Whatever you like :smile:
My name is Pat
I am from Forest Hill MD
I have been a member for over 10 years
I have a few peacocks in a small fish room.
accomplishments? I have held several different positions within the club.
Goals? none at this point.

OH, and I have been keeping fish for about 45years or so.


I see Tony used a picture. Good idea.

here is mine.

DSC_0091.jpg
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Posts the guy who also forgot to (re) introduce himself ;)

I'm Matt Quinn and live in Potomac, MD with my wife (who LOVES fish / fish tanks) and three kids (twin 2.5 year old boys and a very understanding 7-year-old big sister).

I've been keeping fish for about 30 years now...since I was a kid...and especially like medium-sized new world cichlids, although I've been through various fish phases (big, mean cichlids, Tanganyikans, Malawi, etc.).

I'm currently a Board Member at large for CCA and a Board of Trustees member for the ACA. I'm a researcher for NIST in my professional life.

I'm most interested in advancing the role of fish clubs to serve as a mechanism for both helping aquarists become successful and informed fishkeepers...but also as a means to impact conservation of native cichlid habitats. Oh yeah, and have fun too :)

Matt
Matthew - aren't you forgetting something/one?
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Put those guns away, Tony!

Hey all,

My name is Tony Horos (Chip is a friend of mine). I was into fish as a kid, vicariously though my parents who kept a couple of 20Hs and a 55 with standard tropical fare. Growing up, I kept all sorts of critters - snakes (found local varieties as well as a couple constrictors), skinks, anoles, iguanas, turtles, frogs, crayfish, hampsters, guinea pigs and a chinchilla.

I went to college at Georgia Tech and again caught the fish bug when my next door neighbor had a 55 Malawi setup. I set up a small tank - 20H with some gouramis, a rainbowfish and a bunch of plants. When I moved back, I set up my parents' old 55 Metaframe and started up my own Malawi setup. Shortly after, my 20H planted tank became a 45H with CO2 and rainbowfish.

In about 2002, I got bitten by the saltwater bug and joined CMAS and WAMAS. I had two smaller reef tanks rolling - a desktop at work and a 26 bowfront at home with all the electronic bells and whistles.... 250W halide plus actinics, calcium dosing, refugium, skimmer, sump with auto-topoff, etc. Had a collection of healthy SPS, but it required daily testing, occasional overflows and "stocking resets" every 5-6 months when the power went out.

In 2007, my wife Maria and I moved from our smaller house in Rockville up to Gaithersburg and got our current place with a basement. I was getting tired of fussing with saltwater and returned to cichlids. I got involved in the CCA in 2008 and a lot has happened since then.

At one point, I had about 35 tanks set up, but have replaced a bunch of smaller ones with larger ones, so am down to a more manageable 25 or so. A few years back, I was almost entirely into Lake Malawi, having kept 7-8 different breeding groups of peacocks, 7 different Protomelas groups and a plethora of other haps and mbuna groups. Breeding-wise, I think I'm up to somewhere around 40 different species/variations of Malawi cichlids now.

As with many cichlid keepers, my interests have expanded over the last couple of years. I started keeping some Tangs - Tropheus, Altolamps and other rock-dwellers, shellies, some featherfins and Cyps. I've also gotten into some new world fish in the last year. My 45 planted tank has become a discus setup and my old 6' 150 all-male Malawi tank has become a SA eartheater setup. I also have some uncommon plecos, synos, a couple of cory groups, west Africans, Vics, some Parachromis and am about to put together a Central American mid-aggression community.... So yeah, I'm sort of all over the place.

When I'm not changing tank water, I am a construction manager for a large cast-in-place concrete construction company. My wife, Maria and I have two dogs - Elvis and Timmy. They are the two in my avatar and aren't really all that vicious, lol. I go shooting pretty regularly and we're both into volunteering for a dog-adoption group called K-9 Lifesavers (see my link below).

I love the CCA. Many of my best friends are those who I've met in the club over the last 4-5 years.

232323232%7Ffp73485%3Enu%3D34%3C7%3E846%3E257%3EWSNRCG%3D3573%3C47%3A99348nu0mrj
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I'm not Chip

I'm Matt Chambers and I live in our nation's capital, very near the border with Silver Spring.

I had two aquariums as a child, including one in which we kept an American eel I had caught in a small stream next to my house. I gave up the hobby when I went off to college.

A few years ago, my daughter told us that she wanted to breed guppies, so Santa foolishly got her a 10 gallon aquarium for Christmas. Turns out that breeding guppies leads to Malthusian problems of diminishing returns, so we had to get a second aquarium to separate them by gender. Now we have 10 aquariums, mostly in our basement, and when our fish breed my now 16-year-old daughter smiles indulgently at me and says that's nice.

I keep corydoras more than anything else, but I do have a few cichlids, including some archocentrus multispinosa (rainbow cichlids) I got from Holly (HollyFish2000) and some microgeophagus multispinosa I got from Sam (Avatar), both of which are breeding furiously these days.

Biggest accomplishment? Spawing Corydoras C123 (yellow corydoras), wild caught fish Michael Barber (mab) collected last year in Peru. I'm told you don't see many c123s in the U.S. (Not that I'm trying to drive up the price at the next auction, mind you.)
 

Prince

The ONE who is The ONE
Who is Prince?
Prince is a bad A__ full fledge costume wearing super hero with a utility belt that would rival Batman’s. As a matter fact Batman stole Prince’s first utility belt so he made a better one (screw you Batman).
Princes don’t do fires though. You own your own with that. Call a team of hose beaters.
Prince does wish he memorized the thesaurus s like Avatar so he boggle people with his word play and avoid complaints…. What a minute full fledged costume wearing super heroes don’t care about complaints (so go kick rocks) .
Prince was born under the quintuple 7 so any woman that says his name 35 times in a mirror immediately causes white eagles to appear singing Purple Rain and becomes pregnant. Ladies slow down. Don’t sprint to your mirrors. Your husband may not appreciate that beautiful Chocolate baby with a head full of hair. Plus the world can only take one Prince. Anymore and the world will spin backwards.
Prince Rogers Nelson AKA the Purple one was named after Prince. His mother had a dream about Prince and discovered that awesomeness that would be born in January of 1977. She knew he would never be her child so she named her first born after him.
Black Dynamite is based on dreams Prince’s dad, Father of Prince had before Prince was a twinkle in his eye. Princes don’t do hoes though. Wife of Prince don’t tolerate no hoes.
Prince has a family: Wife of Prince, Son of Prince and daughter of Prince.
Prince doesn’t take care of fish Prince his fish take care of him. Any fish he breeds and sells immediately becomes the most dominate fish in the hosue hold. There are stores of guppys Prince has bred that have back down Umbee cichlids from two tanks away.
Right know Prince is keeping anything he frickin wants because he is Prince.
Prince’s only rival is Chuck Norris but he is getting old and vulnerable….
The food chain had to be rewritten to include Prince. It goes Prince then Chuck Norris and then anything we choose to eat.

To be continued….:D
 

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I am Andrew. The TFW stands for Tropical Fish World- one of many lfs to go out of business in recent years. I was born and raised in Silver Spring, MD and currently reside in Germantown, MD. I have been a member of CCA for a few years now. The club is a great place to meet people, talk fish and celebrate the hobby in the company of others. Currently, I am keeping mostly CA/SA cichlids, though I have a few "fancy" plecos as well. I also have a planted 40b with tetras and... of course, a couple of cichlids. One of my favorite cichlids is the Jack Dempsey. It's been a favorite of mine since I was a child. It has been a longstanding goal of mine to breed the Electric Blue variety of Dempsey. It has yet to happen due to my female Jack Dempseys severely beating the EBJD males. Another favorite of mine is the Angelfish. I am partial to wild types, as I find the silver with brown/black barring to be stunning.
I have been keeping fish since I was 14 years old (23 years ago). I have kept Malawi cichlids in the past, as well as West African cichlids, but I always come back to CA & SAs.
 

fischfan13

Banned
Hey HowYOUdoin'?
My name is Bill and I am the token Jersey Shore member of the CCA.
I started a few decades ago in Livebearers, then went straight to salt, with a few interruptions of tours on Jupiter and Pluto I came back to Earth and got into Africans...and this dopey kid hasn't stopped.
It is my goal to breed every single type of Ps Williamsi in Lake Malawi...one down and a few that need to be fished out for me.

In my spare time I practice air guitar and emptying out beer bottles.
 
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