Pat Kelly
CCA Member
The 2010 meeting / speaker line up
for your
Capital Cichlid Association, Inc.
A Growing Force in the Cichlid Hobby!
for your
Capital Cichlid Association, Inc.
A Growing Force in the Cichlid Hobby!
Jan 9th, 2010 2pm
Frank Cowherd : Live foods
Our own Frank Cowherd will be telling some of his secrets about keeping and feeding live foods.
Frank's Daphnia is a staple at most CCA meetings.
Feb 13th, 2010 2pm
canceled because of the weather. 50+ inches of snow that week.
March 13th, 2010 2pm
Michael Barber Will give a talk on his recent 2 week trip to South America. "Searching for the Wild Peruvian Gourami" (with a focus on Cichlids and Catfish)
April 10th, 2010 2pm
Laif Demason : African Cichlid Fish Farming in South Florida
Laif DeMason has been keeping tropical fish since 1969. Within a year of this beginning, he was breeding angelfish on a regular basis selling the young to local stores. Since then Laif has graduated from the University of Michigan and the University of Miami with degrees in Zoology and Marine Biology. He opened Old World Exotic Fish, Inc. in 1979. Laif operates Old World Exotic Fish, Inc. from Homestead, Florida, where he farm raises African cichlids and receives imports from more than 15 countries. Laif has been to 12 East African countries during his 13 collecting trips there. He has also collected in Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica several times. Laif has been instrumental in opening up new territories for cichlid export from East Africa, mainly the Victorian basin in Uganda, the Tanzanian coast of Lake Malawi, and cichlids from Madagascar. Laif has written for Tropical Fish Hobbyists Magazine, Aquarium Fish Magazine, and Cichlid News. He writes a regular column for Cichlid News entitled “What’s New Around the World?”. Laif was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan and now resides in Homestead, Florida near Miami.
May 8th, 2010 2pm
KLAUS STEINHAUS :Tropheus, are they really THAT scary?
[FONT="]Cichlids have been my hobby for over 40 years. But there was life before cichlids. I had my first fish tank (with Guppies) when I was 8 years old and I have never been without at least one tank since then. At the age of 20 and still living in Germany my interest turned to cichlids and I was permanently hooked. Looking for more fish and information, I joined the DCG (German Cichlid Association) in the mid 1970,s. I got involved with one of the regional chapters and started writing articles for their publication. The DCG was a very active group and where I learned a lot but also had much fun.
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[FONT="]When I moved to Canada in 1982 I had to sell all my fish and equipment as I was unable to continue my hobby due to my new job. After things settled down a bit, the old “Fish Tank Disease” took over again. “I need another tank for my fry." and another, and another.......... Now I have settled down to 24 tanks and my main focus has been the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, specifically the genus Tropheus. However, lately my focus has shifted to the Central and South American Cichlids. Especially the “Earth Eater's” have peeked my interest. I have also set tanks aside to keep some endangered Cichlids from different areas to help with the conservation effort. That is why I got involved with a group called C.A.R.E.S. whose goals are:[/FONT]
[FONT="]1. To bring AWARENESS to the critical situation of our fish in nature[/FONT]
[FONT="]2. To RECOGNIZE, ENCOURAGE, and offer SUPPORT to hobbyists who maintain species-at-risk[/FONT]
[FONT="]3. To SHARE data and experiences through notes, graphing, and manuscripts so that others may learn to maintain those identical, and similar species[/FONT]
[FONT="]4. To PRESERVE species-at-risk for future generations[/FONT]
[FONT="]To really enjoy a hobby, there has to be a social aspect to it. Being able to discuss your successes and failures with fellow hobbyists is one important part. The most important part however is to meet new people that have the same interests you have and make new friends. So I needed to look for an organization that not only promoted our hobby, but also included the missing social aspect. The local fish club “Durham Region Aquarium Society” was offering exactly that. So I joined, got involved and have met most of my present friends there. Since my main interest is with cichlids, I also joined the “American Cichlid Association”. It is my opinion that we “old” hobbyists have an obligation to give something back to this beautiful hobby that has given us so much pleasure over such a long time.[/FONT]
[FONT="]I also find it very interesting to see and hear all the different reasons why people get hooked on cichlids. To me, they are just amazing to watch and to study. They really do have a "Personality". I try to offer my cichlids an environment as close as possible to their natural habitat. It is the only way to see their true behavior and character. I can sit in front of my tanks for hours and try to figure out the social structure in each particular tank and the weekly water changes are definitely a labor of love. But there is nothing more fun in this hobby then to sit with other cichlid "freaks", have a few beers and talk cichlids until the small hours of the morning. So, if somebody wants to come for a visit, feel free to do so.[/FONT]
June 12th, 2010 2pm
Juan Miguel Artigas Azas : Thorichthys, jewels of the Mayan land: In this talk the species, distribution, habitats and behavior of this fabulous group of central American cichlids is discussed and illustrated with maps and hundreds of habitat and underwater pictures of Thorichthys and other fishes that inhabit with them. Aquarist guides for the successful keeping of these beauties are also given. (Approximate Duration: 90 minutes).
Juan Miguel Artigas Azas is an aquarist in San Luis PotosÃ, Máxico (the very center of it). He has loved fish since he can remember and has kept them steadily in home aquariums for over 25 years now. His main interest are Central American Cichlids and Mexican fishes, but he is also very interested in any other type of fish.
Juan Miguel is the creator and editor of the Cichlid Room Companion. His love for computers and nature, together with the revolutionary development of Internet was too much for him to let the opportunity to create this page pass along. He has found that the maintenance of a real good home page is a life time enterprise, and he is ready to cope to that.
Juan Miguel enjoys traveling to the natural habitats of the fish he loves, where he obtains underwater pictures of them. He likes to observe them, trying to understand their natural history and relationships. He has managed to obtain a great knowledge on the biology and geographical distribution of the fishes in Mexico. This gives to his conferences an originality and special interest.
Juan Miguel has written many articles on Mexican and Central American Freshwater fish, mainly on cichlids, for several club and aquarium publications. He has also been honored with the invitation as lecturer in fish oriented conventions in several countries, including Máxico, United States, Belgium, Canada, England, Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy Sweden and Germany. Juan Miguel is part of the American Cichlid Association - Marineland speakers program.
Juan Miguel has been awarded the Guy Jordan Retrospective Award 2008 by the American Cichlid Association. The maximum honor this association gives to people who has done extensive contributions to the International Cichlid Hobby.
September 11th, 2010 2pm
Chuck Rambo : Dwarf Cichlids (As Voted by the members of the CCA forum)
Chuck Rambo currently maintains over 30 aquariums of cichlids from all over the world. He has been keeping fish since 1967. He has more than twenty dives in both Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. He has been the past president and is a current life member of his local club, the Pacific Coast Cichlid Association. He has been the past chair and currently is a Fellow of the American Cichlid Association. In April of this year he organized a collecting trip in the South of Florida. With 15 club members they went all over the tip of Florida exploring creeks, canals and the Everglades looking for escaped tropical fish that have naturalized in the Florida's freshwater. The idea was to form a cheap affordable trip that required no passports, shots or visas, and would almost guarantee the possibility of bringing back some cichlid species that would be new to our club. While they were there they were fortunate top be able to colect at Old World Exotic Tropical Fish Farm. This is run by the owner of Cichlid News Magazine, Laif DeMason. Chuck is looking forward to his first trip to the club.
October 9th, 2010 2pm
Our own Sarah (Longstockings) Roberts : TBD
November 13th, 2010 2pm
Discus Hans and the story of his rise to Discus stardom as a world renowned Discus whisperer.
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