Volume 6, #1, January 2020
Editor: Alan De Angelo
Contact: [email protected]
Greetings and New Year’s Salutations!
I hope that your holidays were full of joy, family, good food, fun and fish. It was a quiet holiday for me as our host for the family celebration was in the ER on Christmas Eve getting chest x-rays. Bummer for her and for me. I was looking forward to a free meal at my brother’s home. All is well now. New Years Eve was spent on the couch, watching movies and trying to stay awake until midnight. A real party!
Every Christmas, I buy myself a gift. I started this tradition a long time ago. One year it was a 200 gallon aquarium, other years it was a rod and reel combo, or new electronics for the boat. This year, I bought a copy of the 4th edition of Ad Konings Tanganyika Cichlids in their natural habitat. What a great book. If you have not added it to your collection, you are missing out cichlidpress.com.
FaceBook
Every now and then, I come across a comment from some youngster who says that “I don’t need to buy a magazine/ book or join a club, I get everything I need for free on the internet.” (That reminds me of the story of the old bull and the young bull standing on top of the hill looking down at the herd … The inexperience of youth!) While you can get a fair amount of good information on the net, in forums, on FaceBook, or various websites, you will only get the outline of things.
Let’s take Tropheus, for instance. Scanning through FB, on some of the Tropheus sites, you only see a small handful of the variants that occur in the lake. Red Rainbow, Bulu Point, Maswa duboisi, Bemba and maybe Canary Cheeks. You can also learn to use flake foods, change the water and give them room. BUT, in the aforementioned book, you get the full rundown of species, locations, behaviors, status in the lake, etc, etc.
The net serves you the soup, Ad Konings brings you the full meal including dessert. And if you look at Petrochromis, man, I need to get some big tanks for the fishroom. I never knew there were so many beautiful species and variants. Petrochromis polyodon from Segunga, Tanzania is gorgeous. So, get educated, get peer-reviewed books and articles under your belt and learn as much as possible about your finny charges.
Speaking of FB, there is a new site by Jim Cumming called Madagascar Endangered Fishes. It is a wonderful site to get information about these fishes. There is not too much published about them so Jim attempts to fill the void. In a few short months, Madagascar Endangered Fishes has grown to 2000 members. I really need to get the book The Endemic Cichlids of Madagascar by Patrick de Rham and Jean-Claude Nourissat to get the full story on these fishes.
I have been reading Cichlid News since its inception. I have even written for the publication. It’s a great magazine. Where else would you learn about a brand new deep-water Lamprologine? The January 2020 issue brings us Neolamprologus sp. benthosplendens from Lake Tanganyika. N. sp. benthosplendens is a bulky N. leleupi-shaped fish with a big eye and a pattern reminiscent of Julidochromis marlieri. If it gets to the market, it will be on my must-have list. Also, Cichlid News has a great article on Crenicichla. There is just not enough published on these fishes. If you do not subscribe to Cichlid News, you are missing out. By the way, a web search for “Neolamprologus sp. benthosplendens” yielded a cover of Cichlid News‘ January 2020 issue and not much else.
BOT
There is a new BOT taking charge of the ACA. I wish them all the best in their endeavor to keep the ACA strong and growing. If you have any ideas to help the ACA or if you wish to volunteer your services, please reach out to the BOT.
Writing and BB
This is the beginning of my 49th year as an ACA member. I started with BB29 in 1971. During that time, I have written numerous articles for the ACA. If you go to the authors section of the Cichlid Room Companion, you will see a fairly complete list of everything that I have written for BB, including the aforementioned articles in Cichlid News. If you add in the five years of the ACA Newsletter, I am certain that I am the most published author in ACA history. Holy Cow!
I tell you this for two reasons:
1) anyone can write for BB; and
2) writing is fun!
I wouldn’t do it if I did not enjoy it. Once you get to see your words in print, you get a kick out of it and you want to do it again.
There is no need to write a Loisellian masterpiece or a research paper. You can write about your experiences with your fishes, your fishroom, events, or any happenings in the cichlid world. And, you get paid for it! What a deal! Get your pencils sharpened and jot something down, share your knowledge with the rest of us and experience the satisfaction that one gets. If you feel uncomfortable with writing, Daryl or I would be glad to help you with it. Just ask us.
Convention
Remember that the ACA Convention this year is in Sacramento, CA. Be sure to save the date for West Coast fish, friends and fun!
Every year we of the cadre hear the question: “Why isn’t the ACA Convention near my town?” If you and your club would like to host the Convention, please contact Phil Benes to find out all you need to do. Putting on an event of this magnitude is very satisfying. Get involved! You will make more friends and have a better experience by getting in the trenches. It is your organization, make the most of it.
[click for map].
All for now, see you next month.
– Alan
WHERE ARE YOU?
Please make sure that the ACA has, at the very least, your current e-mail address. Otherwise we could lose touch. Your street address and/or phone number could prove useful too … just in case.
LOCAL
CLUB EVENTS
👀
Send your cichlid-related news/events to the AN Editor at [email protected] and we will be happy to spread the word for you. Allow six weeks lead time. Thank you.
