Hi everyone,
I just returned from the ACA (American Cichlid Association) July 19-23, 2006
Sheraton Chicago Northwest, Arlington Heights, IL in Chicago. It was one of
the best conventions(and largest ever). There were over 2,000 bags of
quality cichlids in their final auction after already having several other
auctions and many hobbyists selling out of their rooms and the selling room.
The Greater Chicago Cichlid Association that hosted the event were friendly
and fantastic. In their incredible Show was a new TANK BUSTER CLASS in
memory of Mike Sheridan who passed away earlier this year. The welcome bag
of goodies exceeded any event I have ever attended.
The highlights were meeting Neoprodigy
, his wife Elsie
and #1 son Jason (Neo 2)
(The Neo's was instructed to have more
children and a manual with full instructions were provided in case they
forgot how).
MFK helped as a ACA sponsor and set up a booth for the whole show where MFK
members and prospective members mingled. It was great to talk with some
hobbyists who actually keep over 600 tanks.
Neo wowed everyone with his recent pictures of his trip to the orient and
the best one was a movie of tank in Taiwan with 20 adult Arapaimas at
feeding time.
We went to the famous SHEDD aquarium and of course enjoyed the Arapaimas,
electric eels and other monsters. They had a number of Colossoma brachypomum
instead of the normal Colossoma macropomum and they also had a rare
Colossoma oculus. One of the great things is the tremendous number of top
quality speakers, book authors and explorers that attend and mingle with us
during the event. While observing the Amazon tanks Heiko Bleher
(Led over 400 expeditions in his lifetime and author of multiple books and
over 1,000 magazine articles) was on my one side and Jeff Cardwell
(A cichlid hobbyist, leader of 17 expeditions and conservationist who has
bought to preserve 2,800 acres of rainforest with 9 friends) on the other
side. People like this actually have gotten into the waters our fish come
from more times than they can remember. Other noted speakers and attendees
were Dr. Jos Snoeks | Dr. Phil Willink | Dr. Uwe Romer | Dr. Wayne Leibel |
Dr. Mark Mitchell | Juan Miguel Artigas Azas | Ad Konings | Dick Au | Mo
Devlin | Rusty Wessel | Eric Hanneman | Joe Middleton | Randy Carey | Ted
Judy |
Speaking with one of the curators regarding their Abba Abba Gymnarchus
niloticus he related the time a black bird had entered the building in the
working section above the exhibit and when attempting to have a drink of
water was pulled into the tank by the abba, eaten and the only evidence was
the large number of feathers floating in the tank after it happened. Another
feature of the trip to the Shedd was the behind the scenes opportunity to
see the maintenance side and talk with nearly one dozen of the curators and
assistants.
The event was hosted by the famous Greater Chicago Cichlid Association led
by Rick Borstein and 60 other dedicated volunteers. They put on a
spectacular event.
They provided coaches to both the Shedd and also a boat tour of Chicago.
There was a large dealer showroom of dry goods. It was in this room that Neo
had the MFK booth. Mike and Robin Shadle had their book store, Sting Ray
Lucas (Kingfisher) had his display, John had a large Jehmco display, (I
bought another linear piston pump from him). TFH Tropical Fish Hobbyist had
a booth and editor in chief David Boruchowitz was on hand mingling with the
hundreds of hobbyists. FAMA and Aquarium Fish mags were both there also. I
requested more monster fish in depth articles from them both to match the
recent push David Boruchowitz has provided us with at TFH. As well Zoo Med
had a huge display. Many other booths were at the event with knowledgeable
hobbyists at them.
Discus Hans and his wife attended and had a whole room of incredible discus
available to purchase. The actual breeder Mr Stendker also came from Europe
to meet buyers of his beautiful fish. Heiko Bleher was also available to
sign copies of his new book Bleher's Discus Volume 1. It is magnificent and
covers many of the fish in the amazon while covering all aspects of the
discus. I bought a copy and you can also from AQUAPRESS
aquapress@aquapress-bleher.it
There were fish seller rooms with hundreds of tanks including Jeff Rapps.
Pam Chin led the Babes drive for funding for the Guy Jordan fund. I got a
copy of the 10th edition of Exotic Aquarium Fishes by William Innes in their
silent auction. It was donated by Mike & Robin Shaddle. Dick Au told me he
had been lucky to obtain a copy of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions ($100.00
for the 1st edition). I'm hoping I'm included in his will !!!
They had a great banquet and Dr Wayne Liebel had a speech on if the species
was legitimate and discovering the location of the original Flowerhorn
Cichlid in the wild. He had many slides in his presentation showing the
birthplace of this fish????. He also advised us of the next expedition he is
organizing to prove the existence of and discover the original birthplace of
the popular rainbow of colours Asian Parrot Fish. If you ever wanted to take
a trek in the jungles of the world contact Wayne.
At the banquet I also managed to piss off our host Rick Borstein when, after
he mentioned to everyone in the room that we all suffered from some sort of
Cichlid disease because of the large number of tanks we maintain. He then
mentioned that he had 22 tanks, An attendee named Warren from Wisconsin
mentioned that was nothing and that he had over 100 tanks so he and the rest
of us at the table must be really ill. Unfortunately Rick thought this was a
slight to his maintaining 22 tanks (He actually is a very good cichlid
keeper and breeds 28 species a year
). He avoided me the rest of
the convention. I got out of town as fast as I could before a contract was
taken on me. I was scared he might hire Rick Perez to run over me in my
wheelchair.
I apologize to you Rick for the misunderstanding. If Rick Perez was present,
the joke? would have been very quickly understood.
Speaking of The legend, Rick Perez of monster cichlid fame led many car
loads of hobbyists to his home to view his incredible 200 plus tanks. He has
dozens of tanks 180 gallons and up to 700 gallons. He breeds many species of
fish and among the monsters had 4 spawning of Cichla sp (Peacock Bass) to
actually view. Nobody else can even breed them in their lifetime and the
Peacock bass legend has 4 spawning on view at an ACA convention in his home
town.
He had about 1,142 adult Cichlas in his tanks and when I asked if I could if
I could buy 3 of the smallest.
He said GGGGGEEEEEEEE I really didn't want to part with any right now.
I mentioned this to members of the Greater Chicago Cichlid club. They
suggested I pay a few bucks to some of the big guys attending the ACA to
bend a few parts on Rick's body. But, I had made a mistake and had already
eaten a meal at a restaurant in the hotel and spent my entire budget for the
whole weekend on the hamburger.
The members then told me not to worry because nobody in the club liked Rick
Perez anyway
and would gladly welcome the chance to break a few of
his limbs on my behalf. The women all begged to be allowed to kick him while
the men were disassembling him. (The most eager woman looked a lot like
Rick's wife!)
I thought it over, then decided it would be a lot more gruesome if my best
friend Jason (Neo 2)took care of him. NOTE: Jason is small but I saw him
devour a bun in the restaurant and could only imagine what he would do to
the cichlid legend Rick Perez if given the chance.
SO.........Rick don't ever go into a dark room alone.......... My buddy
Jason (Neo 2)
has my contract on you.
However rejoice that I and all the people who know you, look forward to
visiting you in hospital
.
I also have proposed a Rick Perez memorial award at the next live bearers
convention for the fish with the smallest
gonopodium...........................
The 2007 ACA Annual Convention will be held in Sacramento,
California, hosted by the Sacramento Aquarium Society (SAS) Dates: July 18 -
22, 2007 http://www.cichlid.org/ACA2007Convention.html.
Neoprodigy and his son Jason (NEO 2) have agreed to attend the
All Aquarium Catfish Convention 2006 Presented by the Potomac Valley
Aquarium Society October 20-22
Laurel, Maryland. http://catfish2006.com/
This will be a great chance for MFK members to gather, chat and meet
the legend Neoprodigy
(I might not be there because I have agreed to watch TV with Neo's wife
Elsie while he attends the Convention).
