SAN FRANCISCO AQUARIUM SOCIETY
SPEAKER
Our October meeting has SFAS welcoming Willem Heijns from the Netherlands. This is his first trip to California and he will be talking about Central American Cichlids. We are grateful for the sponsorship of Zoo Med and the American Cichlid Association (ACA) for helping make Willem Heijn's talks possible.
Willem is a retired bank manager who has kept cichlids well over half his life. He started out with the Firemouth (Thorichthys meeki) and has been hooked up with Central American cichlids ever since. Having small tanks at first, he moved on to build his "Cichlidarium", containing two 600 gallon aquariums and some smaller ones. After some major calamities (two 600g tanks exploded, almost in his face) the Cichlidarium was finally closed down in March 2011.
In the late 80’s he started collecting cichlids in México and other countries in Central America. Most of these trips he made with Ad Konings. On these first trips he focused on collecting cichlids, and later tried his hand at shooting video, both above and below the water level. This brought new cichlids into the hobby and generated a number of films.
No longer keeping cichlids, Willem now concentrates on writing and giving presentations around the globe. He has published a number of articles about cichlids in magazines worldwide, and has also co-authored a book on these wonderful fishes. His main area of interest is the evolution and systematics of Neotropical cichlids belonging to a group informally known as “heroine cichlids”.
THE TALK
Willem will present an overview of his experience with breeding Central American cichlids, including some surprising information on their husbandry, many species reports, and the (best?) way to select from among the many fry some species can produce.
ALSO
We will have an Auction after the presentation. For AUCTION TIPS AND GUIDLINES (the rules), and our AUCTION MERCHANDISE CHECK-IN FORM, click HERE .
Snacks will be provided.