# Hello everyone on this forum



## muuAnock (Aug 4, 2021)

Hello everyone on this forum - thanks.

My name is Mark and i am from luxembourg

best regards


----------



## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

Welcome to the Forum, Mark, and stay safe. :fish:


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Welcome to the forum Mark, from Luxembourg!
I see you have posted in the 'General African' section of the forum? 
Well now, this poses all sorts of interesting possibilities!
- First off, do you have an aquarium(s)?
- Hmmmm.... if so, could it be an African Riverine setup? Rift Lake? Or.... **shiver** something REALLY unexpected (Breeding pair of _Tilapia mariae_?)
- Or, should the 'regulars' here anticipate some soon-to-come stocking recommendation list questions for - yet another - African Mbuna tank?
Oh my, whatizit?
So, c'mon back. We'll talk about Cichlids. Aquarium stuff! 
And as 'sir_keith' so eloquently stated in his reply to you, in these rather perilous times... please do, "STAY SAFE".


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Auballagh said:


> Welcome to the forum Mark, from Luxembourg!
> I see you have posted in the 'General African' section of the forum?
> Well now, this poses all sorts of interesting possibilities!
> - First off, do you have an aquarium(s)?
> ...


Unfortunately buddy, one look at his gmail address shows that yet again, this is just more spam.


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Yeah.... I was catching the feels off that, when I posted my 'response'.
And, if anyone actually reads those things I put up?
Heh....
Well, I guess its worth it!


----------



## SenorStrum (Aug 14, 2020)

I definitely don't read them. Also, what you got against yet another Mbuna tank?


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Dear Hefe' Strum,
Thank You for not reading my C-f posts.
I am - I must confess - a most avid reader of the 'Strum Word'.
Your confidence, demonstrated Technical Expertise and Cichlid Journey, have informed you greatly, Sir.
And, though I do not always personally, wholly agree with your assertions, points or references.... You have demonstrated in abundance, a most valuable attribute, that has informed you greatly. 
That is.....
-
A Critical Thought Process.
-
I can only imagine the formal education you have - or have not - received. Please realize that most uncommon critical thinking process, is normally (but, not always) derived from the crucible of experience received in higher education. But sometimes LIFE, and it's rather Darwinian Direction, can lead and guide us all, in so many important ways. 
That is, for those willing to listen.
-
So please.... do NOT doubt your instincts in these things.
-
-
And no.... the set up of yet another Mbuna tank will not cause Global Warming. A world wide viral pandemic. Or indeed, a host of almost unsolvable problems now besetting humanity.
We are indeed, but the sum of interesting parts we have been assembled with, right?
So, though I did indeed create the rather modest 150 gallon effort of my own, actual 'Mbuna tank'. My interest and deep, abiding interest in this Cichlid World have always been informed most directly by the experience of one Mr. Wayne Leibel.
oh yes.....
I am - and always will be - a true New World Cichlid afficionado.
That is..... a true, New World Cichlid Dilettante?
-
So, shall we pay a visit to the Auballagh, 'way back' machine?
I'm 14 years old..... My uncle, a (decorated Hue City Battle) Marine Corps Vietnam War Veteran, has this BEAST of a fish. Something wild caught he brought back from South America - in 1974. He personally builds this plywood glass and monster of a tank to put this huge, insanely aggressive Cichlid in.
I help.
And yes..... I have to 'baby-sit' Uncle Spike's fish tanks when he is out and about. The pay.....? Not so much. The experience?
Unimaginable.
-
And ultimately....I find out much later - on this site - that I was 'baby-sitting' my uncle's wild caught _Kronoheros umbriferum_ (Umbee Cichlid). So long ago, in that home-built/DIY tank.
Was that, a rather vicious Knucklehead - kept by a KNUCKLEHEAD?
Hah!
Yes indeed..... :lol:


----------



## SenorStrum (Aug 14, 2020)

Kind words indeed!

Life-wise, I learned a lot through the school of hard-knocks. I went to college later than my peers due to personal circumstances and I believe these years, though painful, were extremely valuable formatively. 
Academically, I have a graduate level degree in finance and I'm a licensed CPA. I suppose that this would explain a few things: I'm insanely risk-averse, the data-driven analytical approach, Professional Skepticism, the search for more authoritative sources, and a tendency to have an overarching vision/mission statement for my hobbies (activities), thereby governing my actions within the framework of an overarching philosophy. I've been working on condensing this philosophy down to a consumable, pithy statement. I believe I'm close. Stand by... 
Moreover, I don't like green-field projects, for the most part. There is always something to learn from how folks have done things before. Somewhere, down deep, there exists a BKM - a "Best Known Method." I love challenging the BKM, but only once I understand it. 
Lastly - I don't like to early-publish results. Restatements are to be avoided at all costs. This is the reason you haven't seen my tank. I've shared quite a bit of my experience getting it set up and cycled, but here's the deal - nobody that I have been able to find has done what I've done. At least not here, I asked. I broke a LOT of rules. I took much of the traditional cichlid-keeping advice and threw it out the window. Because I had done this, I didn't really want to hear what people thought of how it was going to go before it went there. La Sra. and I did our research and made our choices. What I didn't want to hear was the way most threads around here end - "Give it a year... when they grow up!"

And so, my friend(s hopefully), stand by. In March, it will have been one year. I intend to come back and inform the community, hobby, and posterity what happens when you keep a lot of small African Cichlids in a 10' 410 gallon aquarium. At the very least, I'd like to document and share in case there is some other moron who thinks this is a good idea... Excessive documentation - this is another professional attribute. It's actually the reason I write such long posts. It's my hope that I'm helping steer some future-Strum in a helpful direction.


----------

