Bravo Tank Contest Competitors

[Nelson]

I was absolutely thrilled to have my tank selected as the winner last night's competition.  As I was watching the video presentation of the beautiful tanks that were entered, I concluded that mine could not possibly be worthy of such an honor.  

I congratulate all the contestants for their obvious efforts and their skillful dedication to our hobby - you're all winners :wink:

[Marx]

you were the only one who didn't flood there tank with food.. LOL..

[Nelson]

you were the only one who didn't flood there tank with food.. LOL..

True, but not sure that was wise Marx, didn't see the eleven discus and 7 Clowns in the tank as a result

[ottawadiscus]

I congratulate all the contestants. All are nice planted tanks.

Nelson,

Your removable background got plus points  .

Loyed

[mseguin]

I think the number of discus also won u some points. Your tank is definitely gonna look amazing once the plants grow some more.

[Nelson]

Thanks msequin and Loyed.

[maitre007]

First and foremost I would like to state that all the tanks that was displayed were amazing.  The rock background was amazing.  

However as I stated last year, I don't see how a non african cichlid tank can win the award.  However as again demonstrated this year by the people's vote, I am in a minority who hold that view.

[Marx]

i don't understand your comment Maitre007?

are you saying that a Non African tank should not win over a african tank?

i think african tanks are so-so at best..

[mseguin]

I think the attraction of African tanks is the activity and colours of the fish, whereas non-African tanks lend themselves much better to landscaping, in my opinion. That being said, I have seen some very attractively landscaped African tanks, inclduing both of lasn night's.

[maitre007]

I think mseguin summarize my view quite clearly.  I am just of the opinion that the african cichlids with it's diversity is an absolute fascinating species to have an aquarium.  

With over 200 various type of cichlids in each of the lakes, it keeps a hobbyist quite busy looking for new species that is not quite common on the market.  In african cichlids are for many reasons key case studies for many evolutionary research.

Again as amazing as the landscape of the various non african cichlids tanks is ... and all the aquariums had amazing landscape yesterday ...  I will always be more fascinated by an african cichlid tank.  

I guess this might be some genetic imprint or something as my grandparents farms were more animal raising than plant raising.  So I will be more inclined to favour an fish oriented aquarium as opposed to a plant oriented aquarium.

And considering that only two other people voted for the aquarium that I voted for, I recognize that I hold quite the minority view on the subject.

[Marx]

well i guess im no better lol.. i like SA/CA  non dwarf species.. so the tanks are basicly wood and rock..

i'm not into planted tanks..

[gvv]

Rift lake cichlids can win a contest, but yesturday was a tank contest, which is slightly diferent
Seriously you may have a very active colorful specimens, but the overall tank picture is not so impressive.
I have both SA and African tanks and like them both, BUT planted tanks I like MORE. Besides that SA dwarf cichlids and west africans(don't beat me this is my personal point of view) are MUCH more colorful, even smaller.
To tell the truth if there were only one S/W tank - it would win, but we didn't see any as if there are no SW/Reef hobbyst in OVAS :cry:

[maitre007]

i should really, really be doing some work right now hehehehehe the pleasure of being your own boss

but i would like to simply add that it is not just about the colors in regards to the african cichlids but also the various shape of the african cichlids that i find makes them fascinating.  

it's watching your aquarium and playing armchair marine biologist and theorizing that that fish and that fish must have had a common ancestors.   that fish must have evolved from that fish and so on.

it's not that i don't think discus are fascinating fishes.  and i truly do enjoy my bolivian rams.  there behavior are more likely to bring a smile to my face than my african cichlid ...

i just find keeping african cichlid much more fascinating.

and i do agree with gvv that more should be done to attract saltwater aquarist to our meetings.  i am glad that's not my headache anymore.

[artw]

Personally I thought the most exiting and diverse tank was #5, the one with all the loaches!  and it had cichlids and tetras and everything else.     However as you all know there is a special place in my soul for Malawis so clearly I voted for the only Malawian tank. which I believe came in 3rd.

a couple years ago there was a single entrant with a Reef tank and as I recall they did not win.

One of the downsides to me doing the homeshow is I felt myself becoming homesick for an aquarium

[mseguin]

Sooner or later the urge will come, and u wont be able to trun it down. It will eat at ur very soul.

[Nelson]

It's in you Art...it's dormant right now but it will rise to the surface one day soon and you'll have more tanks than you've ever had!!  As I'm writing this I'm thinking of that creature in Alien that explodes from people's chests :evil:   Kind of looked like a fish didn't it? :wink:

[maitre007]

I agree with the assertion that the tank with the loaches offered the most impressing fish diversity and came very close to submitting my vote for that tank.

However as hopefully most of you have notice, I can be quite stubborn and I was going to vote for an african cichlid tank no matter what.    
 
Again, all the tanks displayed in the home show were quite amazing. Nelson tank did have an impressive diversity of discus fishes.

[oenology]

One of the downsides to me doing the homeshow is I felt myself becoming homesick for an aquarium

You're welcome to come visit your babies any time.  You do have visitation rights you know, just pm to set up a time...

[tuvok]

I congratulate all the contestants for their obvious efforts and their skillful dedication to our hobby - you're all winners :wink:

I second that. It takes courage and confidence to present something that you have created to such a large audience. I would like to thank *all* of the contestants for taking part and helping to make the meeting last night particularly enjoyable. And thanks to Art for taking the time to film those tanks, I'm sure that required a fair investment of his time and energy.

[gvv]

I second that. It takes courage and confidence to present something that you have created to such a large audience. I would like to thank *all* of the contestants for taking part and helping to make the meeting last night particularly enjoyable. And thanks to Art for taking the time to film those tanks, I'm sure that required a fair investment of his time and energy.

So do I. All the tanks were great and thank you all for presenting your tanks!
I also found out that I'm not the only one that had 36 adult Malawi cichlids in the 55G and when I cleaned it up to the 12 the tank looks empty...
Regards

[FishPassion]

Hello all,
This was my first ever meeting that I attended and I will make the one hour trek to come to several more. I was very impressed with the many tanks that were filmed and the care involved to bring them to that point. I am still picturing Nelson bringing home 17 bags of cichlids from an auction and have found myself in similar situations, except that I only dealt with 2 or 3 bags.
Jen I have a question to ask you, Art has visitation rights, are these rights granted to him on the basis of support payments?
Hint Hint  haha

[artw]

fishpassion sort of If and when I get back into the hobby I have first rights to any fry

[pegasus]

fishpassion sort of If and when I get back into the hobby I have first rights to any fry

Only if you pay fry support!  :cry:

[oenology]

Jen I have a question to ask you, Art has visitation rights, are these rights granted to him on the basis of support payments?
Hint Hint  haha

Now there's an idea...
Fry support - only no fry yet! But I have been accumulating tank space!

[maitre007]

I recently read a case in toronto where a party filed for visition right for the dog after a divorce proceeding.  It didn't fly with the judge.

[FishPassion]

Geeeze Art that is bad news, you may have to pay fry support without visitation rights and take Jens word on the amount of offspring that you have to pay for. Jen this is a win win situation, I am imagining how many fry you will have over the next few years.
Good luck with Judge Judy....

[james]

Hi
I wanted to know what the criteria for choosing the winner. Was it the fish content or the decor of the tank? I would have voted differntly depending on this factor.
Anyways congradualation to the winner

James

[jabber]

It was whatever apealed to you the most.