darylh Posted August 5, 2002 Report Share Posted August 5, 2002 Hi, my name is daryl.. I have been keeping fish since I was a little kid and cichlids since 1972. Well I had Angels, Rams and Apistos before that, but I still remember the first time I saw a pair of "real" cichlids. Believe it or not, they were Rainbow Cichlids, but they were in full breeding dress (gold and velvet-black) in a fully planted tank and they were so beautiful I just had to have them -- even at the totally exhorbitant price of $25.00. The pair were probably F1 as they were much larger and more colourful than the runted, pale imitations we see today. When I rebuild my fish house, that is a fish that I will start a project with to see if we can return some of their former glory via selective breeding and lots of live food. My first fish was not a cichlid though, it was a Blackfish caught in Gardiner's Creek, Ashburton. I'll bet you thought it was a drain didn't you. No ... it used to be a healthy waterway containing Blackfish, Galaxias, some other little fish I never identified, as well as huge Golden Bell Frogs and an assortment of other herps in and around it. My interest in native fishes has extended to my making several expeditions to North Queensland, and even living there for 18 months (in the 70s), catching and shipping fish to Melbourne for a living. In 1973 I discovered the Victorian Cichlid Society and have been a committee member on and off since then in various capacities: Prez, VC, Treasurer, Editor and Librarian as well as various sub-committees and Public Officer. I have met a lot of good people via this activity, a few not-so-good too, but nothing's perfect. I seem to be meeting a lot of good people just lately ... which is great. They are not a dying race after all. My work is in IT and this is probably why the job has fallen to me to bring the club into the electronic age. Our web site has been around for years: http://cichlids.web.com and has recently been refurbished. Now we have a bulletin board which is developing a life of its own even before it is officially launched (Wednesday, 6 August, 2002 -- if sanctioned by the members at the general meeting on that date): http://pub37.ezboard.com/bvictoriancichlidsociety That's where I started meeting the latest batch of the aforementioned good guys ... some local, some from the other side of the Tasman. daryl.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted August 5, 2002 Report Share Posted August 5, 2002 Welcome from Mid Canterbury. Wow since irrigation the waterways around Ashburton have shrunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 Hi Daryl, and that was a great first post. Caryl is on holiday at the moment, but if she opens her laptop she might just see you have joined us and will be really pleased. We need a bit more activity in the Cichlid section. Great to have you with us, there could be a few names you reconize so you won't be lonely Bill (Pegasus) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 6, 2002 Report Share Posted August 6, 2002 What holiday? We were on business and I am very tired! Home again now and just downloading 120 emails having not checked it for 2 days. Had a great time at the computer roadshow and saw some great new stuff which will be coming out soon. Filled up my goody bags and won a few small bits and pieces (no computers this time). Hi Daryl. Good to have you join us. I have been checking out your forum too. I still aren't too keen on your colour scheme though I think your magazine might be among the mail piled up on the bench. That's the trouble with going away - you come home and have to clear the emails, phone messages (only 10 of them), pick up the faxes and open all the mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darylh Posted August 7, 2002 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 Hi Caryl, not quit a holiday maybe ... junket is the usual term used when the help goes away on a business trip with the boss. While I'm not particularly happy with the colour-scheme myself, I was concentrating on setting-up the system itself the way we wanted it, rather than the colours. Although a lot of colour changing has been involved, because the original theme had a lot of red and blue that was unreadable anyway ... and trying to get a handle on CSS as well, I've never actually applied it before. Marvelous stuff ... I might even go back and re-do all the web site stuff, it's a bit trashy because some of the original html is so old (c1996) and it has been added to in bits and pieces here and there. If the general membership gives the go-ahead for the board to continue to exist tonight (in the name of the VCS anyway, I'd really have to think about going solo) I will look around for a nice-looking theme. One thing it will not have is any white areas. I spend most of my life in front of a monitor, if there is too much white my eyes pack it in after only a few hours. Hence the determination to rid our board of white columns and even input boxes (that was hard) as it is me who will have to look at it the most. I might see if I can turn off the background graphic ... might improve it a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 7, 2002 Report Share Posted August 7, 2002 I must say I find the colours used on our site here are very restful (but it does have white in it). Hope your meeting accepts your board. BTW I didn't go on a junket with the boss, I AM the boss! I call myself the credit manager. Grant does the work and I manage to take the credit :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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