Introduce Yourself. - Community Discussion

So it Goes...

Jeff McHenry — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:27:50 +0000

Hello everyone, my name is Jeff McHenry and in 1988 I was in 8^th grade and we moved to overland park into a duplex that had a concrete fishpond on the patio. I painted it, sealed it, and put goldfish in it. The pond was about 8 inches deep and about 2’x3’ and never wanted to hold water and would wake up every morning to an empty pond. Our duplex neighbor was a fish hobbyist and was nice enough to take the goldfish. For Christmas or my birthday that year I gold a 20-gallon fish tank kit from Walmart as a present. Piranhas! Two of them, Hungry and Toto were their names. Then came the 75-gallon aquarium with an Oscar and Jack Dempsey’s. Oscar would jump out of the fish tank about a foot in the air to get the fish feeder out of my hand, I thought he was so badass! Oh, and yes, feeder fish because it was the 90’s by this time. I graduated high school in Liberty Missouri in 1993 and went to college and my aquarium hobby paused and I did not have a single fish tank for years. I eventually got one 29-gallon fish tank that I would set up with a cool biotope and run the life of the fish and drain the tank and place it in storage, just to pull it out a year later and do something different. In 2009 I purchased my house, purchased a used 75-gallon tank, then took it down a few years later and resold it. Then my 50-year birthday came, maybe it was a mid-life moment, but I pulled that 29-gallon tank out of the basement and set it up, then added a 40 breeder, then added another 40, then another 40, then another 40, then another 40, then a rack with 20’s…. multi tank syndrome hit! My Aquarium Gallery Room have all high-tech tanks with CO2 and Fancy lighting, and they are all focused on aqua scaping that my Husband enjoys. I get a lot of fry and plants out of tanks in the Gallery Room tanks. Of course, the tanks always go in a different direction than I intend. I plan on making a tank for a specific fish but then it becomes a plan B grow out tank. I do like breeding fish and not just “keeping fish” even though I do have a community tank that I do not intend to breed any fish from. Do I specialize in any one fish, no… probably because I have not found that fish yet, but I recently got my first pair of Killifish, and they are kind of amazing… yup amazing at finding that little hole to jump out of the tank. Lucky rascal ended up 2 aquariums over and yes, the lid is fixed now. Anyway, Lovely Hobby. So, it Goes...

RE: Introduce Yourself.

kcmikey — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 03:04:33 +0000

I remember that fall very well. One of my best! I didn't think I'd ever walk right again that!

Oh you mean Doug had some big bruiser size tanks. I thought you meant I had big bruises falling into Doug's Fishroom, LOL I did but his fishroom was nice place to face-plant!

Seriously, it was great seeing a few old faces at our swap!

RE: Introduce Yourself.

jcurts — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:06:58 +0000

I remember that picnic. You had some big bruisers. Just like any addiction there is always a risk of falling of the wagon, when you try to cut back on aquariums. 😀

RE: Introduce Yourself.

JanOlson — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:12:13 +0000

Welcome back!

RE: Introduce Yourself.

Doug H — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:21:00 +0000

Hello,

Old / new member here. Some of you might recall I hosted a HAAS picnic maybe 10 years ago in DeSoto. I just recently got ‘bit by the bug’ again, and have started to resurrect my fish room. It will be significantly smaller this go round, downsized to a more manageable 12 tanks, but still respectable at just over 1000 gallons.

Here is how things look now:

300 gallon: Central American cichlid community tank featuring Vieja’s and others, plus an approximately 20 year old L128 blue phantom.

210 gallon: Tanganyikans. A couple of 7” female Fronts, a mated pair each of marlieri and leleupi, and a trio of Telmatachromis sp. orange scribble (purchased at the fall 2025 auction) of which the 2 largest have also bonded and mated.

135 gallon: a single 8” female festae Red Terror. She’s a beaut!

135 gallon: South American cichlid community tank featuring sub adult threadfin acaras, keyhole cichlids, some Laetacara araguaiae, plus assorted livebearers and plecos. I find this tank to be arguably my favorite.

125 gallon: currently empty but am pretty sure it will be mostly Cory’s and plecos. It will be setup this week.

38 gallon: a mated pair of Coptodon sp. bloody deepwalkers (available as a trade?). These dwarf African cichlids are on the IUCN red list and are endemic to Lake Bermin in Cameroon, a very small crater lake. I also have a group of about 2 dozen juveniles (approximately 3/4” to 1-3/4”) available. These feisty guys are starting to color up. I would trade these for a group of laser Cory’s in a heartbeat!

Future plans over the next year probably involve changing the 300 to the South American community tank and phasing out the centrals? I’m thinking about getting a group of 6 or so uaru’s for this?

I’m looking forward to the swap and seeing folks again. I will be shopping for Cory’s. Specifically orange and/or gold lazers, possibly others. Maybe a Tanganyikan? Uarus? Dwarf cichlids? I have a handful of 10 & 20 gallon quarantine tanks set up and ready to go.

Thanks,

Doug Henderson

RE: Introduce Yourself.

jcurts — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 22:36:24 +0000

sorry to hear about your emergency sale. Good luck with that. You should post here when you are in a better position because we all have extra tanks and equipment that you might be able to get on the cheap. In February we have a big live plant auction at the meeting, and it is always a big hit.

RE: Introduce Yourself.

mxgee — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 21:27:37 +0000

hi y'all! my name is gee. I'm 40, I'm an author, and I've been in the hobby for about 5 years. I had a betta and a goldfish in college but didn't really know what I was doing. I sold some stuff to a member who told me about this club and now I'm here! I actually am going to post about this separately but bc of some hardships I've got to get rid of my stuff ASAP. 😔 but once things get stable again I want to come to some meetings and meet some of y'all!

RE: Introduce Yourself.

Kim816 — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:42:28 +0000

@jcurts I found the address on the main page. I was absolutely coming last Saturday, but ended up bottle feeding kittens! Not as fun as one would imagine.

RE: Introduce Yourself.

jcurts — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 18:03:22 +0000

@kim816 no we meet in the Northland now at 8029 North Oak Traffic Way KCMO 64118

RE: Introduce Yourself.

Kim816 — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 10:06:27 +0000

@jcurts Are you guys still meeting in the legends area? I can't remember where exactly.