| Mike O Sullivan |
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Born in Tyneside too many years ago to contemplate, and spent my teens and early twenties in Africa in Rhodesia and then Zimbabwe, I returned to the UK about 25 years ago and now live in North Wales. Qualified to HNC in construction, I now run my own construction company involved in renovation and refurbishment of listed buildings as well as more modern properties. I began keeping fish aged 12, with the usual livebearers, corries etc. and worked in the local fish shop where I met and fell in love with the real love of my life. S aequifasciatus, AKA Brown Discus, in about 1973 (please don’t tell the wife). I have kept fish on and off ever since, including indigenous African cichlids, tilapia and the like, in the swimming pool, African killies in 44 gal oil drums cut in half, old buckets and even the bath, and have been fortunate enough to have been able to collect fish in the wild in southern Africa, some of which I have yet to see described. I took up the hobby, did I say hobby? I mean addiction, seriously again about 7-8 years ago getting my first Discus, and making most of the usual mistakes:- planted tank, gravel, juvenile fish etc.....But I must have got something right, the attached pic is a pair of my first Discus, raised from 2" fry in a planted tank. I have now almost completed stage two of my fish house. On the discus side I currently have 4 x 50 gal with adults and juveniles, and 5 x 18" breeding tanks on a centralised system. Then on the Dark Side there is the 96x30x28 ray tank, with various suitable tank mates, a spare 100 gal that I am still contemplating, several 15-30 gal tanks with my Cory collection, dwarf cichlids and odds and ends. There is still room for about another 10-12 smaller tanks for Corys, killies and dwarf cichlids once I get the time. Current breeding successes include various strains of discus, Motoro stingrays, various corydoras species including davidsandsi, duplicarius and xinguensis, and kribs in very soft, very acid water (ph<5). OK kribs are not so hard, but in water this acid?. My current challenge is trying to breed Etroplus canarensis, I believe it has been done in the aquarium recently, but not in the UK. I am also planning on a group of Sphaerichthys osphromenoides (chocolate gourami) once I get the new tanks sorted out. I also have a new nano reef tank in the house, as I have never kept marines before it is quite fun, so far. Either I like a challenge, or I am a sucker for punishment, that a call I’ll leave up to you. |
