[Hello from Los Angeles~ It's great to be a part of a forum again!]

4 hours ago, Alison said:

Welcome and can I saw wow?! Those tanks are completely insane.

 

thank you Alison! 

2 hours ago, H.K.Luterman said:

Welcome! I can't wait to see more photos, those tanks look amazing!

thanks! will do!

1 hour ago, lefty o said:

welcome to the herd.

thank you!

[Hello from Los Angeles~ It's great to be a part of a forum again!]

4 minutes ago, Struggle said:

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your detailed posts in the future!

thanks! will do!

[Share your macro photos!]

here r mine: sajica parents taking their babies out for a walk

[Hi there, fresh hobbyist in these waters]

is that an albino oto in that last pic? or is it just an albino bushynose? can't tell. But that's so cool if it's an albino oto, i've never seen one!

[Hello from Los Angeles~ It's great to be a part of a forum again!]

hi every1, 

it's so great to be a part of a forum again! My forum days goes back to the 2000s, but with the downfall of forum, I was sad to see what was once a vibrant platform lose much of its life. The things I love about forums is how it's a place for a collection of knowledge. I learned so much from my forum experiences back in the days when I was still a young grasshopper. Although social media is a great platform to share videos and images, long form posts and articles are still the best way to learn imho. 

so my name is Mark, I also go by the screen name TMK Aquarist. I'm based in LA. I started in the hobby about 16 years ago. Like many hobbyists, once I got my first tank, it pretty quickly became an obsession. I quickly got into the monster fish scene, with the motto "bigger is better". CA cichlids like red terrors, pearsei, bicourti, just to name a few, became my favorite fishes, and are still some of my fav today. I got really interested in the building and aquascaping part of the hobby in the recent years, and have devoted much of my time in learning about the two aspects. I've even established a full-time business revolving just that! The hobby has taught me so much, not just in fish keeping, but professional skills like photography, marketing, sales...etc, but if I have to narrow it down to just one thing, it's patience! 

I love the community aspect of our wonderful hobby, and it's also something I love about forums! I especially like what CARE stands for, because bad members can turn away beginner hobbyists, and we need as many new blood for our hobby as we can get! 😄.  The hobby is only as strong as the hobbyists participating in it, so I hope I can make many friends here, learn a ton of new things, and share some of my experience in the hobby.

I'll share just a few of my pix for now, but will make detailed posts of them and more in the near future

 

- 450 gallon planted tank I named "The River"

 

-  300 gals discus tank I named "The Grotto"

 

- worked on this commercial project tank in Indonesia

 

- working on a 1000 gals planted tank in LA

 

- working on a 350 gals planted tank in LA

 

- working on a 300gals cylindrical aquascaped tank

 

- last but not least, a Colombian expedition I went on with the legendary Heiko Bleher