TFH Magazine :: Tropical Fish Hobbyist- This Month’s Feature Authors

Takashi Amano was born in 1954 in Niigata, Japan. He has explored the remote jungles of South America and Africa and photographed a vast amount of nature scenes during his 16-year career as professional cyclist. He continued his research of tropical fish husbandry and aquatic plant cultivation and put forth an aquatic plant layout method, “Nature Aquarium,” which combines his extensive experience in the observation of nature and his unique sense of beauty. Takashi was awarded the silver medal of the Fuji Film Nature Photo Contest in 1991, and the Grand Prix of the same contest in 1992. He has also won many awards in various photo contests, and has authored many books. He established Aqua Design Amano (ADA) Co., Ltd. in 1993, of which he is the president and CEO.

Dr. Craig Adams has been an avid tropical-fish hobbyist for many years. He received a Master of Science degree from the University of Washington School of Fisheries, where he studied salmonid ecology. He then earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washinton State University, and received additional training in fish medicine through programs such as Aquavet I and Aquavet II in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He currently owns and operates Aquatic Veterinary Services, and can be reached at aquaticvet@wavecable.com.

Bill Allen retired after 20 years of teaching music to train as a pathologist’s assistant at Delta Pathology Laboratory in Shreveport, Louisiana. Boyhood experiences catching and breeding fish spawned a lifelong interest in aquaria and his specialization in livebearers. Primarily interested in fancy swords and platies, he also keeps endangered xiphs, mollies/limias, and a few goodeids, and usually has a pair or two of Belonesox around—in fact, he briefly performed in a rock band named “Belonesox.” He presently plays banjo in North Louisiana’s only marching Dixieland band, “Struttin’ South,” and is the editor of Livebearers, the journal of the American Livebearer Association.

Adam Blundell is the Director of the Aquatic & Terrestrial Research Team, whose efforts are designed to bring hobbyists and researchers together for common goals. When not teaching in the laboratory, Adam stays busy with many projects, local aquatic clubs, and a hectic travel schedule for speaking engagements. Adam can be contacted at AdamBlundell@hotmail.com.

Charles Clapsaddle began fishkeeping at age seven, after winning some goldfish at a carnival. Successfully spawning them, he was hooked on fish. Mastering goldfish, his attention turned to livebearers, locally collected mosquitofish Gambusia affinis and sailfin mollies Poecilia latipinna. By junior high he graduated to fancy guppies, and his fascination with livebearers continues. Although his commercial hatchery breeds many other fishes, the development of new livebearer strains and the improvement of existing strains occupy his best efforts. Charles speaks to aquarium clubs across the country on various hobby topics. He has a BSc in Zoology from The University of Texas at Austin.

James Fatherree has had more than a quarter century’s experience with aquariums of all kinds and has been deeply involved in the reef hobby for more than a decade. His background includes diving, collecting, as well as writing and photography, and he has worked in the trade on both retail and wholesale levels. With all this experience, he has seen his share of aquarium disasters, both natural and manmade, making invaluable his insights on how to save your tank during a crisis.

Ivan Gonzalez has been interested in fish diversity since he was a young boy of about five years old. Growing up in Uruguay, his father used to take him on sport fishing trips on the Río Negro. At 16, he met Felipe Cantera of Salinas, Uruguay, who began to take him along on collecting excursions in the countryside. At the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay, he delved deeper into the world of South American fish diversity. He has worked extensively doing fish sampling in the whole of Uruguay. Ivan is now working with fish identification and is completing his initial studies with a licenciatura in Biology.

Mike Hellweg has been an aquarist and breeder for over 35 years, working almost exclusively with fishes that mature at 4 inches or less in his 75 tanks. With nearly 200 species from 21 families, he is the top-ranked Grand Master Breeder of All Time in his local club. Mike is currently President of the Missouri Aquarium Society, Vice Chairman of the American Livebearer Association, and Historian for the Aquatic Gardener’s Association. He has written over 100 articles for various hobby publications and currently owns and operates a retail fish business.

Tony Pinto has been an aquarist since he was 13 years old and discovered a book on keeping tropical aquarium fish in the local British Council library while living in the Middle East (well, we all have to start somewhere). He currently keeps a small collection of tropical plants and fish—his primary interests are killifish and labyrinth fish, although every so often he can be persuaded to keep a few tetras, dwarf cichlids, rainbowfish, cories, or livebearers. Any fish that is colorful or an oddball and doesn’t grow bigger than 3 inches could end up in Tony’s tanks—the only exceptions to date have been his large mouthbrooding bettas! He spends his vacations traveling, observing, and collecting aquarium fishes in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and South America (and on occasion from other hobbyists’ fishrooms). Future plans include a trip or two to Africa to collect fish—some things never change...

Donna M. Recktenwalt has been keeping aquarium fish since childhood and has successfully bred a number of species of catfish, cichlids, killifish, and livebearers. A member of several aquarium clubs, Donna has served in a variety of positions, from newsletter editor to president. She is the author of many articles on fish and aquaria, and has written on a variety of other specialty topics. Her short fiction appears occasionally in the small press market—she is the author of two novels.

Andy Rich joined Paradigm Management Services as Vice President of Human Resources in early 2008 and is responsible for talent strategies, acquisition, retention, and development—as well as organizational and business strategy alignment, and culture and change management. Andy has 30-plus years of successful senior-level human resource leadership, executive management, and consulting experience. As a graduate of Cornell and Long Island University, he holds an MBA, MPA, and BS, along with a degree in Executive Management, and has been certified in coaching by the Center for Creative Leadership. He is married with two children ages 20 and 30, and in addition to his long-time interest in plants and fishkeeping, he is an avid skier, fisherman, golfer, is certified in wilderness search and rescue, and is a member of the National Ski Patrol.

Craig Sernotti graduated from The College of New Jersey in 2002 with a BA in English and a minor in Journalism. After working various editorial jobs, he joined T.F.H. Publications, where he is currently employed as the Aquatics Book Editor. He plans to one day rule the world’s waterways and will ride a Mekong catfish to his lavish coronation—until then, Craig lives in New Jersey with his wife, his rescued dog and cat, and a 20-gallon freshwater aquarium.

Stan Sung grew up reading about adventurous explorations and new fish discoveries in TFH, and as a youngster Stan dreamed of visiting these fabled destinations. He has led expeditions to Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, and the South and Southwest of the United States—many of these explorations have been documented in the pages of TFH. Among his discoveries are new species of rivulins from Panama. An avid painter and art lover, his award-winning stylized depictions of tropical fish and their habitats have been used in fundraising events for the American Zoological Association for preservation and education of the endemic aquatic species of Madagascar.

Glenn Takeshita is a retired assistant chief water chemist with 35 years of service with the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. He attended the University of Hawai‘i and Indiana University. Glenn has raised fish all his life, and became a serious hobbyist in the 1950s. He started writing fish articles around that same time. He plans to keep writing as long he is able to. Glenn’s forte in the tropical fish hobby has been in fancy livebearer genetics. He also has many other interests, including karate, sports, plants, birds, body surfing, surfing, and ballroom dancing.

Tony Terceira was born in 1943 and has been involved in the hobby for over 40 years specializing in killifish. He recently retired from education after 35 years, where he served as Director of Mathematics. He has been involved in the importation, breeding, and distribution of many species including wild bettas and killifish. He has written and illustrated numerous articles on all facets of the hobby, appearing in publications worldwide. Tony is a renowned photographer and author of Killifish, Their Care and Breeding, published in 1974. In 1982, Tony was named a Fellow of the American Killifish Association in recognition of his numerous contributions to the AKA and its goals.

Joshua Wiegert is currently pursuing a PhD and is a former college instructor. His professional background includes several publications, as well as experience in the fields of ecology and limnology, from simple backyard pond and landscape work, to ecological studies of large lakes; he also donates a large portion of his time to the Native Fish Conservancy (NFC). His personal aquarium experience is fairly eclectic, and centers on planted aquaria, North American fishes, killies, and goodeids. When not out collecting fish or native plants, he can often be found hiking in the mountains, or occasionally writing his own biography for TFH.

Nicholas Violand is a recent graduate of the School of Environmental & Biological Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, having earned a BS in general biotechnology, a minor in biochemistry, and certification in technical writing after completing an editorial internship with TFH Magazine, where he currently works as Editorial Assistant. He has enjoyed keeping fish since childhood, and now houses saltwater fish and invertebrates, as well as an outdoor pond with some long-surviving goldfish. While his continuing education goals are not completely certain, he may likely become a career student.