Fish Lore Aquarium Forum Member Spotlight on CHoffman

Hello fellow fish keepers, First off what a honor to be spotlighted by this wonderful forum. I have learned so much from everyone here and you all have fueled my new passion for fish keeping. It has been such a great opportunity to be a part of Fishlore. Endless information, a community of kind, funny, and knowledgeable people, how can you beat it?

So on with the introduction, my name is Cescha. Fish keeping has quickly become my second love, second to family. I'm a stay at home mommy, I work for my girls, I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old soon to be 2 in April and I'm loving every minute of it. My husband is awesome and has been nothing but supportive of my love affair with fish. Jealous at moments but still supportive. I'm from a small town with small town values. Honesty and compassion are everything to me. Hopefully I'm teaching my girls the same.

I started my fish keeping journey much like most members here. I decided getting fish for my 3 year old was a great idea. Went to Wal-mart and walked out with a 2.5 gallon tank, 4 glofish and a Chinese Algae eater. Great set-up, wasn't it. Managed to get through the aquarium cycle without even knowing what it was but at the tail end of it I lost 1 of the glofish. I immediately got online and dove into research, it wasn't long before I found Fishlore. What an amazing site with an amazing group of people, needless to say I was hooked. I started doing fish rescues and finding them good homes. Out of some of my rescues I also got the tanks. I have actually bought 2 of my tanks. The 2.5 gallon (which I returned for a 10 gallon for the same price) and my 125 gallon. The rest of my tanks were free. I'm pretty thrifty. I started my fish keeping in October and 4 months later I'm at 7 tanks and growing.

10 gallon This is home to my Betta boy Kenya and his 3 Otto buddies. This is actually my favorite tank so far. Kenya stole my heart the minute I saw him so I'm sure that has something to do with it. This is my oldest tank at a ripe age of 4 months. It is in my oldest daughters room.
10 gallon This aquarium is in my kitchen and has 2 dwarf puffers. They are adorable and I can't help but stop and stare at these guys every time I'm in my kitchen.
10 gallon This is home to another Betta, a beautiful girl Betta named Frosty, (My 3 year old names our fish). I didn't think she was going to make it when I saved her from her cup but she pulled through and is a feisty little thing. She'd give any male Betta a run for their money.
10 gallon tank I'm currently cycling this tank and it's going to be the QT tank for any new fish or sick fin babies I might have. I've always bought my fish in groups so never needed a QT but I'm sure I will so I'm planning ahead. It seems like I'm always taking in an unwanted fish or come across one that needs saving so this will work out great. It will be hard having an empty tank though.
16 gallon tank I have two Neolamprologus brichardi in this tank. I'm hoping I have a male and female but only time will tell. They are a beautiful fish and I've really enjoyed them. I can't wait till they grow up a bit and get some more color.
30 gallon hex tank Right now I have six baby Angelfish in here. I'm going to let them pair up and I'll be keeping one pair and finding good homes for the rest. I quickly learned it's not a good idea to keep two Angelfish together that are not a pair.
125 gallon tank This is going to be my baby. This tank is going to be home to several breeding groups of Malawi Mbuna Cichlids. I'll be getting wild caught or F1 fish so I have good quality fish to sell. I'm hoping I can have an awesome show tank, and earn a little money on the side to fuel my hobby and hopefully expand my fish breeding ventures. It still needs some work and I'll be changing things a thousand times but right now the rocks are in and that's good enough for me.

Something that I have planned and already have in the works is my fish room. I'm very excited about this. There are so many fish that I would love to keep and maybe even breed. Having the extra space will allow me to do this. It will be so nice to have everything in one place and be nice and organized too. I would also like to try my hand at a planted tank. They are stunning. So far I've kept my Java Moss alive... haha.

I would like to thank my sweet family for allowing me to move all these fish into our home. Especially my husband Jeff. He has moved his fair share of tanks, lifted as many 5 gallon buckets as I have, and went along with all my crazy fish rescues. He is a real trooper. I'd like to thank my girls for feeding breakfast to their Betta's Kenya and Frosty without fail every morning even before they get their own breakfast. And last but not least to this awesome forum and the awesome members that make it what it is. You guys have been amazing. I'm never left without an answer, you've never failed to lend a helping hand, or a shoulder to cry on. So many members go above and beyond. I'd like to say a special thanks to a few people that have always come to my rescue or just deserve recognition for good deeds. Lucy, you are a great asset to this forum and a great mod, you are always helping even with the tiniest of problems. Shawnie, you have helped me with so many problems I've lost count, your always there. SteveAngela for answering my never ending cichlid questions. PFP for answering all my puffer questions and everybody else's. Sirdarksol, you'll always willing to help and go above what is asked, this fine man was willing to send me snails at no charge to help me with a puffer rescue. Dozey for always sticking up for our animal friends, even if it may ruffle a few feathers, lol. I'm sure I've missed a ton of people but thank you all so much for making this such a Forum to be apart of.

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