Capital Cichlid Association

by Charlotte Nielson The 2002 ACA Convention took place at the Hilton Airport and Towers, July 25-28, 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia.  The CCA had quite a large turn out for such a small club.  Ten out of 18 members took the trip to the capital of Georgia.  This large number of club members really took the ACA by storm. A few members went on the ACA tour to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, which is the largest freshwater aquarium in the world!  The displays included a journey through a 60-foot canyon and two living forests with over 9,000 animals that swim, fly and crawl, all set in natural habitats.  John Burns said, "The aquarium was awesome; one of the few daytrips associated with a meeting that was a "don't miss".  Seahorse/dragon/pipefish collection is the best I've seen; lots of well done river habitats". The biggest CCA turn out was in the fish show.  There were 24 classes all together and the CCA members won 11 awards in six of these classes, talk about diversity!  Five members from the club took home the following awards:  Francine Bethea (right) won first and second place awards in Class 20, Photography, with her photos of an Apistogramma and a Lamprologus calliurus (the CCA logo).  She also took home all three awards in Class, 21 Slides. George Richter (left) won first place in Class 4, New World Predators, with his Crenicichla saxatilis. Daniel Cohen (right) won first place in Class 16, Lamprologus, with his Neolamprologus longicaudatus. Joe Szelesi received second and third place awards in Class 1, Symphysodon, for his 6 ½" Green Snakeskin Discus and 7 ½" Solomon Diamond Discus. Charlotte Nielson won two-third place awards in Class 15, Lake Malawi Haplochromines, and Class 16, Lamprologus, with a Protomelas spilonotus and a Neolamprologus leleupi. The CCA as a club sponsored Class 15, Lake Malawi Haplochromines, Dov Goldstein's RareCichlids.com sponsored Class 8 of the Non-Rift Lake Old World Cichlids and The Nielson's FishPost.com was the sponsor of Classes 9, 10, and 11, which covers the Madagascar species, Lake Victoria and Lake Kivu species, and the West African species, respectively. Over all the CCA, though only a small club, had a big show and took home quite a few trophies from the annual ACA Convention.  Now there's a whisper of the CCA actually placing a bid to host the ACA Convention in 2004! SEE YOU IN CINCINNATI IN 2003