CONTENTS
Articles
GHAC Auction p.1
Meet a fellow GHAC
member p.2
Fish of the Month
p.3
Tank of the Month p.4
Plant of the Month p.5
Items of Interest
GHAC Officers p.2
How to contact the
GHAC p.2
Sponsors p.3
Useful Websites p.4
David looking like he knows what he is
doing.
NEWSLETTER
August 2008
GHAC Auction 2008
By: Raul M. Turner
From the moment the GHAC came into existence, local fish-enthusiasts began
to expect great things. One of the most highly desired events: a GHAC
sponsored auction.
It’s taken GHAC almost a year to grow enough in size and stability to host
such an event—but the time has finally arrived! The date and time have been
set and the hall has been rented. Supplies are being procured and details
worked out. It’s going to happen! Yes! I’m at a loss of words to describe
how excited some of us are about this auction.
The location itself—The Hall on Hammerly—is perfect. It has lots of room
and plenty of parking. We are thankful to the Club Treasurer, Mary Beth
Petranek, for finding it.
…Continued on Page 6…
“All men are equal before fish.”
-Herbert Hoover
…and this is the first person who beat
David at Air Hockey that night.
 We want to hear from you. After all, you are the
Meet a Fellow GHAC Member reason that we are here. Email any suggestions,
This Month: Mickey Carroll (tattoo) comments, or questions to
raul.turner@myghac.org
I first got into fish when my wife was pregnant with
our first child. I was looking for some sort of hobby
that I would do inside the house. Up until then, all of
my hobbies involved lots of activities that took me
outside. With the baby on the way, I wanted to be Your GHAC Officers are:
able to spend more time closer to my family. A
couple friends were pretty big into the fish hobby
r
(John and Eric) and seemed to really enjoy breeding Raul Turner
fish and selling the fry. It interested me, and I figured (rrocket2002)
I would give it a shot. So that is how it started. President

As with most everyone else when first starting out, I

tried a bunch of different types of fish. Right now I
have settled on pretty much keeping only
Tanganyikan cichlids. Current inhabitants in my tanks
include Benthochromis tricoti, Cyprichromis
leptosoma, and Eretmodus cyanosticus. Soon I hope Tim Bell
to add either a colony of Petrochromis or Tropheus. I (armthehomeless)
have four tanks – a 210, 125,120, and a 20 gallon Vice President
tank. The small tank is for fry. ☺

David Abeles
(Tiapan)
Co-Vice President

Mary Beth Petranek

(Mzungu)
Treasurer
Megan’s Tropical Emporium Hours
Monday 11:00 - 6:00
Tuesday - Friday 11:00 - 8:00
Saturday 10:00 - 6:00
Sunday 12:00 - 6:00

Fish Gallery Store Hours

Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
 Fish of the Month
The Lemon Cichlid
Neolamprologus leleupi

By Tim Bell

General:
Neolamprologus leleupi, also typically referred to as
Lamprologus leleupi, are slender cichlids native to Lake
Tanganyika in Africa. Males will achieve a size of about
four inches with most females topping out between two
to three inches.

The most common form of this fish is yellow, but many

varieties are occasionally available including the orange
variety. There are even gray, tan and near-black
varieties, but they are rarely seen in the hobby. You'll
most likely see some of these at the upcoming GHAC
auction. A “show quality yellow” leleupi should exhibit
a uniform yellow color with the least amount of black on
the lip.
I have observed quite a variation in color depending on
both the substrate/background of the tank and diet. Keep
Neolamprologus leleupi over white sand and feed them
a large amount of color enhancing food, and you'll have
bright yellow fish. Keep them over a black substrate and
the fish will appear quite muddy. They will change
coloration when switched over different substrates,
though it may take a month or so.
Feeding:
In the wild, Neolamprologus leleupi feed on
zoobenthic organisms; fish eggs, insects, copepods,
etc. From a hobbyist perspective, however, they don't
present many problems. I fed mine a variety of flake
foods, frozen brine shrimp, Spirulina flake, whatever
is closest...
Neolamprologus leleupi have surprisingly large
mouths for such a small fish. I’ve seen them swallow
some pretty big pellets. In addition, mature adults have
some impressive fangs when viewed from the front.

Habitat:
Neolamprologus leleupi is found from 5 to 30M deep
around rocks and rubble in Lake Tanganyika. Lake
Tanganyika has very hard and alkaline water— pH
range of 7.6 to 8.4 and a dH around 15.
 Check out our great new website…
Tank of the Month
We want to see your tanks! Send us a photo of your tank
along with a brief description of the flora, fauna, water
parameters, equipment used, and anything else you want www.myghac.org
to include. We will post a new tank each month!! Let us
see what you are working with…

August TOTM
Jesper’s 75 Gallon Malawi Tank

Decoration: Texas Holey Rock

Substrate: Pool Filter Sand
Inhabitants: Iceberg Electric Blue Cichlids
(Sciaenochromis fryeri), Electric Yellow Labs
(Labidochromis caerulus) Roy and Heidi Flis’ Home
9426 Laurel Wind Court
Houston, TX 77040
August 15th 7:45pm-???

9426 Laurel Wind Court

Houston, Tx 77040

August 15th, 7:45pm to ???

July Pictures
Plant of the Month
Java Moss
Vesicularia dubyana
By Tim Bell

This was one of the first plants that I had success

with mostly because it is a plant that is tolerant of
all types of water conditions. Native to Asia this
plant can grow in almost any condition. It will
grow under low light as well as high light. I’ve
seen this plant thriving in both hard and soft
water. I’ve even seen java moss used successfully
in terrariums with high humidity and in lightly
brackish tanks.

This plant does not need any sort of substrate to

be planted into. If left alone, java moss will
eventually find something to attach itself to. Many
people attach java moss to wood using either
fishing line or some sort of twine. In order to has
this stay aesthetically appealing, you will need to
trim the moss with some degree of frequency.

I have used this plant in most of my fry tanks to

absorb some of the nutrients in the water and to
decrease the nitrates. The fry usually pick
microorganisms off of the plant as well. A word
of caution: once in a tank, it can be tough to get
rid of. I thought I gave all of mine away a couple
years ago. I was wrong. ☺
 GHAC Auction 2008 (continued from page 1)
Start time: 11am

Location:
The Hall on Hammerly
10644 Hammerly Blvd.
Houston, TX. 77043
http://www.saintjosephorthodox.org/hallrental.html

A key factor in selecting this location was that it is on the north side of Houston, since other similar
auctions have always been on the south side. There are many hobbyists on the north side that would
welcome this location, and for those on the south side—well, it is still relatively close.

Another highlight of this auction is that it is more seller friendly than other auctions. GHAC is only
subtracting 10% of the sale, so you keep 90%. Our philosophy is that since you’ve done all the work, you
should keep most of the sale. This is just another for GHAC to say thank you. We are a club for the
members!

Is this auction just for members? Not at all, anyone is welcome to sell, buy or just come hang out.

Does it cost to me anything to be able to bid on an item? Not if you are a GHAC member. Non-
members can purchase a bidder card for just $5. Now check this out…become a member at the auction or
before for $5 and register for your bidder card for free. Sounds easy? Well, it is!

What will be at the Auction? Anything and everything that is apart of the hobby: livestock of every
kind, plants, tanks, filters, heaters, food, drift wood, holey rock…etc.

GHAC is a social club. We encourage the hobby of keeping aquatic life and just having fun. We
encourage learning more about the hobby, and welcome members of all fish clubs. We certainly hope to
see you there. Please tell a friend. More information can be found on the GHAC website.
www.myghac.org

Pictures inside the Hall on Hammerly

See you here on September 13th!!