Willem Heijns

EDIT by Daz - poll added. Please read through summarys of each topic throughout this thread before voting

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I have the honour to come and speak at your meeting in April 2013. As it happens I have no idea on which subject to present. So I need your help. In this topic I will give short summaries of the talks I could give. When I have done them, we might have a poll and let you guys help me decide which one(s) it will be. So here goes:

Belize, searching for cichlids
This talk comprises a travel report to the beautiful country of Belize (just east of México). Visits were made to the rivers and lagoons trying to find cichlids both for filming and collecting. There’s footage of cichlids in many rivers as well as an exciting boatride with a local fisherman on Freshwater Creek.

More to follow.....

I am a retired bankmanager and I have been keeping cichlids well over half my lifetime. I started out with the firemouth (Thorichthys meeki) and subsequently have been hooked up with Central American cichlids ever since. Having had small tanks at first I moved on to build my "Cichlidarium" containing two 600 gallon aquariums and some smaller ones. After some major calamities (two 600g tanks exploded almost in my face) the Cichlidarium was finally closed down in March 2011.

About 15 years ago I started collecting cichlids in México and other countries in Central America. Most of these trips I made together with my good friend Ad Konings. On the first trips I focussed on collecting cichlids but on later ones I tried my hand at shooting video both above and below the waterlevel. This has resulted in bringing (new) cichlids into the Dutch hobby and a number of films, a compilation of which is available on the DVD "México, a journey into the world of cichlids".

My last three trips were made to Nicaragua. I visited most of the volcanic crater lakes in that beautiful country searching for cichlids, concentrating on Laguna Xiloá where I put my diver’s license to good use being able to get video footage from depths of 20 meters or more. This footage was edited to produce the DVD "Nicaragua, cichlids from the crater" which is also available to the public.

No longer keeping cichlids, I am now concentrating on writing. I have published a number of articles about cichlids in magazines worldwide and have also co-authored a book on these wonderful fishes. My main area of interest is the evolution and systematics of Neotropical cichlids belonging to the subfamily Cichlasomatinae.

If all goes well I will come and speak for your club sometime in April next year. When this happens I will need your help. I have a number of talks to choose from, but instead of making my own choice I would much rather like you to make this choice with me. So I will present all of my talks on this forum and we can have a poll to help us choose between them. So spread the word and let's get as many people as possible involved in this democratic process.