Welcome to the LGBTQ+ in reefing forum

[Thales]

"Reefers come from all walks of life and we celebrate them all - cultures, sexes, genders and races (but not hateful stuff, if you are going to be hateful, this is not the place for you).

We don’t think that this needs to be said, but sadly, sometimes it needs to be said blatantly. If you are a man, woman, LGBTQ+ and keep a reef, we respect you enough that if you want to share who you are, we are happy to celebrate you. Thanks for being here!" - The Reefs.org team

 

[Truckertami]

Thank you !!!!

 

[Surfzone]

Hello,

I started reef keeping in 2004 as a Jr. in high school. I currently have a 30 gallon tank that has been set up for about a year. I'm having a bout of hair algae, but I think that I can handle it right now. I'm in the process of setting up a 60 gallon cube next to it to be an sps system. I was Med retired about a year ago from the Air Force and have been working for myself since then.

I also breed fish and I am in the process of getting back into it with the help of a few friends who are long time breeders. I have successfully raised Bangii cardinals, clowns, and mandarins. I would like to work with some other fish this go around like gobies, and anthias. Currently I'm just getting food cultures up and going, still waiting on my micro algae to come in.

I run a business cleaning people's tanks in the local area, and giving advice on both fresh and saltwater aquariums. until I can afford to move the business from my home to a commercial location most venders don't want to supply me with any products, so the hope for 2021 is to have enough clients to move to a commercial space.

I am lucky because here in Charleston out most popular LFS is owned by a gay man who has been nothing but helpful to me in all fronts be it reef keeping, giving me a job, being out, or just a friend to talk to when ever I need it. I hope this sub forum will help people out like he has helped me, and also, I'm here to help whoever I can with what ever problem they have. like stated before I first started keeping reef in 2004, so I have seen how this hobby has evolved.

And lastly I would like to Welcome everyone here who just love to talk reef in the LGBTQ community and our Allies.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Hi! I started keeping tanks like 15+ years ago (or at least that's what my resume says). I've been keeping saltwater tanks for 10+ years as well. I started with a yellow tang in a 10 gallon (I've gotten better I promise!). Now that I've graduated college, I'm more than raring to have a go at fish breeding, and have so many experiments that I want to do!

Theory wise, I've read a lot of papers and books on fish breeding, but unfortunately have no practical experience with it. This is something I'm hoping to rectify as soon as I am employed and have my own place (no more pesky people telling me that I can't have 5 brine shrimp hatcheries!)

My current interests involve demersal spawning fish, although I may make an exception for Tanaka's possum wrasses and bluestripe pipefish. I'd also like to work with various shrimp species, as well as Trachyphyllia corals (nobody breeds the solitary LPS corals! Why??????).

I haven't really had much experience with the queer reefing community. My first experience with other queer reefers was at MACNA 2020. I'm really glad that this forum is here, because outside of the MACNA 2020 rainbow reefers event, I wasn't really sure how many other queer aquarists were out there. Like, I knew there were supposed to be some amount? But it's never been super visible like now, so it was hard to know if I was the only one or not. I'm used to being isolated, but it's really freeing and exciting to know that, yet again, I am not the only one .

Outside of reefing, you can find me experimenting with cooking/baking, gardening/houseplanting, and occasionally dancing (this one is a touchy subject).