LeslieH
Well-known member
I thought I better do a proper introduction to make sure no one has the wrong idea about my being a pro when it comes to reefing. The facts are simple:
- I'm a certified wormoholic who works as the polychaete collection manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and my speciality is identification
- Marine inverts like crustaceans, sea slugs, sea stars, squirts, run a close second to worms in my affections (my husband complains they rank higher than he does)
- I've never had a tank & probably never will
- My invert knowledge comes from field work, 30+ years of learning about them, and information taken from posts by people with real experience
A number of years ago I was looking for images of live inverts when I stumbled across reef boards. That was an "Eureka!" moment for me. Reefkeepers were seeing behavior not documented by academics & even rare species. That was the upside. The downside was that people often didn't know what they had. Well, when to comes to helping put names on things I can't resist. I started off by reading several years worth of posts in the invert forums on the major boards to get a good feel for what was known & what wasn't. There was some great information, some basic stuff that got repeated over & over, and surprisingly, a whole lot of misinformation like myths about bristle worms being monsters.
Eventually I started to reply to id requests, then behavior questions, and along the way learned a whole lot. Nothing about fish or corals or clams or chemistry - they just don't interest me the way worms & crabs do. After a while reef clubs started asking me for talks. People started to think of me as a pro despite my lack of hands-on experience, and now here I am, moderating this forum.
Reef boards like Reef Frontiers are all about members helping members. Sharing information on a shared passion. I'm always willing to answer questions but I'm still learning too. Thank goodness for books, the internet, & experienced reefers who contribute to the threads! So keep in mind that I don't claim to be an expert. I try to provide the best information I can find, links to relevant pages by real experts, and hopefully, with the help of others, you'll even get the answer you need.
Happy reefing!
- I'm a certified wormoholic who works as the polychaete collection manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and my speciality is identification
- Marine inverts like crustaceans, sea slugs, sea stars, squirts, run a close second to worms in my affections (my husband complains they rank higher than he does)
- I've never had a tank & probably never will
- My invert knowledge comes from field work, 30+ years of learning about them, and information taken from posts by people with real experience
A number of years ago I was looking for images of live inverts when I stumbled across reef boards. That was an "Eureka!" moment for me. Reefkeepers were seeing behavior not documented by academics & even rare species. That was the upside. The downside was that people often didn't know what they had. Well, when to comes to helping put names on things I can't resist. I started off by reading several years worth of posts in the invert forums on the major boards to get a good feel for what was known & what wasn't. There was some great information, some basic stuff that got repeated over & over, and surprisingly, a whole lot of misinformation like myths about bristle worms being monsters.
Eventually I started to reply to id requests, then behavior questions, and along the way learned a whole lot. Nothing about fish or corals or clams or chemistry - they just don't interest me the way worms & crabs do. After a while reef clubs started asking me for talks. People started to think of me as a pro despite my lack of hands-on experience, and now here I am, moderating this forum.
Reef boards like Reef Frontiers are all about members helping members. Sharing information on a shared passion. I'm always willing to answer questions but I'm still learning too. Thank goodness for books, the internet, & experienced reefers who contribute to the threads! So keep in mind that I don't claim to be an expert. I try to provide the best information I can find, links to relevant pages by real experts, and hopefully, with the help of others, you'll even get the answer you need.
Happy reefing!
