Martin has been keeping and breeding a variety of fish for over 30 years and started in the hobby like most people with a small community tank that was given to him by a friend.

After a couple of months he was well and truly hooked and a 48x18x12 inch tank was bought to house six small oscars.

Over the years, Martins interest has grown and a variety of tropical, marine and coldwater species have been kept at one time or another.

Martin joined DDAS in February 1990 and has been a committee member since November of that year. He held the position of Treasurer for 7 years and is now the Chairman. In 1991, Martin finally got to build his fish house which contained around 20 tanks ranging in size from 30x15x18 up to 60x15x15.

For many years, Martin's main interest has been Malawi and Tanganyikan Cichlids as well as a few Catfish species. 2 years ago, Martin decidfed to set up a Marine system and although he initially had a lot of problems with algae, this has now been overcome and marines have become his new passion.

Favourite freshwater fish are Scaenochromis fryeri from Lake Malawi and Cyphotilapia frontosa from Lake Tanganyika and he still has a soft spot for Oscars (Astronotus Ocellatus) although not currently keeping any.

Favourite marine fish is the Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator).

Scaenochromis Fryeri

Cyphotilapia frontosa

Astronotus Ocellatus

Pomacanthus imperator

When he is not attending to his fish, Martin works in the computer services industry and his current role is that of Business Continuity Analyst.This involves ensuring that clients businesses are able to continue in the event of any disaster by performing risk and business impact assessments. The results are then used to develop contingency plans.