Ron Maichle (last name pronounced Michael) became a member of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society at the age of 14. He attended his first meeting which was a talk by Gary Lange on rainbowfish. After that Ron and his father became active in the club and enjoyed participating in the BAP program. They earned a plaque for advanced breeder in cichlids before Ron left for college. Working with his father, Ron gained interest in do-it-yourself fish room projects.
Ron took a 17-year hiatus from the hobby while he graduated from Heidelberg University with a double major in Water Resources and Environmental Biology. Ron enjoyed several environmental work opportunities during college, including working for National Center for Water Quality Research (both Biological and Chemical Branches) and the Illinois Natural History Survey (Lake Michigan Biological Station). Since then, for his professional career, Ron has spent much of his time working in Northeast Ohio area surveying and evaluating local streams and water chemistry. Ron is certified by the State of Ohio to evaluate water chemistry, habitat, and the health of the benthic macroinvertebrate (aquatic bug) community.
Upon returning to the hobby in 2018, Ron joined the Ohio Cichlid Association and the NEO-Fish Club (an all-species club). Ron has been a board member of the OCA since 2019 and won the clubs memorial trophy in 2018 for his volunteer work at the Extravaganza. In addition, Ron also won the 2019 OCA Bowl Show Champion bragging rights. Ron keeps mostly cichlids, but also enjoys rainbows, killifish, catfish, really anything he can get his hands on. Ron states that he is still motivated in the hobby by the BAP program, not only receiving credit for the spawns but also growing the fry to adults.
