Tom/socaltropicalfish
OF/ORANGE,CA

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Mike from Socalireefs.com for giving me a chance to share my passion for reef keeping and for choosing me to be the first “Member of the Month of December.” I was excited beyond words when Mike asked if I would like to be featured as a member of the month. Below you will read and find out a little bit about myself, my family and my love to his hobby.

My name is Tom Tran, 29 years old, currently working as a Peace Officer for Chaffey College and an Owner of SoCal Tropical Fish. I am married to a beautiful wife and was blessed with two healthy and adorable daughters. As a Vietnamese traditional and only son in the family, I am currently living and talking care of my parents. My family came to the United States in early 1991; I graduated from high school in 1997, went to 2 years college and graduated in 1999 with both AS and AA degrees. I attended Cal State Fullerton for 2 years but later decided to try something else. I decided to join the Fullerton College Police Academy Training. There were over 150 candidates came for the testing, I was one of 65 that passed and were invited back for the training. At the end there were 32 that made it. I started my career as a dishwasher at Disneyland; then in 1999 I got hired with Fullerton College Public Safety as a Safety Officer. Then in early 2001, I got hired with the Riverside County Sheriff as a Deputy Sheriff, in the late 2001 I resigned and accepted a job as Chaffey College as a Peace Officer. I have been with the department for 8 years.

 

Well back to the fish related topic, my initiation into fish keeping started about 20 years ago from breeding betas and fancy tail gobies in Vietnam. After moving to the US, I started my first 5 gal freshwater and ended up with 500 gal koi’s pond in my back yard in 1998. I set up my first saltwater aquarium in 1999; it was a 15 gal in my bedroom and it was the beginning of a long love affair with saltwater aquariums. By the end of 1999, I had about 4 small tanks in my bedroom. Over the years, I was able to expand from 5 gal, 60 gal, 120 gal, 180 gal and 200 gal. My electric bill was from the low $100 gone straight to $500-$600 per month. In the early 2008, with the help and support from my family members, I decided to open up a fish store. Working full time as a Peace Officer, a full time father of two and running a fish store is very hard. Not including importing live stock and selling them to the wholesalers. But the love of this hobby and the love of being around fishes, corals, invertebrates and other wonderful creatures of the ocean give me the strength and power to keep going. My goal is support and helps my customers with great service and superior supply of equipment and live stock at an affordable price.

 

First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife, Tan, for being so supportive throughout my reef keeping journey. I would also like to thank my family for their tolerance of my obsession. Also many thanks to Mike from Socalireefs.com for given me this opportunity to share with other members about my background, I would also like to give a round of applause to SocaliReefs.com, for its valuable advice and help. Last, but not least, I’d like to thank you for all the supports that I’ve received from members for the last 8 months and many more years to come. Tom

Some pictures

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