Greater Akron Aquarium Society

Come to the Ultra-Aqua 2026—June 13-14, 2026

Sunday, June 14, 2026 is the Fish and Plant and live foods Auction at the Tallmadge Community Center. The event is open to the public and free to attend. Registration opens at 10 am. The auction begins at 11:00 am. No equipment or hard goods will be auctioned. See more details on the Ultra-Aqua auction page.

During the Sunday auction, there will be raffles for rare and desirable fish. We will have the following fish in the raffles, and updates on this list will be made this week:

  • 6 Osteogaster shultzei (black)
  • 3 Rineloricaria eigenmanni (Common Whiptail)
  • 5 CW217 Cory (Rio Tomo Concolor Cory) half inch long

►Stay for the Show Awards at 5 pm (or following the auction)

►For travelers on I-77 Northbound (coming from south of Akron), please be aware of the closure of I-77 at the I-76 exchange. As you travel on I-77 North, please know that I-77 / Rt 8 is closed at the I-76 exchange and at that point you can only go east or west on I-76. So, go east (right) on I-76 East and then exit at Gilchrist Road and turn left to get to Rt 91 north (which will take you to Tallmadge)…..or continue on I-76 East and exit at Southeast Ave and turn left on Southeast Ave to go to the Tallmadge Circle.

Click on the image below to view and download the Ultra-Aqua 2026 show filer with show rules.

Our Ultra-Aqua 2026 Sponsors

Please see the full listing of the show sponsors here. We are grateful for these sponsors who make the show awards possible.

Thanks to the Swap Meet Vendors

Thanks to all of the Swap Meet Vendors for their participation at Uktra-Aqua!

►Caveman Creations

►Fatfish Aquatic

►Beautiful Aquatics Click Here to Download the Price List for Pre-Orders

►Neptune Aquatics

►Adam Fox

►UncleDaves MagicFish

►Saburai Aquatics

►Steve Brunn and The Professor

►Shelbie Schatz—Fins & Flora 

►Mark Allar 

►Mark Herman 

►Robert West — Azul Aquatics — Download Item List for Saturday

►Awesome Aquatics

Special Thanks to Sabu Yamamoto

Every one enjoyed Sabu’s informative but light hearted talk, What the L? — An Introduction to Plecos, on Saturday night after a fantastic pasta dinner.

Sabu Yamamoto is owner of Saburai Aquatics in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Save the Date—Saturday, June 20, 2026—for Native Fish Collection

GAAS is planning an outing to catch and photograph native fish on Ohio’s Free Fishing Weekend in June. Members of GAAS will meet at 9 am at the Water Works Park, 2025 Munroe Falls Avenue, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 44221. Bring collecting nets, buckets, bags, and containers for viewing fish. The event will wrap up around noon. We will have access to the Cuyahoga River and adjacent water features at the rear of the Water Works Park. More details can be downloaded here.

May Meeting Summary

On May 8, we had a shared meeting with our friends at the Medina County Aquarium Society. Together we enjoyed an informative and educational talk from Prof Jason Den Haese, who offered an inside look at his various armored catfish aquarium setups.

Professor Jason Den Haese on May 8.
Professor Jason’s talk was well received by the combined clubs.
We had an extra large BAP/HAP auction, with George and other Medina members leading it.

April Meeting Summary

During the April meeting, Kristen Kodish led the presentation but the “speakers” were the members of GAAS. Kristen presented the club’s purpose, history, events, and membership survey results and then skillfully transitioned to an open forum to hear what members had to say. 

Kristen Kodish presented the state of the club and led an open dialogue in April’s listening event.

March Meeting Summary

The March program was provided by Cody Cromer, and he showcased many native species that he has caught from his many travels. Many of his pictures showed native fishes in the beauty of their breeding dress. Thank you, Cody for a fantastic talk!

Cody Cromer gave a fascinating and comprehensive talk on US native fishes during the March meeting. (Comfort Inn & Suites, in Cuyahoga Falls, provided the meeting room during the power loss.)

February Meeting Summary

We thank Dr Peter Dijkstra, faculty member in the Department of Biology at Central Michigan University, in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, for providing an excellent for the February program, titled Colors and Conflicts: The Social Lives of Cichlids. Dr Dijkstra’s lab studies fish brains and the fascinating inner workings of Lake Victoria cichlids. His research uses state-of-the-art tools to understand how social dynamics shape a cichlid’s physiology and brain.

Astatotilapia burtoni is a highly social cichlid fish that is studied in Dr Dijkstra’s lab at CMU.
Figure reprinted from Dijkstra PD et al. Oxidative stress in the brain is regulated by social status in a highly social cichlid fish. Front Behav Neurosci. 2024;18:1477984.
© 2024 Dijkstra et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Spring Auction Pictures

The GAAS Spring Auction, held on March 1, was a great success, thanks to the many participants who bought, sold, and volunteered throughout the day. There were more than 1,000 items auctioned by Randy and George. See more springtime regional auctions listed here.