For May’s Program: GAAS’s own Steve Brunn will report on the events and information presented at the annual American Livebearer Association’s 2018 Convention, which convenes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 4-6. In his talk, “Seen and Heard at the ALA 2018 Convention,” Steve will give a first-hand account of all the convention activities, vendors, and speakers. Additional observations will be provided by other GAAS members who also attended the convention.
Steve Brunn GAAS Program Director & Historian
Steve started out in the hobby with standard guppies as a first-grade student. That early interest in aquatic life and the aquarium hobby continued through high school, college, and most recently over the past decade as a member of GAAS. With a particular interest in livebearers, Steve keeps a few representative species of Goodied and Poeciliid fishes, including guppies. This years’ convention will mark Steve’s attendance at four ALA conventions.
Our Aprilmeeting was happy to welcome Joe Doyle back to our club with his presentation “Getting Ahead in BAP!”
Joe was supposed to do this presentation for our January 2018 Meeting, however the weather had other plans and we had to reschedule. We are very glad to say the weather cooperated this time and we received a super informative and interesting presentation that was well worth the wait! We learned from Joe’s many successes as well as trials and errors along the way. I’m sure we will all benefit from the abundance of all that priceless first hand knowledge! We hope to see you again soon Joe!
(See below for Joe Doyle’s full bio)
We had 3 BAP and 1 HAP spawns turned in with 8 BAP and 4 HAP Certificates awarded!
Our Raffle table was once again loaded with supplies such as tanks, filters (power, Matten, and & Sponge), Driftwood, Bowl Show Friendly Carriers, GreenPleco plushes, Food, Decor, etc! Tickets for our Monthly Raffle Table are only $1 for 6 or $5 for 36!
Refreshments included Spinach Dip, Veggie Trays, Cookies, and drinks of Various Pops and Water from Elsie our Refreshment Chairman and Jan Bilsky also brought in a tasty Chocolate Carrot Cake, Thanks Jan!
Our refreshments are always FREE of charge for our members and guests.
Congratulations Max on winning the Door Prize GiftCard and taking home our Easter Rainbow Fish and GreenPleco Plush from the raffle!
April’s Bowl Show had 35 Entries, The winners were
Female Guppies
Jeff Plazak Taking 1st and 2nd
Mike & Elsie Swanson taking 3rd
Corydoras, Aspidoras, Brochis
1st - Jeff Plazak - Cory Sterbai
2nd - Misty & Will White - Pygmy Cory
3rd - Jeff Plazak - Cory Palatos
Photography (Identification)
1st - Mike & Elsie Swanson - Pelvicachromis pulcher
2nd - Wayne Toven - Pelvicachromis taeniatus
3rd - Mike & Elsie Swanson - Cylindricus Cichlid​
Photography (Artistic)
1st - Misty & Will White - Golden Dojo loaches
2nd - Misty & Will White - Marble Betta
3rd - Misty & Will White - Leucistic Axolotl
Our guest speaker this month was “Big Rich Price” from Ohio Fish Rescue!
“Big Rich” along with his wife Tracy and son Josh, gave a very entertaining and colorful recount of one of their most challenging rescues yet, a rescue that also just so happened to be “the one that started it all!”
Details of the 72 hour trip, with 800 gallons of water, in a box truck, two teenagers and 19 fish averaging 3 FEET PLUS was definitely a story to hear! Few people realize just how difficult and risky it is moving fish the size of a labrador!
Thank you Rich & the Price family for your excellent presentation! We look forward to visiting the Rescue for a Club trip soon!
We had 6 BAP & HAP Spawns turned in, with 4 Certificates and 3 Plaques to be awarded!
Congrats Bud White on earning your Master Breeder Catfish and LivebearerPlaques and Dave Williamson on your G.A.A.S. Centurion 100 Species Plaque!
Our Raffle table was plentiful and Elsie’s buffalo chicken dip, Brownies, Cookies, and Cake was amazing on our Refreshment table!
Congrats to Bill Kosar on Winning the Gift Card donated by Big Rich Price
and Wayne Toven for Winning our $20 RMS Doorprize Giftcard.
Our Bowl Show had 20 entries, the winners were
Mollies
Jeff Plazak taking 1st, 2nd & 3rd with silver Mollies
Barbs
1st- Jeff Plazak Black Ruby Barb
2nd -Jeff Plazak Tiger Barb
3rd - Misty & Will White Veiltail Cherry Barb
Suckermouth Catfish
1st - Jeremy Harsh Albino Bristlenose
2nd - Misty & Will White L333 Pleco
3rd - Misty & Will White L201 Pleco
On a more serious note, I was very glad to see the Rescue speaking at our Club this month. So many shops are selling these monster fish as only babies that are just a few inches long for just a couple dollars each and because of this, so many of these fish get brought home and stuck in tanks that are NOWHERE NEAR even close enough to meeting the needs of a fish that grow 2, 4 and even 8 feet long! While the Rescue helps immensely by either providing or finding a home to try and meet the needs for those fish lucky enough to make their way there, we as aquarists, all need to be informed and aware of what fish we can realistically provide for. So the next time you see these adorable baby Common Plecos, Bala Sharks, Pacu, Red Tailed Catfish, Iridescent Sharks and Gars…. Remember the MONSTERS these guys become!
An adult RED TAILED CATFISH
To read more about Big Rich Price and The Ohio Fish Rescue, as well as the original meeting announcement, read below.
We would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who came out and joined us at our Spring Auction.
We had a phenomenal turn out and our auction was a HUGE success, in fact, this auction saw the best numbers in YEARS! So again to everyone that came out, THANK YOU! Our members and guests at these events are what keeps our club running!
A big Congratulations go to all our Raffle Winners!
(I wasn’t able to get the 50/50 Raffle Winner pics)
and Remember JUNE 9-10 will be our next AUCTION and FISH SHOW during our ULTRA AQUA 2018 EVENT!
We had a nice turnout with many familiar faces and several new ones!
Our Speaker was Brian Shrimpton, who gave an excellent, in depth and informative presentation on Protecting and Raising Fry, if you are interested in his supply list he provided us with, including links to the recommended products, it is posted below.
Brian also donated a large amount of equipment and supplies to our club that we auctioned off after his presentation! On behalf of G.A.A.S. , Thank you Brian for your generosity.
Congratulations Mike and Elsie Swanson on earning your plaque for “Master Breeder – Livebearers”
Brian Shrimpton won our door prize gift card.
We had 4 Bap/Hap turn-ins to be auctioned off.
Our BOWL SHOW was a double show this month to make up for January’s weather cancellation.
January’s Catagories
Male Guppies
1st- Blue Guppy - Jeff Plazak2nd- Red Moscow- Mike & Elsie Swanson3rd - Blue Moscow- Mike & Elsie Swanson
Goldfish
1st - Telescope - Dave Williamson2nd - Comet - Dave Williamson3rd - Ranchu - Dave Williamson
Minnows, Danios & Rasboras
1st - Devario Auropupureus - Wayne Toven2nd - Leopald Danio - Rick & Dana Borger3rd - Giant Danio - Mike & Elsie Swanson
February’s Catagories
Domestic Swordtails
1st - Pineapple Female - Ken McGill2nd - Green Painted - Dave Williamson
Betta Splendens
1st - Black Orchid - Wayne Toven2nd - Red Crowntail - Jeff Plazik3rd - Orange Crowntail - Wayne Toven
Characins (Tetras & Relatives)
1st - Trifasciata Pencilfish - Dave Williamson2nd - Emperor Tetra Male - Rick & Dana Borger3rd - Black Neon Tetra - Jeff Plazak
Refreshments were delicious with cupcakes, brownies, and an awesome rolled orderve and our Raffle Table was was packed full with all our usual goodies as well as our Valentine’s Day Axolotl plush and the first of our Green Pleco Plushes! Grats to Phil’s kids on taking home the plushies!
Another great meeting, and we hope to see everyone next time!
As always, if you would like to see the original meeting announcement, read below
Our speaker for tonight, Joe Doyle, and his talk about “Getting Ahead In BAP” Has been postponed to a later month do to the impending weather.
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Our next meeting features Joe Doyle with “Getting ahead in BAP!” A great way to start the New Year!
Check out his bio below!
I Began my interest in keeping & breeding fish when at the age of 12 my neighbor gave me a slate bottom metal frame and lid, 29 gallon fish tank. Tropical Fish Hobbyist (TFH) magazine frequently featured betta splendens in an array of spawning setups. It wasn't long before I had 100 baby food jars each containing a baby betta. Breeding fish came natural to me. This was when I first started feeding live foods to baby fish. Put the hobby on hold to attend college, returning 18 years later when given a 29 gallon fish tank.
In 2005, joined the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society Inc (GPASI). Began participating in the Breeders Award Program (BAP) in 2008. BAP really sparked my interest, and in 2011, turned in 33 spawns topping my competition having only 12 tanks and setting an all-time high record for the club. From an administrative perspective, I served the Pittsburgh club as president, treasurer, and currently membership secretary. Am also Web Master, managing the GPASI.ORG web site.
That being said, BAP has thus far been the most influential and driving force of my hobby. It has evolved into a consistency of looking for that next fish to spawn. I originally thought after spawning all the bread and butter fish there would be nothing left to spawn, but the opposite was true.
Most of the fish in my tanks were brought home from conventions and fish rooms and am always on the lookout for that next rare fish to spawn. Frequently, I find myself making community tanks out of multiple species because I see something I just have to have and I don't have enough room to spawn fish. It takes a long time to back out of this scenario in order to have enough room to spawn and dump fish for BAP.
In my talk, "Getting ahead in BAP", I will review how to spawn several species of difficult fish, the species I'm currently working with, discuss challenges faced, and the return of species to my bucket list of fish to successfully spawn and raise.
Discussion will include:
Pterapogon kauderni (Banggai Cardinalfish) Hippocampus Erectus (Sea Horse) Betta macrostoma (The holy grail of bettas) Loricaria sp "Atabapo, Colombia" Crying Whiptails Nothobranchius palmqvisti "Pangani, TZ 94-7" Notholebias minimus "Campo Grande CGRJ 01-12" Aspidoras cf taurus (2" Aspidoras) Garra rufa (Pedicure fish) Brachygobius doriae (Bumblebee Goby) Hemiloricaria Lanceolata Pterophyllum leopoldi and more..
Congratulations to Misty White, on winning our G.A.A.S. Sevrum Growth Competition!
Don Youngkin came in second, and Dave Williamson came in 3rd.
For those who missed it, participants were given a bag of 8 approx 1/2″-1″ Gold Sevrum Fry that all came from the same source, a local Y.A.T.F.S. member Brian Strickland, back at our April 2017 Club Meeting. We were then tasked with taking our fry home and caring for them for the next 8 months. Then we were asked to bring our largest one back in for judging on size and growth during our December Club meeting. We were asked to keep a short care log on our fish so the winner could let everyone know what worked for them.
Our Winning Sevrum Care log…
The 8 Sevrums spent their first 2 months in a 20g with twice a week 80% water changes, then the next 6 months in a 125g shared with a young sailfin pleco. Both tanks had a thick duckeed canopy growing in them.They received a weekly water change of approximately 50-80% depending. They were fed a diet of Omega One Shrimp and Kelp Pellets, New Life Spectrum Thera A and Algae Max pellets, and various Repashy gel food Mixes.They were fed anywhere from 1-3 times a day.At the 4 month mark, the smallest two sevrums were moved to their own tank, leaving the larger remaining 6 sevrums and pleco in the 125g.After the total 8 months, the biggest 3 were all similar in size at approx. 7", 3 were approx. 6" and the 2 smallest were rehomed at 7 months during our fall auction, they were around 4" at the time.
Remember to hang on to your sevrums to enter them in our Multi-Club Competition at our next ULTRA AQUA SHOW 2018!
For May’s Program: GAAS’s own Steve Brunn will report on the events and information presented at the annual American Livebearer Association’s 2018 Convention, which convenes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 4-6. In his talk, “Seen and Heard at the ALA 2018 Convention,” Steve will give a first-hand account of all the convention activities, vendors, and speakers. Additional observations will be provided by other GAAS members who also attended the convention.
