June 2009 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

J U N E 2 0 0 9
The Minimalist Aquarist
Doing more with less and keeping it simple: TMA Visits the 50 th CAOAC Convention
— Article and Photos by Rein & Char Breitmaier, KWAS (mrrein@gmail.com)
It was in March of 1976 that TMA received a KWAS newsletter
as a fledgling member of the club and it was two years
following, that CAOAC’s 19th Convention became a possibility
for this hobbyist from Kitchener-Waterloo. Conventions have
perennially blessed our calendars with TMA taking in stops
from Buffalo to Calgary.
Our opening photo shows this year’s convention speakers from
the left, Gary Lange of St Louis Missouri, TMA, Bob Fenner
from California and Heiko Bleher. Presenting is CAOAC
President Tony Bernard and Speaker Coordinator Ken
Boorman.
To everyone’s utter amazement CAOAC turned 50 this May.
KWAS was there from the outset and our own Dave Boehm and
Miecia Burden stepped forward to join the ad-hoc committee
struck to host this golden anniversary event. Truth be told,
Miecia conspired with Mrs TMA to orchestrate my appearance
as the after dinner speaker to the convention. The formal
invitation came from Co-chair Carl McCleary but I knew who
wanted a front row seat to hear the tales of our Mediterranean
Expedition. Sadly Miecia was unable to fulfill that ambition in
person but her customary Black Russian cocktail and a striking
bouquet of flowers graced the seat kept vacant in her honour
directly at the center of the convention head table this night.
The convention began with a grab bag of free-bies that should
keep your fishes fed for the next little while, courtesy of the
legion of suppliers and friends of the hobby that stepped
forward to support this milestone convention.
Friday night began in earnest with headline presenter Heiko
Bleher. Heiko flew 10,000km from his home base in Italy and
started off with his expedition to the upper Jutai river
(pronounced Jew-tye-ee) which is in the upper reaches of the
Amazon basin of South America and which is populated by 21
indigenous tribes who have never seen the white man. Heiko
proved to be a font of aquarist knowledge and his credits
include collecting in 164 different countries of our world. (Do
the math, there aren’t that many more!) The target area was a
known green discus habitat.
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