June 2009 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

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J U N E 2 0 0 9 So what did I learn? Heiko normally collects Discus at night when they float up nearer the surface and can be scooped up by flashlight. In the light of day they may dive to 4 and 5 metres of water where they hover in schools for protection. Eighty species were collected in the Jutai river including a new and interesting Angelfish, a myriad of characins and catfishes, and the smallest needlefish in the world, the Belonion. Next up, Heiko returned with a unique trip to North Eastern India. Nagaland as the area between the Himalayas and the waters of the Bay of Bengal is called, is off-limits even to many of India’s citizenry. The Brahmaputra River winds down 4000 km from Tibet into this indigenous region. An interesting revelation was that two familiar genera share an identical habitat but on two very different continents. A biotope shot from South America’s Apistogramma family could easily be confused for one where India’s Badis fishes can be found. A diverse collection of fishes from Aplocheilus (killifishes), to dwarf Channa (snakeheads) jumped to the projector screen as did Heiko’s challenge to find the fish in an image of a dip net he had lifted from a Nagaland stream. The projection screen may have been huge but not sufficient for any among us to spot a fully grown Darion, which at breeding size is a mere 9 mm in length. Gary Lange got the coveted ‘first speaker of the day’ spot Saturday morning and led with how to photograph your fish and embarrass your friends (translation blackmail perhaps?) Aside from the usual primer on what Fstop and ISO should mean to the wannabe fish photographer, Gary suggested a few tips for those early risers who caught his opening act. Firstly you need a digital camera with a manual focus feature to be truly successful – now he tells me after I’ve replaced both of our cameras already. Next, shoot fishes at the higher Fstop settings (16-22) as you will enjoy more of the fish being in focus and always, always, always focus on the eye of the fish. Nothing else will save your photo if the eye is out of focus. Lastly you cannot spend enough time on acclimating the fishes and cleaning the glass before hand. There is always Photoshop but imagine cleaning up the accompanying photo. Lastly if you’re doing digital – shoot lots of shots, says Gary, digital film is free. Bob Fenner made his debut with a slide that teased ‘Algae can be your friend’. Bob proved a consummate entertainer and teacher as he drew his audience through an understanding of micro and macro algae, from diatoms to kelps and from phenomena known as red tides to aegagropila balls which themselves are an algae but are purchased by hobbyists to outcompete lesser algaes and thereby suppress them from our display aquaria. Bob’s hints during this session were to understand the specific algae in order to plan its demise. Frozen foods for example can release unwanted nutrients into the aquarium while prethawing and rinsing those brine shrimp is a simple preventative. Bob also advocated having a duplicate set of sponge filters so that a fresh filter can be inserted to the aquarium while the used one is cleaned and permitted to air dry between uses. 6
J U N E 2 0 0 9 construction as waterways become muddied. What also ‘muddied’ Gary’s experience on his recent trip as compared to his 2005 visit to the same area, was rivers completely void of fishes. Rotenon poisoning was suspected as this pesticide is known to be used by some natives to flush out the fishes for food. With a wry sense of humour Gary explained how he came to his passion for Rainbow fishes, and this accompanying slide says it all – its hot, its humid and I’m muddied and bloodied particularly where I ought not to be, and I’M HAVING A GREAT TIME. It is all about the pursuit of the fishes after all. TMA took an opportunity for a quiet walk through the fish room which this year sported an amazing 306 entries between the novelty classes through photography and to the wonderful array of individual fish classes. Also on view were commercial displays and a tank populated by freshly caught native minnows, darters and crayfishes caught Friday morning by Dave Boehm and company. The green side darters were a big hit with the guests coming through the display. Just to prove that judging is something we individually may disagree with and while still giving all due to a wonderful fish which ultimately garnered that ‘best in show’ nod from the judges, it was interesting to watch Heiko Bleher in the fish room and yes, he privately chose a different fish for his ‘best in’ honour. Heiko returned one more time with an examination of Geophagus species which are found east of the Andes in South America. Some interesting DNA research has been done recently which suggests that elephant and mice relatives Geophagus brasiliensis and Mikrogeophagus should be brothers, and yet visually similar fishes like Geophagus and Satanoperca are in fact only the most distant of relatives. One species, the Retroculus have been seen hauling half kilogram rocks around their environment to get their breeding nests just right. Interestingly the Gymnogeophagus fishes come from more southerly locales in the area of Uruguay and gave pause for TMA to consider whether they might be ideal fishes for a garden pond having a greater tolerance for cooler temperatures? Hmmm? Gary Lange returned to the microphone with ‘Rainbowfish Heaven, a tour through New Guinea’. Unbeknownst to TMA, this island if superimposed onto North America would stretch from New York City to Denver Colorado. Sadly habitat is being destroyed in the pursuit of better roads and general After a great meal prepared by the College’s chef “Turbo” and his staff, introductions were made and TMA lead the conventioneers through a tour of the Mediterranean starting with the Iberian peninsula, crossing the top of Africa, once through the Middle East and ending up in Greece. Regular readers of this column will have followed this route with TMA already, but new stories aplenty were introduced. As a bonus, Bob Fenner returned with a discourse on a little known catfish with a rather nasty propensity. He started by 7
Page 1 and 2: J U N E 2 0 0 9 Fins & Tales Servin
Page 3 and 4: J U N E 2 0 0 9 KWAS Mission Statem
Page 5: J U N E 2 0 0 9 The Minimalist Aqua
Page 9 and 10: J U N E 2 0 0 9 The weekend closed
Page 11 and 12: J U N E 2 0 0 9 June Tank Draw for
Page 13 and 14: J U N E 2 0 0 9 • the Denisoni ba
Page 15 and 16: J U N E 2 0 0 9 source to grow anyt
Page 17 and 18: J U N E 2 0 0 9 found that some par
Page 19 and 20: The newsletters featured in this co
Page 21 and 22: Treasurers’ report read by Brad.
Page 23 and 24: J U N E 2 0 0 9 May Name That Fish

June 2009 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

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