January 2007 - Kitchener Waterloo Aquarium Society

Fins & TalesA Publication of the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium SocietyLook for us on the Internet at www.kwas.caJanuary 2007Serving Hobbyists in KW and Surrounding Area Since 1960Aulonocara Eureka Red by GummieOur next meeting is January 2 at 7:30Speaker is Larry Johnston on Lake Malawi

Welcome to January 2007 ! Icertainly hope that Santa wasgood to you and your families.I certainly would like tohear what Santa gave to Violetand Hailey and Kaiden.What a year we had in 2006,our webpage and more prominentlyour forum expandedfaster and bigger than we everexpected. Thank you to everyonewho had the patienceand the skills to stick with usthrough some of the challenges.For me, I think that 2007 willbe a year where I focus backon the “fun” part of thehobby. I feel that at times weget wrapped up into thinkingthis hobby and, more specifically,this club is a business.Sure, we have financials andwe need to be responsible butisn’t the real reason that weare here is because we enjoythe company of others withthe same interests? I want tofocus more on my aquariumsand less on finding new avenuesfor fundraising, waiversand polls. I have five moremonths in the Presidents chairbefore somebody new will betaking over the reigns. I trustthat our next President sharesfins & tales January 2007The Prez Sez........by Al Ridley(President of KWAS)the view that this is a hobbyand it should be fun. I guess ifthat is a New Years Resolution,it should be an easy oneto keep.Thank you to Phil for chairingthe December business meetingat Moby Joe’s home. Joehas a very nice home andsome wonderful aquariumsand I am sorry that I missedit. In January, we will behosted by the Charliebearfamily and in February at thehome of the Pyro’s (that’sme). If you would be interestedin hosting a businessmeeting, we would love tomeet at your home. It is agreat way to see other fishrooms and meet the tolerantspouses of those of us sufferingwith MTS. Let one of usknow if you are interested.Weat her pending, LarryJohnston will be with us totell us about his collecting tripto Malawi. Larry was therelast in October of 2006 andhas some great pictures andstories to tell us. In Februarywe have a National GeographicDVD called Jewel ofthe Rift. It is a presentation onLake Tanganyika with someamazing footage. We willpyrofish@sympatico.caKitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Societyhave the ability to flip thesetwo programs in case of badweather. In March, we arelooking at a program on NativeFish. Please send me yoursuggestions on what youwould like to see at our meetings.There are a lot of topics,programs and speakers outthere and we don’t mind lookingat any and all topics.My email has officially arrivedfrom Miecia so I have tofinish up my page! Rememberthat Memberships are due inJanuary so see Miecia at themeeting. Also a new seasonof Show Jar begins! Januaryfeatures Dwarf Cichlids andRainbowfish. I imagine thatthe dwarf cichlid class shouldbe hotly contested and offer agreat start to the showing season.Of course feel free tobring any fish to the meetingbecause we also offer an“Any Other Variety” class.Cheers.Al.3

January 2007Jan 2Jan 9Jan 21Table of ContentsFeb 6Feb 11Feb 13Mar 6Mar 11Mar 13Mar 18Mar 25Prez Sez 3Calendar Aquaristic 4Miecia’s Musings 4Membership Notice 5Minimalist Aquarist 6-8KWAS Award Winners 8Exchange Report 9Fish & Chips 10-13Treasurer’s Chest 11KWAS Christmas Party 13-15Minutes/Meetings 16-18Show Jar 2007 18Tunze Ad 19Tropical Fish Room Ad BPMeeting Information Back PageApril 3April 10April 15April 22CALENDARAQUARISTICKWAS General MeetingKWAS Business MeetingCAOAC MeetingKWAS General MeetingCAOAC MeetingKWAS Business MeetingKWAS General Meetingchange the clocks forwardKWAS Business MeetingCAOAC MeetingCAOAC/Brant AuctionKWAS General MeetingKWAS Business MeetingDurham Show & AuctionCAOAC Meetingfins & tales4 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium SocietyMiecia’sMusingsGreetings to all! I was aboutto write that I hoped everyone had agreat Christmas when I realized thatyou’ll be reading this before Christmasbecause it gets posted on theweb and emailed this week.. So I’llchange my tune and wish everyone avery merry Christmas and all goodthings for the New Year.In this issue you’ll find a greatarticle with lots of pictures fromZenin about our fantastic Christmasparty. It was the best ever! Lots ofgoodies for everyone and lots ofgreat food - what more could you askfor!!Thanks to Rein and Phil fortheir great articles - you guys are thebest!!!On the following page I havelisted all those members whose membershipshave run out. If your nameis on the list you need to come seeme at the January meeting and renewfor another year. The fee structure isalso on that page and maybe youshould check out the Supersaverdeal across the bottom. It’s a greatdeal - this club can only get betterand better.Ciao……………………….……………………..Miecia

fins & tales January 2007MEMBERSHIPS DUE IN JANUARYRichard AdamsBallard FamilyKristina BanksRyan BedfordChris BellChris CarmichaelBettyann Chapman-BenderStephen CrawfordDaigle FamilyPatricia Dent & Dave HoltzRobin Derouchie & Tammy KerrGerry GeddesGraham FamilyTodd HenryJudy HunterGordon JonesJoe & Laura KopachinskiKevin LambMary Lynne LucierMatt MannellMaznyk FamilyMcAslin FamilyJeff MoneyPatrick O’SheaPixner FamilyPrescott FamilyAmanda Pyke & Kevin ShepleyQuigley FamilyDoug & Amanda RadtkeReimer FamilyRon ReitzelRob RiversJack RothJulia RudderhamSavage FamilyCheryl SchaeferScott SmithMichael StephensonThomson FamilyWallace FamilyRichard YeandleMEMBERSHIP STRUCTUREADULT FAMILY1 YEAR $25 $302 YEAR $48 $583 YEAR $71 $864 YEAR $92 $112OR SUPERSAVE - PAY NORMAL FOUR YEAR RATE(ADULT $100/FAMILY $120)AND GET FIFTH YEAR FREE!JUNIOR (16 YRS. and UNDER) $10/YRKitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society5

January 2007fins & talesThe Minimalist Aquarist …‘doing more with less’ and ‘keeping it simple’Ni Hao … that is Chinese for hello and is pronouncedsomewhere between nee-hah and neehowdepending on whom you listen to. Manyfolks here know the English greeting ‘hello’and that makes us about even in terms of knowingthe other’s language.by Rein Breitmaier (KWAS)mrrein@gmail.comAs you may recall, at the October KWASmeeting the planned behind-the-scenes tour ofthe aquaria at the Toronto Zoo was postponedand I promised to take you with me on an alternatetour. Today we visit the Blue Zoo Aquariumin Beijing and yes we are going behind thescenes here.This facility was a little hard to find as the localtour maps, the tour assistant in our hotel andfellow travelers alike had never heard of it. Itwas listed in our Lonely Planet Guidebook butonly as a footnote for a rainy day activity. Wethought all of that odd as on our arrival it wasjammed with busloads of Chinese tourists andthey get some 750,000 visitors here annually.The immediate and most interesting feature ofthe facility is not only that it is underground,but that it was built into a bunker under a lake.Yes, the entire complex is underneath a freshwaterlake featured in a city park here in BeijingChina.The aquarium is only 10 years old and featuresa number of fresh water displays however itsmain attraction is an enormous 4.5 million litermarine environment with a clear acrylic tunnelthat meanders some 120 meters along the floorof the tank and is reputed to be the longest inAsia. The tunnel walls were but 55mm thickand sufficiently well lit from above the waterlinethat it made photography a snap. TMA visitedEpcot Centre at Walt Disney World inFlorida several years ago, and the water depththere made decent photography impossible asthe ‘windows’ to the undersea world were toothick and the water depth too great for theirlighting to penetrate. Interestingly here in Beijing,they have a moving sidewalk along onehalf of the tunnel floor to keep folks moseyingalong and they haven’t corrupted the underwaterexperience with fantasy hokum, well almostnot and more about that later.We were greeted by Ms Qiao, our interpreterand by Ms Zheng, the supervising curator whoguided us back-stage through the quarantinedepartment, the pumping and filtering complexand to the catwalk overhead of the tourist area.(Continued on page 7)6 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007(Continued from page 6)Our interpreter is the secretary to the generalmanager and had never visited these off-limitsareas before so we felt quite privileged. All ofthe components typical to saltwater aquaristickeeping were in place: ozone injectors, proteinskimming foam fractitioners, ultra-violet lightfilters, spray bars and of course high intensitylighting and ample water movement. The sizeand scale of these were another matter ofcourse as each component dwarfed me as Iwalked by. What was also immediately evidentwas that the aquarium wasn’t planned for staffbeing my height. TMA was head and shoulderstoo tall for the tour above and behind thescenes but I persevered on behalf of this loyalreadership. Feel free to duck as you follow me.To add to the usual array of backstage machinerywas an air recharge system for Scuba tanks.As many of the species stake out territories,like moray eels for example, a diver takes thefood to them several times daily, all of courseto the amazement of young and old alike amidthe tube-bound audience. The literature creditedthe tube to be tested to 40 meters of pressure,but to my eye this tank is between 3 to 3.5meters in depth.The quarantine department had of course aseparate water system with all of the same filtrationbits and pieces where a tank full ofMoorish idols and another of New GuineaRainbows, both new arrivals, cavorted to myamusement. Clearly neither was destined forthe main display.The grow-out area for larger specimens consistedof cement bunkers that also served as theoverflow reservoirs to the main system. Herefoot-long marine Angelfish and Eagle Raysabout one foot across and two feet in lengthwere biding their time because they might stillbe considered bite-size for that main tank.The acrylic tunnel floor was built about a meterbelow the tank bottom so the ‘seabed’ wasabout hip height which is where the acrylicdome started. This made it roomy enough insideto either let the moving sidewalk propelyou along, or to let you sidestep off anywhereto take advantage of that monster fish swimmingby that was posing for your camera. TMAwent around the loop three times in a row; itwas great! The tough parts in any(Continued on page 8)Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society7

January 2007fins & talessuch display are no different than the challengesthat face hobbyists the world over: waterquality, along with food and species compatibility.The main display houses 1600 fish comprisingsome 116 species and is managed by acuratorial staff of 17 people. The Blue ZooAquarium seemingly has these variables figuredout as we saw no battered, sick or decliningfishes and judging by the deportment displayedall were at ease in their artificial environment.While Blue Zoo undertakes no inhousebreeding program relying exclusively onwild caught livestock, proper managementmust at least lesson the demand on the naturalenvironment for display species. I give themfull points here.I said that they avoided the Disney-esque trappings,almost. The one concession here weremermaids that swam by to the squealing delightof the masses. TMA is a bit of a purist I willgrant, but can all of these people be wrongheadedor should I simply accept that the rest isa pretty good show with or without the eyecandy?Perhaps in retrospect the young ladiesin the caudal fin suits are no different than thebright red parrot cichlids that drew similar admiringcrowds and I am certain that in at least afew of your tanks a hybrid cichlid might befound. Anyone want me to bring them home amermaid?CONGRATULATIONSTO THE WINNERS OF THEKWAS ANNUAL AWARDSHobbyist of the Year Geoff MoneyJunior Hobbyist Griffin QuigleyAuthor of the Year Rein BreitmaierBreeder of the Year Amanda RadtkeHorticulturist of the Year Kevin ReimerPresident’s Award Renee & Matt BallardBob & Dorothy Daniells Service Award Bob Brown8 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007Exchange Editor’s January Reportby Zenin Skomorowski KWASzenin@golden.netThe newsletters featured in thiscolumn and others are availableto you. Please let me know byemail, or at the monthly meeting,which ones you would liketo read.The October 2006 issue of TankTalk from the Durham RegionAquarium Society has severalinteresting articles. Kevin andAnnette Omura ask “How IsYour KH” ? in “1YS or OneYear Syndrome”. They describehow things may be going verywell in your aquarium for abouta year, then problems like mouthsores appear and unexplaineddeaths happen. Your ammonia,nitrite and nitrate readings arezero or close to nil. You maynot be testing for pH and KH. Atank may go acidic if the carbonatesare slowly being used up.They describe the chemical cycleof a maturing tank and howto avoid the One Year Syndrome.Derek P.S. Tustin wrote about“A Catfish That Talks Back” inEyeballs on Oddballs. Find outmore about Agamyxis pectinifrons,also known as the whitespotted talking catfish, whitespot doradid, spotted talking catfishand spotted raphael catfish.Missing your pond already ?Read about spawning Cyprinuscarpio; the Japanese Koi, byBernie Forsey.Derek P.S. Tustin also writes inthis issue about “The Miracle ofMiracle Bulbs” in My GreenWet Thumb. Aponogetons arebulbs that grow lots of longleaves and some even rewardyou with flowers. Most are veryeasy to grow.David Flippen wrote “The FloridaFish Farm and CollectingTrip” in the November 2006 issueof Fin Fax from the DelawareCounty Aquarium Society.He details visits to about a dozenfish farms and collecting sites,including the Jack Wattley DiscusHatchery and Alligator Alley.View the photo albums usingthe link at the end of thiscolumn.The November 2006 issue ofThe Scat from the St. CatharinesAquarium Society features anarticle by Pam Danyluck on“Apple Snails”. She describestheir breathing apparatus, feedinghabits, breeding, filtrationand water parameters. Try oneof these unusual tropical creaturesin your aquarium.In the December issue, DaveUnruh relates his experiencewith Gephyrochromis lawsi.This cichlid is collected inNkhata Bay on Lake Malawi.They are a gold colour on theupper third, and a dark blue onthe bottom two thirds. A sandsubstrate and a few rocks forhiding places is the preferredaquarium décor.Two plants articles are featuredin the December 2006 issue ofAqua Antics from the SarniaAquarium Society. Marc Freywrites about “Nymphaea Lotus”.This bulb propagates by producingdaughter plants on runners.There are red, green and marbledvarieties. Ann Stevens writesabout “Limnophila Aquatica”.This stem plant has light greenand finely branched leaves frombottom to top. Sometimes itsends shoots above the watersurface to produce small blueflowers.Surf’s up ! Here is thismonth’s web site to explore:Here is the link to David Flippen’sphoto albums of “TheFlorida Fish Farm and CollectingTrip” as mentioned earlier:http://public.fotki.com/lmorales/a q u a r i u m _ s o c i e t y /fish_farm_tours/2004_fl_fish_farmKitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society9

January 2007fins & talesHappy New Year everyone,and welcome to a brand newyear of Fish n Chips. I hopeyou all got what you wereasking for at Christmas butmost of all I hope you all hada safe and happy holiday season.So here we are a brandnew year, 2007. Is it just meor since all the hoopla whenthe new millennium wasupon us but the years seem tobe just swimming by! Haveyou all made your NewYears resolutions?One of my personal goalsthis year regarding our clubis to keep us on the righttrack, growing in popularityand to keep things lookingfresh and clean. During thepast year our club reachedsome pretty impressive milestones.By the time you readthis our website will haveover 20 million hits for theyear ending December 31.The screen captures on thenext few pages were takenDecember 15 th . We are averagingover 4,000 unique visitorsto our site every monthwith some months peakingjust over 7,000. We averagenearly 60 different countriesvisiting us each month.Pretty impressive statisticsfor our little club from Kitchener-Waterloo.I’ve workedFish & Chipsby Phil Maznyk KWASwebmaster@kwas.cavery hard to get our nameout there. Try a quickGoogle search on us. Youwill be amazed at how manytimes you see KWAS returned.Our new club forum basedon the new Vbulletin formatis running quite wellwith very few issues. Weare not seeing anywherenear the number of spamposts and we are not havingthe database issues we hadwith the free phpbb solutionwe were using. I thankall of you for your vote ofconfidence in allowing theclub to purchase the newsoftware we needed due toour growth. While it hasbeen a huge learning curveI have enjoyed “almost”every minute of it. I haveto admit keeping our websitefresh and current, anddealing with the forumconsumes many hours ofmy personal time eachmonth. Like anything Ihave my challenges inkeeping things as seamlessas possible. As chief administratorof the forum Iam ultimately responsiblefor everything that goes on.From a simple post about abeta with some fin damageto any number of sensitive10 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Societytopics that may arise.I like my team to have a relaxedapproach to any of these sensitiveissues. I would prefer theparties sort the issue(s) out forthemselves but sometimes wehave to step in with our clubsbest interest at hand. While thismay not seem right to all individualsevery time, we haverules to follow that set the tonefor our club and that is paramount.For the most part thoughI must say, with over 430 forummembers people for the mostpart are very respectful and forthat I thank you all.If you haven’t visited our newforum yet I encourage you to doso and come see what is goingon. We can be found herewww.kwas.ca/forum or you canclick on any of the various linksthroughout our clubs website. Ifyou have anything you wouldlike to see on our clubs websiteI welcome all ideas, please e-mail them to me at webmaster@kwas.caOnce again Iwould like to thank all of youfor an exciting past year, ifthere is anything you would likeme cover in my monthly articlelet me know and I’ll see what Ican do. I look forward to seeingall of you come join the forumand take an active part in “your”club! Until next month takecare.

fins & tales January 2007Summary by MonthMonthDaily AvgMonthly TotalsHits Files Pages Visits Sites KBytes Visits Pages Files HitsDec 2006 61933 15718 1490 328 3754 1925928 3942 17888 188622 2043204Nov 2006 65952 21941 1723 384 7785 6375113 11523 51711 658253 1978586Oct 2006 42251 19474 1787 350 5184 6431366 10875 55418 603694 1309792Sep 2006 35112 17322 1443 331 4625 6643885 9944 43301 519662 1053388Aug 2006 34694 16022 1412 292 4548 4803637 9069 43789 496685 1075539Jul 2006 27293 11793 1083 251 4438 3875623 7801 33578 365602 1846094Jun 2006 26112 12626 1421 281 4742 3303539 8434 42659 378793 783382May 2006 36789 16517 1357 298 5375 4632256 9256 42068 512048 1140476Apr 2006 40788 16879 1120 311 5504 3801418 9343 33626 506399 1223668Mar 2006 102626 47193 1771 385 5421 8611600 11962 54902 1463008 3181410Feb 2006 87636 39515 1418 322 3939 6273609 9037 39707 1106426 2453823Jan 2006 36826 13464 1139 264 3745 3041581 8189 35326 417390 1141629Totals 59719555 109375 493973 7216582 19930991Treasurer’s Chestby Brad McClanahan KWASnasfan@3web.comWell here we go into a new season for the club.Miecia will be gladly renewing any membershipsthat are in need of renewing and new andexciting programs are on the way. Should be yetanother good year.A quick word on the status of the money side ofthe club shows that we are in good standing onall things financially. Some funds were used upon the certificates given out at the Decembermeeting with some very exciting ideas howother funds can be used for the club. Stay tunedfor future endeavors that sound very promising.Speaking of the December meeting, I mustcomment on how the local fish stores sent somevery impressive goodies for our reverse raffle.This year we had more stores help out withsome truly amazing prizes and livestock. Letshope our friendship with these stores and manymore stores remains positive for a long timeinto the future.From the McClanahan family to all the familiesin the club, we wish you all a happy andprosperous new year. See you at the next meeting!Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society11

January 2007fins & talesTop 30 of 78 Total Countries# Hits Files KBytes CountryUS Commercial1 994957 50.29% 395239 60.04% 3830989 60.09%2 664645 33.59% 131582 19.99% 1060436 16.63% Canada3 172001 8.69% 64821 9.85% 594707 9.33% Network4 134300 6.79% 57855 8.79% 758075 11.89% Unresolved/Unknown5 1799 0.09% 1562 0.24% 19701 0.31% Australia6 1258 0.06% 950 0.14% 5497US Educational0.09%7 1201 0.06% 1067 0.16% 9100United Kingdom0.14%8 817 0.04% 778 0.12% 10054 0.16% Netherlands9 628 0.03% 556 0.08% 11752 0.18% Germany10 485 0.02% 440 0.07% 5632 0.09% Israel11 453 0.02% 436 0.07% 3777 0.06% Poland12 439 0.02% 296 0.04% 1620 0.03% SingaporeCzech Republic13 295 0.01% 287 0.04% 2472 0.04%14 274 0.01% 241 0.04% 820 0.01% Portugal15 271 0.01% 213 0.03% 1467 0.02% Non-ProfitOrganization16 265 0.01% 168 0.03% 1509US Government0.02%17 259 0.01% 244 0.04% 6362 0.10% Denmark18 236 0.01% 200 0.03% 9302 0.15% Brazil19 229 0.01% 178 0.03% 616 0.01% Sweden20 218 0.01% 160 0.02% 805 0.01% France21 213 0.01% 197 0.03% 1043 0.02% Finland22 207 0.01% 205 0.03% 1710 0.03% Turkey23 207 0.01% 145 0.02% 1488 0.02% United States24 191 0.01% 165 0.03% 2161 0.03% Italy25 184 0.01% 150 0.02% 1693 0.03% Japan26 182 0.01% 159 0.02% 4207 0.07% Thailand27 153 0.01% 150 0.02% 776 0.01% Viet NamNew Zealand28 152 0.01% 147 0.02% 2427 0.04%(Aotearoa)29 140 0.01% 84 0.01% 210 0.00% Ireland30 131 0.01% 121 0.02% 833 0.01% Norway12 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007KWAS Christmas Partyby Zenin Skomorowski KWASzenin@golden.netOn Tuesday December 5, we held our annualPot Luck Christmas meeting. There were over20 raffle prizes of fish, plants and a Fluval 304filter. They were purchased at a discount fromThe Tropical Fishroom in Brantford (JerryDraper) and from Mc's Petword in Cambridge(Anthony Mc Aslin). Super Pet on FairwayRoad in Kitchener donated the Fluval filter.Bowtie Incorporated donated the one-year subscriptionto Aquarium Fish Magazine. For theKitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Societykids, they had their own raffle featuring donationsof a 10 gallon aquarium and compactfluorescent lights from Aquarium Services, afish motion light from Miecia Burden, and aBetta tank from the Quigley Family.Kent, Laura and Josh ran the very popularFlounder Downs, this year featuring Guppys.The final race was a photo finish, see the videoon www.kwas.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=2012See the picture gallery on the next two pagesAll photos by Zenin13

January 2007fins & talesThe Prescott family working hard on the Christmas PuzzleJerry and Heather think they might have one right !Who is in control here ?Renee was Show Jar Champion for 2006Santa’s helper MieciaKevin is the Champion Horticulturist for 2006Checking out the raffle Amanda is the Champion fish breeder for 200614 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007Renee and Matt received the President’s awardHorses … er … Guppies waiting to raceGriffin is the Junior hobbyist for 2006Welcome to Flounder DownsGeoff is Hobbyist of the yearPlace your bets with KWAS currency(note the track projected up on the screen):The kids had their o wn auctio n with the KWAS play money wonin Flo under Downs:Enjoy !Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society15

January 2007Minutesof theMeetingsGENERAL MEETINGDecember 5, 2006fins & talesRenee BallardAnthony McAslinZenin SkomorowskiKevin ReimerAmanda RadtkeRein BreitmaierGriffin QuigleyGeoff MoneyBob BrownRenee & Matt Ballard1 st Show Jar2 nd Show Jar3 rd Show JarHAPBAPAuthorsJunior HobbyistHobbyistBob and Dorothy ServicePresidents AwardPresident Al Ridley welcome everyone & started themeeting at 7:30 P.M. There were 76 people present,including 2 new guests.Executive present: Al Ridley (President/PSL), PhilMaznyk (Vice P resident/W ebmaster), B radMcClanahan (Treasurer), Kevin Reimer (R ecordingSecretary, BAP)Announcements:- Brad “ had to know” where they hide “ the map” onthe TV Show Prison Break- KWAS Web Site Forum upgrade to V Bulletin $160US Funds – voted on & carriedSubmitted byKevin Reimer (Recording Secretary)ZEHRS TAPESSave ‘em and bring ‘em to the club.The Library willcollect them and we will usethe money for Library BooksBAP Certificates: None this monthHAP Certificates: None this monthName That Fish: None this monthQuestion & Answer: None this month – Brad alreadyasked his questionOur program: - Door Prizes, Flounder Downs, reverseraffle, kids auction, Christmas Carol contestShow Jar Results: None this monthLibrary Draw: None this monthRaffle Draw: Reverse RaffleAuction: None this monthAwards: see chart following16 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007BUSINESS MEETINGDecember 12, 2006Business meeting called to order at 7:30pm by Vice-President Phil Maznyk at Joe Kopachinski’s home.In AttendanceJoe KopachinskiPhil MaznykKevin ReimerBrad McClanahanKatie McClanahanDavid McClanahanRob PixnerMiecia BurdenStephen CrawfordGuestsKent Hunter-DuvarScott SmithJo KirkeyAbsentZenin SkomorowskiAl RidleyGeoff MoneyBob BrownHost, LunchDecember General Meeting Minutes: Approved, motioned:Miecia, seconded: Joe. Voted on & carried.November Business Meeting Minutes: Approved aspublished, motioned: Brad, seconded: Joe. Voted on &carried.Future business MeetingsJanuary – Doug & Amanda Radtke’sFebruary – Al Ridley’sMarch – Robin Pixner’sVice-President / WebmasterRecording Secretary / BAPTreasurerRaffleRaffleAuction / BAPEditor / MembershipCAOACJar Show / Exchange Editor/ NTF / PSLPresident / PSLLibrarianProgram / Raffle / HAPTreasurer Report: Read by Brad. Motioned: Stephenseconded: Scott. Voted on & carried.We will give $20 Tim Horton’s Gift Certificate to HomeHardware in recognition of the printing service they provideus.Correspondence: Fellow from Vietnam has registeredthe KWAS Forum. Phil received an email from the EastCoast Aquarium Society asking if we’re ready for assistancewith the business section of our forum.Oktoberfish 2006: Discussed potential improvements.Nothing outstanding.Committee ReportsNL Editor/Publisher (Miecia): Deadline is FridayExchange (Zenin): Absent – advised going wellMembership (Miecia): All memberships due in JanuaryAuction (Rob): Auction going wellLibrary (Geoff): Absent – Reminder to send book ideasto Geoff, we don’t need more plant books. Al still needsto follow up with Jim Robinson regarding the Aqualogplant database CD. Kent brought the plant label CD tothe meeting, Phil will deliver it to Al.Program (Bob): Absent- January - Larry Johnston: Lake Malawi- February – Jewel of the Rift (Lake Tanganyika DVD) –Phil composed & will present this DVD- March – Perhaps native fish book authorRaffle (Katie / David): Going well.HAP (Bob): Absent – Phil received KWAS plant spreadsheet summary from BobBAP (Kevin): We have several BAP forms submitted forthe New Year alreadyCAOAC (Stephen): Welcome Stephen! CAOAC Auctionin March at Brantford. CAOAC Convention May25, 26, 27 in London again.Jar Show (Zenin): Absent – Great job / well doneNTF (Zenin): Absent – Will resume in the New YearWebmaster (Phil): Updates / rearranging to the KWASWeb Site. Phil will look into the functionality of thequick reply on the Forum.Discussed:- Business section vs. Hobbyist section – where dobreeders/businesses without stores fit in- Hobbyist breeders occasionally sell fish- Some people bring fish in for resale- Vendors will post sales in Business Section- Licensed Businesses that provide a service- Virtual store fronts- Moderator Forum functionality ‘Report a Post’Forum: *Licensed Commercial Vendors Only* ItemsFor Sale - SpecialsKitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society17

January 2007fins & talesVendors allowed to post in this Forum must have: astore front, Vendors License & regular store hours.Motioned: Scott, second: Kent. Voted on & carried.After a discussion regarding the necessity of waiverswe agreed that Phil will post in both Forum Threads“'New' Idea: Tank Tour” & “Would you be willing tosign a waiver before going on a Tank Tour?”“This topic was discussed at last night’s businessmeeting and due to legalities; KWAScannot sponsor this type of event.”Lunch (Joe): People requesting more waterPet Store Liaison (Al/Zenin): AbsentOld Business- Rob Pixner will pilot the Tunze Nano Stream next- An observation about the awards… they still havethe Oktoberfish 2006 rosette on them, it would havebeen nice to get that changed up to just the club logo.Also Zenin’s Show Jar wasn’t in the box! Will discusswhen Bob returns- Gift Certificates from Christmas should have KWASprinted on them if we use this again- Discussed Waterloo Inn Tank Maintenance Schedule– Al will be sending the new schedule soon – Stickyon the KWAS Forum to capture completion of maintenance.Phil will set up the new maintenance schedulein the calendar which will send out automatic reminderemailsNew Business- Rob will provide a brief Ancistrus sp. breeding presentationto honor BAP requirements at the JanuaryKWAS General MeetingSubmitted byKevin Reimer (Recording Secretary)Monthly Show Jar 2007There will be 3 points awarded for first in the featuredclass, 2 points for second, 1 point for third. The samepoints structure will be awarded for AOV. All entrieswill get a point for showing. For example, a first placeentry will get a total of 4 points. The people’s choicewill get an additional 2 points.JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneSeptemberOctoberNovemberZenin Skomorowski KWASzenin@golden.netDwarf Cichlids, Rainbows, AOVRift Lake Cichlids, AOVCharacins, AOVCatfish, AOVLoaches, Killifish, AO VCyprinids, AOVLivebearers, AOVLarge American Cichlids, AOVPlants, Anabantids, AOVYou can bring any species of the featured classes in anyother month; they will be entered in AOV.Dwarf Cichlids include apistos, kribensis, shell dwellersand so on.Rift Lake Cichlids include Malawi, Tanganyika, Victorianssuch as Alonocara, Pseudotropheus, Julidochromis,Haplochromis and so on.Characins include all tetras, silver dollars, headstanders,and so on.Catfish include suckermouth, corys, synodontis, and soon.Cyprinids include all goldfish, koi, barbs, danios, minnows,rasboras, “ sharks”, algae eaters and so on.Livebearers include mollies, swords, guppies, platysand so on.Large American Cichlids include angels, nicaraguense,convicts, firemouths, terrors, severums and soon.Anabantids include bettas, gouramis, and so on.If you have any other non-fish creatures, or odd-ballfish, they can be entered in any month’s AOV class.If there are any species that are not easily classified,they will be judged in AOV.If you have any questions, or need a show jar or smalltank, please email me at the address above or give me acall.Remember, this is for fun and to practise for Oktoberfish.This also gives others a chance to see fish thatthey might not otherwise see.18 Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society

fins & tales January 2007“Now being tested by KWAS members!Only three units in Canada!"Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society19

We meet on the 1st Tuesday of each monthfrom September through June at the AdultRecreation Centre on the corner of King andAllen Streets in Waterloo. The meeting roomis open at 7 PM and we get under way at 7:30PM. Each meeting usually has a very briefbusiness section then we get on with “NameThat Fish”, a program or speaker, a couple ofraffles and a small auction. A number ofother features may also be present at anymeeting.Please feel free to come out at any time andlearn more about the many benefits of aKWAS membership.LibraryField TripsPicnicOktoberfishConventions...JOIN USALLAREWELCOME