| Our first attempt at holding an AGM in March 2006 failed due to poor attendance. As a result, we had to use the April meeting for a second attempt at the AGM. Fortunately, we were able to get the club business sorted out on this second attempt. In May we held the meeting at the home of Wendy & Michael Corrado where we enjoyed a barbecue dinner. Members provided fish and dry goods for a consignment auction and we were also able to include some live plants in the auction from a non-member. In June we held our Annual Charity Fish Auction, thanks to Rusty Wessel who donated an assortment of fish and to Marineland who supplied dry goods. There were some interesting cichlids and swordtails in the auction with the highest bid being $250 for a bag of Nandopsis motaguense. After covering Rusty’s travel expenses we were left with $1,000 that was donated to the Paul Loiselle Conservation Fund. That brought our total contributions to the fund to a whopping $12,150. Rusty gave a presentation on the fishes of the Panuco basin in Mexico. The July meeting was a casual gathering at Peter’s home that allowed members to see Peter’s aquariums and generally talk fish. Also in July, Nyon, Chris, Howard, David and Mark attended the ACA convention in Chicago. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and continued the tradition of providing Dark & Stormy drinks to the attendees. In August, we welcomed back Joe Ferdenzi, the President of Greater City Aquarium Society in New York and a popular speaker who has visited us several times. Joe gave a presentation on Substrate Spawners of Lake Tanganyika. September was time to judge the Grow Out Competition at the monthly meeting that was held at Chris’ home. Only a handful of members presented fish for judging as it seems that some members managed to kill off their fry rather than grow them out! We didn’t need to bring out any measuring devices to see that there was a clear winner. David Patterson took bragging rights for growing the largest Managuense cichlid and won a $50 gift certificate for Noah’s Ark. We welcomed Dave Schleser to Bermuda for the October meeting. Several members had previously had the pleasure of getting to know Dave on the Margarita Tours trip to the Peruvian Amazon. Dave gave a powerpoint presentation on fish diseases and treatments. In November we held our Annual Tropical Fish Show at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo. The show results and photos can be found in this issue. Reigning champion Nyon Steede was dethroned this year as two other members vied for the top spot. Ivan Smith’s Herichthys carpintis was in the running to the very end. It was almost down to a toss of the coin to pick between Wendy Corrado’s Nyassae Peacock and Ivan’s carpintis for the Best Cichlid award. Those two fishes were in the final battle with ‘Herman’ the Red Fin Cactus catfish for the top two spots. When the dust settled, Wendy Corrado won Best in Show with ‘Herman’ just edging out her own Nyassae Peacock which had to settle for Reserve Best in Show as well as Best Cichlid. Despite being in the top three, Ivan didn’t take home a trophy this year but came close to taking home the big one! Shelby Onabowale ensured that 2006 was the year of the ladies. She won Best Livebearer (open class) as well as Best Goldfish by a Junior and Best Livebearer by a Junior. Her Swordtail also captured the Best in Show by a Junior award. I think that this was the first year that either of the Best in Show trophies were won by ladies, so it was quite noteworthy for the guys to be edged out in both areas. The visiting judge and speaker was Spencer Jack who gave an interesting presentation whilst dressed in formal tails and bow-tie! Spencer sowed the seeds for our members to participate in a collecting trip during 2007 and I hear that at least two of our members will be heading out to either Honduras or Uruguay to collect their own cichlids. In December the meeting consisted of a social gathering at my home that provided a chance to relax with friends and enjoy a couple of drinks. In January we had hoped to bring in a shipment of fish from Spencer Jack so that we could hold a fish auction. Unfortunately, efforts to get them shipped directly from Canada drew a blank and we ended up canceling the January meeting. We didn’t have any better luck for the February meeting. I had been in contact with several potential speakers in the hope of getting someone to speak at the Friday meeting and then judge the Home Show on the Sunday. For a variety of reasons, I was unable to secure anyone. As a result, I gave a presentation on my visit to lake Malawi at the February meeting. No members had indicated that they were ready for a Home Show that weekend so it was postponed to a later date. We have gone without a newsletter for the past few months due to Peter having a tremendous workload. We are extremely fortunate to have benefited from Peter’s expertise and we may be the only local club in the North American region that has an all-colour publication. I’m sure that members appreciate what we have and will continue to demonstrate patience as Peter tends to his business. Unfortunately, I was only able to arrange for four overseas speakers during the past year whereas we usually manage to have six in a year. I am hopeful that we can get back to a normal schedule in the coming year. I have made some progress in organizing speakers and the line-up so far is as follows: Friday 20th April – Francine Bethea (fish photography) Friday 15th June – Larry Lampert (planted aquariums) Saturday 16th June – Home Show Friday 21st September – Ad Konings (African cichlids) Friday 9th November – Rusty Wessel (Fish Show banquet and fish auction) Saturday 10th November – Fish Show Discussions are also ongoing with Mark Soberman (catfish) to find a suitable date for him to visit. We therefore just need to identify one additional speaker to finalise the year’s line-up. |