We got the year started by bringing in overseas speakers for three consecutive months. In April 2008 Brian Revennaugh made his first visit to Bermuda with his wife Robin and gave an interesting presentation on aquatic plants. The talk focused on the requirements for successfully growing aquatic plants and provided some useful information. On the Sunday, we visited the homes of members for the Home Show. Only four members entered the Home Show but all four aquariums looked good and were stocked with live plants. Competition was close but I managed to come away with the trophy.

We welcomed back Spencer Jack as our visiting speaker for May. He gave a talk on Gymnogeophagus cichlids from Uruguay that included a few photos of recent collecting trips. Spencer’s talks are always entertaining and this one lived up to expectations. Spencer also brought some interesting new species for auction that he has been raising on his Florida fish farm (including some of the Gymnos that were featured in his talk).

Our June meeting was held on Friday 20th at the Bermuda Aquarium. Our guest speaker was Francine Bethea who gave an interesting presentation on maintaining Pike Cichlids. Francine kindly donated fish for auction that helped to raise funds to cover her expenses.

The July meeting featured a barbecue at Nyon’s house where we got to hear stories about the ACA Convention in Atlanta. We also got to take another look at Nyon’s terrific fish room and the spotless tanks that he maintains.

We planned a sunset sailboat cruise with Captain Leon on board the Sally Bum Bum for our August event as a chance to relax and enjoy each other’s company. Several of us turned up at Barr’s bay Park on Thursday 21st August and waited for the boat to arrive. It didn’t come! Captain Leon had forgotten about us so we were stranded on the dock. Ever resourceful, the members decided not to waste an opportunity so we broke out the food and drinks and had an impromptu dock party.

Captain Leon made amends a couple of weeks later by putting on a sailboat cruise for us. Unfortunately, we had a smaller turnout than we did for the first attempt but we still managed to have fun.
Without a speaker for the September meeting, it was decided to hold a consignment auction. Members were encouraged to bring in items for auction with 50% of the proceeds going to the seller and 50% going to the club. We had a good selection of live aquatic plants and a variety of fish in the auction, plus a couple of books. The bidding went well and everything sold, resulting in a nice cash split for the club.

The October meeting was held at my home but attendance was very sparse..

We held our Annual Tropical Fish Show in November. Wendy and Stephen Corrado did very well in the show and came extremely close to making a clean sweep of the trophies. Between them, they won ten of the thirteen trophies that were up for grabs which is quite a feat.

The judge for this year’s show was Dan Woodland from Ohio. Dan donated a quantity of fish that were auctioned at the show’s awards night. The funds from the auction allowed us to donate $1,500 to the anti-netting device project in Lake Malawi. The money will be immediately put to use to protect cichlids from local fishermen around the Maleri Islands in Lake Malawi.

We didn’t hold a meeting in December as many members already had full social calendars so our next meeting was in January when we met at Peter’s house. We were able to see his new fish room where he has consolidated most of his tanks. The meeting also allowed me to offload a lot of excess equipment – some being auctioned and some just given away.

On Friday 20th February our meeting featured guest speaker Ghazanfar Ghori from Washington D.C. He gave a very informative presentation on aquascaping that included insights and tips on how to effectively lay-out a planted tank. On Sunday 22nd February, we held our 2009 Annual Home Show. Only five members entered the Home Show but the quality of displays was excellent. Ghazanfar did a great job of explaining the positives of each display and gave tips on how to improve them. David Patterson won the trophy with Robert Wheatley was a worthy runner up.

We brought in four speakers and one show judge through the year, most of whom were hosted by Klaus. It is important to note the value to the club of having someone like Klaus who is willing to take speakers into his home and to entertain them for the period that they are here. If we had to pay for hotel rooms for our speakers, we certainly wouldn’t be able to afford to bring in as many each year. So, on behalf of the club I’d like to thank Klaus once again for the terrific support that he provides.

Most of you will be aware by now that this month marks the 20th anniversary of the club. When I started the club in my living room on 14th March 1989 I had no idea that it would still be here 20 years later, or that I would have been President for 18 of those 20 years. I’m very pleased that we have agreed to celebrate the anniversary with a special event in June this year and I’m confident that we’ll have a good time. The event will take place at the Fairmont Southampton Resort and will feature a large auction and three international speakers - Rusty Wessel, Spencer Jack and Joe Ferdenzi. Rusty, Spencer and Joe have all visited us several times and have contributed to the success of the club so it is fitting that we bring them back for this celebration. We will be opening the event to the general public so I’m hopeful that we will boost membership levels as a result.