As we started out the year in April 2009, we were busily planning our 20th Anniversary Celebration. We scaled down our initial plans and selected three international speakers instead of four. With this large event on the horizon, we didn’t bring over any speakers for the first few months of the year.

Our April meeting was held at the Aquarium. A fish quiz had been planned but, due to a low turnout, we didn’t hold the quiz.

The May meeting was held on Friday 15th when we spent some time planning the upcoming 20th anniversary event.

I’m pleased to say that the 20th Anniversary event in June went well with guest speakers Rusty Wessel, Spencer Jack and Joe Ferdenzi. The member’s party in the hotel’s penthouse suite was excellent and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. The auction was also a great success. When we began to plan the anniversary event we acknowledged that there was a risk of spending everything in our account, leaving us broke for the rest of the year if the event was not successful. Our concerns were eased significantly when Noah’s Ark came onboard as a major sponsor and we all owe Noah’s Ark a big vote of thanks. Fortunately, we also had a record-breaking fish auction that ensured that we had sufficient funds to continue to run events for members throughout the year.

The anniversary event had an additional side-benefit. We had at least a dozen new members sign up at the event and some of them have attended subsequent club events.

Peter did a terrific job on the special 20th anniversary issue of Fish Tales that doubled as an event programme. It has to be the best issue we have ever produced.

We scheduled an aquatic plant auction for our July meeting. We located a plant supplier who has a nematode certificate for their growing facility. It appeared that, for the first time in many years, we could import aquatic plants that have roots attached. I placed an order for a shipment of 20 different plant species but it then turned out that the supplier’s nematode certificate did not meet the standards set by our Department of Environmental Protection’s Plant Lab. So, the hunt continues in an effort to identify a plant supplier that can meet local requirements.

Without a plant auction for the July meeting, we held a fun fishy quiz. Attendees were split into two teams to pool their knowledge but there were still a few questions that neither team got right. It was a fun way to learn something new.

Nyon organized a boat cruise for the August meeting onboard the Sally Bum Bum with Captain Leon.

The September meeting was held at the Aquarium where members spent time planning the Annual Tropical Fish Show.

Our Annual Tropical Fish Show was held on Saturday 17th October but it almost didn’t happen. Peter had an accident whilst retrieving fish show items from the warehouse and was rushed to hospital. Thankfully he has now made a recovery!

Show entries were down somewhat compared to last year with a total of 53 entries (35 being cichlids). Last year we had 72 entries (49 being cichlids). Our visiting speaker was Eric Hanneman who did a thorough job of judging, spending quite a bit of time with each fish looking for faults. When the dust settled, the mother and son team of Wendy and Stephen Corrado almost repeated their clean sweep of major trophies. As it was, they won a total of 9 of the available 15 trophies. However, Best in Show went to Howard Paynter for his Geophagus brasiliensis. The winning fish also captured the attention of the visiting public as they also voted it the winner of the People’s Choice award.

Eric Hanneman generously donated several bags of fish that were auctioned at the Awards Night. Bidding was fierce for some of the items with one bag of fish selling for well over $200. Kenny’s Kitchen catered the meal for the night that included delicious roast beef and fried fish. It was a good night that was enjoyed by all who attended.

We also owe thanks to show sponsors Ariel-Re who sponsored the trophies and Noah’s Ark who donated prizes for the trophy winners and an aquarium for the door prize.

We had a casual meeting at my home in November where we agreed to make changes to our Breeders Award Programme. We took December off due to the heavy social calendar.

We got the new year off to a great start with Ted Judy making his debut visit to Bermuda. He gave a very enjoyable presentation on the Pelvicachromis group of cichlids from West Africa. The presentation was followed by an excellent auction with a wonderful variety of fish available.

In February we had a casual meeting at Peter’s home that gave us an opportunity to talk fish over a couple of beers.

We now look ahead to a new financial year with a new challenge. Klaus has decided to take early retirement and will be leaving Bermuda around July this year. He is a valued member of the club who regularly attends meetings, has run our Breeder’s Award Programme and won the Member of the Year award for 2008. In recent years, Klaus and Joy graciously hosted many of our visiting speakers and did a tremendous job of making their Bermuda visits enjoyable. We owe them both a huge thank-you for everything that they’ve done for the club and I know that they will be missed. Now that they are going we need to find somewhere else for our speakers to stay.

Klaus will be hosting our speakers for April – Spencer Jack and his friend Rick. The meeting will feature a large fish auction so I expect it to be well attended.
We have tentatively arranged for Warren Feuer to visit from New York in June to give a talk on shell-dwellers from Lake Tanganyika.

Then, in July, about six of us will be traveling to Milwaukee for the American Cichlid Association’s annual convention.

Plans for the rest of the year will depend on what options are available for accommodating speakers.