Minnesota Happenings

[OnlyGenusCaps]

The next Minnesota Aquarium Society meeting should be a lot of fun!  It is about Rift Lake cichlids!!!  Josh Cunningham is going to do a presentation titled "Breeding Rift Lake Chichlids". 

More on the talk:

"Tips on breeding many different African rift lake cichlids, from 20+ years experience of breeding cichlids from all three rift lakes.  View various species of the rift lakes in various aquarium breeding setups.  This presentation is photo and video driven with a lot of species-focused information."

And more on Josh:

"Josh Cunninham has spawned over 200+ kinds of African Cichlids and has achieved "Master Breeder" status in the Michigan Cichlid Association and Ohio Cichlid Association as well as Grand Champion Breeder (2015) of the American Cichlid Association. He is currently serving as vice-chairman of the American Cichlid Association and president of the Southeastern Michigan Aquarium Society.  Josh's company, Cunningham Cichlids, LLC (since 2012), specializes in African Cichlids."

Please join us on:

Thursday, November 3

login by 7:00pm
call-to-order at  7:05

 

Remember, you do not need to me a MAS member to attend!  Our meetings are open to all, and all are welcome.  However, you do need to register to this online only meeting. 

I would love to see as many forum members there as are interested!  Register at this link.

If you have any questions feel free to post them here, or DM me.  I hope to see you there!

[OnlyGenusCaps]

December's meeting for the Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS) is coming up this Thursday, December 1st at 7pm central time.  This time our speaker is going to take us on a trip across SE Asia, to fish farms, markets, and gardens.  The talk is titled "SE Asian 'Fish' Trip"

More on the talk:

"Covers trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand and includes 3 exporters, 3 plant farms, 2 discus farms, a Malawi cichlid farm, a Betta farm, a goldfish farm, the Bangkok fish market, Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, the SEA Aquarium and more"

More on the speaker:

Mark Denaro has been keeping freshwater aquariums since 1970 and marine aquariums since 1976.  Mark has been keeping planted and biotope aquariums since the mid-70s and was keeping reef aquariums before that term was coined.  He has bred well over 200 species of freshwater fish and propagated over 150 species of aquatic plants.  He has spawned 10 species of marine fish and propagated over 40 species of marine invertebrates.   

Mark is a coauthor of Adventurous Aquarist Guide to the 101 Best Freshwater Nano Species, published by Microcosm, Ltd. in September of 2014.  He has written articles for several national and international magazines and wrote the recurring column ‘Into the Labyrinth’ for Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine.  He is currently a contributing editor and writes feature articles for TFH.  

Mark has been involved in the organized hobby since 1984.  He is a past president of the International Betta Congress, the Indianapolis Aquarium Society and the Bucks County Aquarium Society.  He is a founding member and the inaugural president of the American Labyrinth Fish Association.  He is a well-known speaker and judge and has lectured to over 50 aquarium societies in more than 20 states, plus Canada and Bermuda, and spoken at numerous regional and national conventions. Mark is sales manager for Emark Tropical Imports, the oldest aquarium fish wholesaler in the US, and the largest transhipper on the east coast.  He also makes videos that he shares on YouTube as All Natural Aquatics.

Please join us on:

Thursday, December 1

login by 7:00pm
call-to-order at  7:05

 

Remember, you do not need to me a MAS member to attend!  Our meetings are open to all, and all are welcome.  However, you do need to register to this online only meeting. 

I would love to see as many forum members there as are interested!  Register at this link!

As always, if you have any questions feel free to post them here, or DM me.  I hope to see you there!

[OnlyGenusCaps]

January's Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS) monthly, online meeting is a topic I suspect folks here will appreciate "Wonders of the Freshwater Nano Aquarium"!  As a reminder you do need to register in advance for the meeting (even just before can work though), but the meeting is free and open to all.  MAS encourages broad participation in their monthly meetings and welcomes people from across the globe to attend.  You can register here.

The meeting takes place at:

Thu, Jan 05, 2023   7:00 pm (Central time)

Here is a little more about the topic:

"Freshwater nano aquariums, as well as the flora and fauna that commonly inhabit them, have become incredibly popular in recent years. They offer great approachability even for aquarists with limited space and budget, yet somehow also offer almost limitless possibilities in aquascaping and stocking. The vast majority of nano-sized fish species are relatively peaceful and allow for great variety in "community tank" stocking. Most of these small fish species are also safe with live plants, allowing yet another exciting dimension to the nano aquarium. 

The rise in popularity of nano aquariums has also introduced many freshwater invertebrate species that were previously much less known. Shrimp, snails, dwarf crayfish, and even small aquatic crabs are now among the most commonly kept species in the aquarium hobby, and some aquarists have even developed highly successful breeding programs or even businesses from breeding these species. Whether as a dedicated breeding program or as members in a wider community with compatible fish, invertebrates add a great deal of interest and utility to the nano aquarium. 

The naturalistic nano aquarium is a very rewarding project for any aquarist."

And more about the speaker:

"Matt Parkison is a lifelong aquarist with over 30 years of experience in the hobby. He is currently Chief Aquarist at Vivvy, a new online marketplace for US aquarists. From 2015-2021, he worked in various managerial and executive positions at Aquatic Arts, an online retailer of freshwater animals, plants, and supplies. Matt has always been interested in keeping freshwater and marine aquatic life as well as herptiles, especially turtles. His interests in the aquarium hobby are very diverse, but his longtime interests have included ancient, predatory, oddball, and venomous fish, particularly the scorpionfish family. He is also a major pleco and stingray enthusiast. Since he began working at Aquatic Arts, Matt has become very interested and well-versed in freshwater shrimp, crayfish, snails, invertebrates, nano fish, and plants. 

In addition to his passion for the aquarium hobby, Matt has a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance (Guitar) from Butler University and has played extensively in several musical acts and taught guitar and bass privately to hundreds of students since. He also enjoys cats, attending concerts, reading, the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family."

As always, if you have any questions about the meeting, or MAS, please feel free to DM me. 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Missed a month, but I'm here to announce the MAS March meeting.  This is a current interest of mine, so I am super stoked about it.  The title is "From Fresh to Salt", and it is an introductory guide for FW folks who might be salt-curious, and thinking about whether they want to try out the wonders of a marine tank.  As always, I want to remind folks this is an online meeting, and you do not need to be a MAS member to join us!  Feel free to register here.  I'd love to see loads of folks attend this one, and Matthew is a great speaker!

The meeting is at:

Thu, Mar 02, 2023   7:00 pm

Please do check this month's meeting out!  It's a wonderful opportunity to interact with a great speaker, who has devoted his professional career to getting folks into the marine side of the hobby.  Plus, for those of you who enjoyed the recent ACO talk by Randy Carey, he'll be moderating the "BAP" (breeders award program) breakout room after the talk, so you can share anything else you wanted to with him.  Show off your tetras! 

Even if you have never attended a MAS meeting before, I encourage you to make this your first!  And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to reply here, or DM me.  I hope to see you there!

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Tonight, tonight, tonight!!!  This one might be of more interest to the folks on this forum.

Thu, Apr 06, 2023   7:00 pm (Central)

The title of this one is:

"South American Eartheaters"

This presentation covers the general ecology and husbandry of cichlid fishes (Subtribe Geophagina) that make their living sifting the substratum for edible food items. It also covers some of the other cichlids that make their living in the same way, despite the absence of an important anatomical adaption required for inclusion in the Geophagina, such as Guianacara and Retroculus. The presentation includes photos of wild habitats, fishes in the aquarium – both common to hobbyists and undescribed by science, and, of course, husbandry details.

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As always, everyone is welcome!  You don't need to be a member of MAS to attend our online monthly meetings.  I hope you can attend.

Register Now!