This Sunday, July 11th at 6:30 PM is the monthly meeting of the San Diego Tropical Fish Society! Everyone is invited, you do not have to be a member to participate! Here is what you will find on Sunday! By the way, we meet in room 101 of the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park, San Diego. I have a neat little map for anyone who needs it, please email me at
SanDiegoFishes@aol.com if you would like it!
UPCOMING MEETING PROGRAMS:
JULYS MEETING is presented by Mark Ferguson. Mark was a senior aquarist at the old Vaughn Aquarium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Then he worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He will be speaking on his experiences at the Aquariums. On a side note, Mark is also interested in electrical fish, knifefish, elephant noses and catfish.
AUGUSTS MEETING: Harry Moore will be speaking on lighting for you tanks. Everyone was awed by Harrys Nano-reef tank that he entered in our last November show, it was gorgeous! So if you are itching to try your hand at making incredibly lush planted tanks, don't miss Harrys talk on lighting!
SEPTEMBER: Brian Downing from the COAST Tropical Fish Club will be speaking about his dives in the cenotes of the Yucatan, where you can find all sorts of fish like livebearers, cichlids, etc. Brian has a slide presentation with awesome photos, and you will find yourself interested in going on a cave exploring fishy field trip too!
NOVEMBER: All about the upcoming November fish show, how you can enter, you know, all the information you will need to participate!
Coming in FEBRUARY: We have Dr. Paul Loiselle from the American Natural History Museum in New York speaking on his field trips to Madagascar! Dr. Loiselle is well known in cichlid circles and has even had one of the guapotes named after him. He is studying endemic killifish too. Dr. Loiselle is knows for his vast knowledge and unique presentation style, this is one you DO NOT want to miss!
AQUATIC AUCTION At each meeting we have a mini fish auction that starts at 6:30 PM. Guests are welcome to bid and buy fish, but only members may sell fish (Another great reason to join, hint, hint) Each member may bring up to 5 items, and anything fish related may be sold (Fish, aquatic plants, supplies, tanks, live food, etc.). The club splits the earnings with the sellers, club gets 20%, seller gets 80%). Incredible things show up at these auction, many rare and desirable fish and plants that you may never find in local fish stores. If you wish to sell items, they must be checked in by 6:30 PM, auction will begin at 6:40 PM. No exceptions, thanks!
PRESENTATION: Following the auction, we have our presentation. This may be a guest speaker, a slide show, a video program, even a hands on demonstration. Every month is something different, and you will learn a lot! We get some excellent guest speakers in from around the country, and often they bring in fish to raffle off as well!
BOWL SHOW: Each meeting we have a mini fish show where members get to bring in their fish and compete against each other for raffle tickets and ribbons. Fish are brought in flat sided containers, and each month is a different type of fish (Guppies, catfish, cichlids, etc.). This is great fun, and the kids love it. Winners in each class get 30 raffle tickets for 1st place, 20 raffle tickets for second place, and ten raffle tickets for third place. Free to enter too!
REFRESHMENTS are served at the break, and include donuts and punch, etc.
RAFFLE TABLE: This is a favorite for both adults and kids! Everyone can enter, guests and members. Tickets are 10c each, and your chances of winning (often numerous times) are excellent! Tickets are generally sold at the refreshment break time. The raffle table is loaded with tropical fish (Many bought by the club at local fish stores) and the rest are donated by guests and members. If you have extra baby fish at home, or fish that have outgrown your tanks, etc., please bring them to the raffle table! The club would love any donations you would like to provide. Also on the raffle table is always a brand new fish tank with hood and lighting, lots of aquatic plants, food, filter supplies, live food cultures, books, fish magazines, aquatic snails, etc.! We have many manufacturers who donate brand new supplies to the club, and you will find these on the table as well!
FISH TALK: And of course, every meeting provides wonderful opportunities to talk "Fish" with other like minded people, and make new fish friends.
Events the Fish Society provides:
MONTHLY FIELD TRIPS: Every month the fish club goes on a field trip to somewhere interesting and fun! Future field trips will be things like: Visiting members tanks, trip to Death Valley to find endemic pupfish, Trip to The Salt and Sea to collect wild livebearers like mollies, swordtails and five spot livebearers, tilapia, etc. Visit great Mexican tide Pools, field trips to local fish stores, Koi Shows, Guppy Shows, The Pet Fair in Pomona, Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Birch Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sea World, LA Fish Stores, Orange County Fish Stores, San Diego River, observe sticklebacks in the Cuyamacas, Cabrillo Aquarium, Point Loma Tide pools, San Diego Zoo, Grunion hunts, visits to water treatment plants, visit the White Sea Bass facility, even Padre games! Each month is something different. We publish and mail out a monthly newsletter called "Fish Tails", and this will list all upcoming events that the club is doing (Another great reason to become a member!)
LARGE AUCTIONS: Twice a year in November and April we host two gigantic tropical fish and related items auctions. Close to 400 items can be up for auction, all brought in by members! These auctions draw a big crowd and just about everything fish related you can think of may show up! Only members may sell items (No limits, bring as much stuff as you like, but please no more than 5 bags of any one species or plant) and guests and members may bid. Fantastic fish and plants come through these auctions, some things you have only ever seen in books!
NOVEMBER FISH SHOW: This is a club favorite! Every November we host a fish show in the Casa del Prado over the weekend. Members may bring as many tanks and bowls of fish that they want too, the more the merrier. Members compete against each other for trophies, plaques and ribbons. If you have a favorite fish at home that you just know would blow away the competition, this is the event for you! The club provides the power, air pumps and heating, you just bring the tanks with a filter. You may also show things like guppies, killifish, goldfish, etc., in flat sided fish bowls too. The public is invited and comes through to look at the show, admission is free.
BREEDERS AWARD PROGRAM: Are your fish having babies for you at home? We have a non competitive fish breeding program, a fun way to show others what life has been growing in your tanks. Just bring in 10 babies that are a month old or older to the meeting, and Norman Brown will give you an easy form to quickly fill in. Each fish species bred is worth 5, 10, or 15 points, etc., and as you earn points, you earn awards. (Plaques and trophies.) Everyone loves to see your baby fish and find out how your tank was set up to get babies. You can then either auction your babies in the mini auction, donate them to the raffle table, share or trade them to another member, or take them back home. It is fun, so start breeding some fish!
THE TROPICAL BREEZE: We have a magazine that we publish for club members several times a year called "The Tropical Breeze." In our great publication you will find articles written by members, photos of members fish (usually taken at the fish shows), advice, info on fish, club announcements on upcoming field trips, activities, etc., and lots more. Just one more advantage (Perk) of joining the club! And of course, members also receive our monthly publication, "Fish Tails."
CONTACT INFO: Listed below are numbers for the various people you can contact to find out more about the club or any of the above listed activities and events. Feel free to call anyone, we are here to help you. For general information you can call the club info line at (619)281-FISH, Email for Barbara Bean (who many of you met online, AKA Woodle, AKA SanDiegoFishes) is
SanDiegoFishes@aol.com, and our website is
http://www.sandiegotropicalfish.com/
If you haven't yet become a member, we hope you will consider joining. Your dues help keep the club running, and heck, we are cheap to join!
MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION APPLICATION
Name_________________________________________________ Phone_____________________________ Adress__________________________________________________________Apt#______ ________________ City_________________________________State_____________________ZipCode____ ________________
Please enter my name for:
__ New Membership ___ Membership renewal ___Subscription only
DUES RATES: (Yearly---prorated from January)
If you join in: Jan/Feb/Mar Apr/May/June July/Aug/Sep Adult membership: $12.00 $9.00 $6.00
Family membership: $15.00 $11.25 $7.50
Jr. (Under 16) $6.00 $4.50 $3.00 Foreign Subscriptions are four dollars more per year.
Simply fill out this form and join at our monthly meeting (Jimmy Cobleigh who sits at the side table to the left will set you up). Or mail this form to: SDTFS PO Box 4156, North Park Station, San Diego, CA 92164
All memberships include a free subscription to the San Diego Breeze and Fish Tails.
Please come up and talk with any board members and club members, we are all very friendly and would love to answer any questions you may have! And again, welcome to the San Diego Tropical Fish Society, we do hope you enjoy your visit and come back again!
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