Hello All,

   Hard to believe our meeting is this Friday already! This letter will be short because I must get to work on my gardens and ponds. The board meeting this week went well and our club is prospering and growing more than expected. There are many things in store for the club’s future as we grow, and I will talk about them at the meeting. As I have already said many times, I want to give as much as receive from the members. I thank all that come to the meetings not only to participate in buying raffles and bidding in the auction, but to those that bring in fish. Our fish auctions have been amazing.

   Our vice president Nefes gave a great presentation on Axolotls at the last meeting. We are working on axolotl eggs so if anyone wants them talk to me or Nefes at the meeting. At this next meeting there will be a presentation on how to set up and install a small pond and inexpensive filter. Ponding is lots of fun when you get into it and adds another whole parameter to fish keeping.

I was happy many people arrived at the meeting at seven so we could get started a little early and hang out and talk more before I started talking LOL. If we could do the same for this meeting that would be great. I would like to try to start sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 again. We will meet at the same place and if you have a problem parking, the medical building next door has a big lot that is always empty.

See you there! Don’t for get to bring your best fish for the Fish Show (a link to the rules is below).

Tom Keegan
President

Link to the Fish Show Rules

Here’s a Google link to the location:  
https://goo.gl/maps/R1mvrKVPFGJeYzDj7

Hello All,

Our next meeting is only a week away on Friday March 15.  Yes, it is the Ides of March and the start of St Patty’s Day weekend.  What better way to start it off than with a fish club meeting?  We will also be enjoying daylight savings time, so it will be a little lighter when you arrive at the meeting, and not as cold.

For this meeting, we want to try a new order of things.  I will open the meeting by going over a few items.  Then we’ll have the door prize, raffle, fish show, and auction.  And I want to try to add another item to our meetings.  At our last meeting we had the angelfish dais, and the question-and-answer session went so well I would like to include that in every meeting, by including a brief question-and-answer session.  It could be about anything.  Maybe a fish you are breeding or trying to keep.  A sick fish you are having a problem curing.  Some kind of fish you are looking for or an item like a fish tank or filter part.  So if you have a question, problem, or something you are looking for, put it out on the floor.  At this point we all know each other well enough that we have no problem talking in the group setting and this is what makes our club special from many of the others.

The presentation at this meeting will be by Nefes on Axolotls.  She has kept them for quite some time now and they are an aquatic amphibian that is becoming very popular.  Nefes has risen in our ranks from ticket sales to becoming one of my right-hand people as Vice President in a very short time.  Right now, she is in medical school studying to be a neonatal doctor.  I am looking forward to her presentation.

With all that said, it should be a fun meeting again.  Please try to arrive between 7:00 and 7:30.   I would like to start the meeting closer to 7:30 than 8:00 so we do not have to rush through anything.  Do not worry if you are late.  There will be breaks to put your fish in the auction or you can put them in while I am talking.

See you there!

Tom Keegan
President

Fish Show Rules

Hello All,

     Our meetings seem to be getting better and better. I have never experienced a meeting with a dais of expert members on a particular fish. I thought angelfish would be a good subject because of all the steps it takes to raise them. It went quite well and it could have gone on longer, but we had move on to the other parts of the meeting. I truly thank the two Jeffs and Gene for being put on the spot up front and center. There are other subjects I would like to set up the same way and I would like your input on them at the next meeting.

     The fish show was another great success with a bunch of entries. Ray took third with one of his amazing guppies. Bob took second with a nice large black angelfish and Buzz took first with a killifish. As you all know the judging is done by you, a jury of peers. Bring in a fish and you never know.

     We had quite a large fish auction for a regular meeting with some show-class angelfish from the breeders on our dais. I thank all who bring fish into the auction to help the club. I also thank the people who buy them, knowing it not only helps the club but also helps our breeders sell fish. It would not be an auction without Ed. He makes the action fun, with lots of laughs the way it should be. Thank you, Ed.

     I will send out a mail next week about our next meeting. I have a presentation in the works from one of our newer members who has risen in the ranks very fast. It will be interesting and about one of the newest popular animals in our hobby.
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Tom Keegan, President