Friday, June 19th

Hello All!

Sorry I could not make it to the last meeting. After working on it with Henry all month I was not happy being home while the meeting went on. I was doing tons of yard work, my back went out and I was not mobile at all. Nick took over with Henry, Carla, Tracy and Brian. The full force was there and heard it went quite well. As you know the next meeting on June 19th is our six-foot hero party and the last for the summer break. The board decided to make it a big one with not only a larger raffle table but also a “Dollar A Bag” fish auction! That means that the club will only get one dollar from your lot, and you will keep all the rest of the money. Bring in fish to lighten your load indoors for the summer and maybe set up an outdoor tub to buy different fish to breed outdoors for fun. Also, we are going to restock all our fish food, so think about getting enough food for the summer break.

At our last meeting Henry from “O’Henrys Tanks A Lot” did an amazing presentation on caring aquarium plants. Plants are becoming a big part of fishkeeping now and we are lucky to have such an expert in our club. This summer we are going to arrange a date to go visit his aquarium plant facility for a tour. I hope the plants that were ordered and potted by him for the meeting are doing well. He is a major donor to our club in many ways. Also, must thank Tropical Showcase for their donations and for coming in person to the meeting. I like the fact that we are all getting together to promote the hobby and give people the right information on fish keeping.

We had a nice fish show, raffle, and auction at the meeting. Carla won third with her Micky Mouse Platy, Ed won second with a very nice Red Swordtail, and Kosta and Mary took first with a Majestic Angel. Our raffle table will be growing as more manufacturers donate products. So far Penn Plax, Aquarium Co Op and Fritz have donated items for the raffle table to our club. Geff also picked up a bunch of items from BTJs as they were closing for the table. Our fish auction table has also grown, with donations from O’Henrys Tanks A Lot, Tropical Showcase, Aqua Hut and Cs aquarium. I thank them for their support, and we should support them in return.

Tom Keegan

President LIAS

Hello All!

Another great meeting with many new members! I think that if all the members ever show up at once, there would be standing room only. You guys are a very happy group, and the laughs and jokes do not stop all night. I feel our meetings are a tremendous stress relief for all. Everybody is always smiling and having fun. Even though there are all the jokes we are still serious about our fish and learn a lot from each other. I want to thank the members that helped with getting the meeting set up and taking it down.

My presentation about what to do with your fish on vacation went well and it created lots of input and questions that I like to see. The basic medication part also did the same thing, and I received many more questions from emails days after the meeting. Our next meeting presentation is being worked on by both Henry from O’Henrys Tanks Alot and I, but mostly Henry. I will announce the topic in next week’s email and on Facebook. It will be our last presentation before our Hero party in June and summer break.

At our meeting Ken took third in the fish show. Ed took second and Kosta and Mary took first. C’s Aquarium donated a bottle of their signature wine that we auctioned off. There were also some vintage Penn Plax Plants that Gerry and Mike looked at that brought back memories of the plastic plant era. And, I must thank Ed, our auctioneer and all his runners for the help and fun at the meeting!

Hope to see everyone at the next meeting. I think the presentation will be very informative about live plants. Plants seem to be on the upswing with hobbyists setting up more natural freshwater aquariums.

Tom Keegan

President LIAS

Hello All!

Another great meeting.  I hope everyone enjoyed my presentation about my Florida trip and Imperial Tropicals.  It just so happened one of our members is a photographer and took some great pictures at the meeting.  I must thank everyone that helped out.  Pretty much my whole regular crew could not show, and I did not know how I was going to do it all, but the new crew did amazingly well.

As you can see from the pictures it was almost a full meeting.  I think if all the members show up at one time it will be standing room only.  Mary and Kosta took first in the fish show with a pipefish and Ed took second with an Emperor Tetra.  I have to tank Henry from O’Henrys Tanks a lot for his generous and excellent quality plant donations for the auction.  You must visit his website.  Also, Aqua Hut with his fish donations every meeting.  I also have to say thanks to all our younger generation fish keepers for their help at every meeting.  There are some pictures of our new members and younger members, even one enjoying his Krispy Kreme donut.   We are probably one of the only clubs with three generations of fish keepers attending and having fun.

My visit to Imperial Tropicals was so impressive I had to do a presentation about it.  Mike Drawdy, the owner who gave me a personal tour is not only a great businessman but an excellent fish keeper and breeder.  He really takes every aspect of the farm and fish to heart.  He runs a really tight ship being the third generation in the business at the facility and truly cares about the fish.   I hope to be able to put together a group order soon.

I will send another letter before the next meeting for a reminder.  I’m not sure what the presentation will be about but will work on it.  Any Ideas, or if you have a presentation you would like to do, please contact me. Check out all the great pictures from the meeting!

Tom Keegan

President LIAS