Reservations and required in advance.
Friday, December 8th @ 7:00PM
Dolce Vita Italian Restaurant
5811 Avenue N in Brooklyn
$50 Per person
All payments must be in by November 30th – kindly contact Steve or David at BklynAquariumSociety@hotmail.com
President’s Message – November 2023
Dear Aquarist, 
Our October Giant Auction event was a great success! We had many donations from stores, manufacturers and our own members. The 50/50 model is bringing in a lot of bags of donations each month. What is a 50/50? Whatever livestock our members bring in, they split the winning bid with the club, 50/50. This is for livestock only. We are going to continue to do a 50/50 every month except during our next Giant Auction which is in May.
President’s Message – April 2023
Dear Aquarist,
We had a very good turnout in March to see our own David Manuel speak on starting a saltwater tank. This was David’s first time speaking at any club, and he did a great job! This is a topic that many of our members are interested in. Thank you David for once again stepping up for us! Since the pandemic, it has been hard to get speakers to make the trip to Brooklyn to speak. We will continue to do our best to bring you engaging speakers.
Summer Club Trip 2023
- 😀 Summer Store Tour😀
Join us for a summer outing to the one and only Monster Aquarium store in Queens. Monster specializes in hard to find fish of quality and is a long time supporter of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society.
Monster Aquarium ,
131-08 4th Road
Flushing, NY 11354
If you are interested in attending we will have dedicated time at Monster which will allow club members a special discount. Members can meet at the store or kindly call David Manuel at (917) 678-4637 for more information.
Thanks much!
We will post our next event as soon
Join Reef-A-Palooza this weekend – June 24-25, 2023
For More Info or to Buy Tickets Visit: Reef-A-Palooza
President’s Message – March 2023
Dear Aquarist,
Our March event was a big success thanks to our faithful board members. I can’t begin to thank them enough because without our volunteers, we would not exist! Our board members and volunteers help put our meetings together while making sure they run to smoothly. I don’t think our membership realizes what’s involved in structuring our meetings: from picking up donations, to bringing merchandise to our meeting location and back to our storage at the end of the night. Then we have our publications, advertising, website, bookkeeping, board meetings, sponsors and the arranging of speakers. This is work done throughout the month and year, not just the day of the show. With that said, I thank all the volunteers for their dedication!
President’s Message – February 2023
Dear Aquarist,
We are finally back in the NY Aquarium!! In February, we had our first meeting since Covid shut us out in 2020. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are very glad to be back. Our February meeting was a big hit! We had our own Don Lang speaking on breeding fish. Don did a great job filling in as speaker at the last moment. His presentation was well received. He not only delivered his first BAS talk, but he is always there to help where needed, and we’re thankful for his dedication.
Earn 50%* on donated livestock in February 2023
To kick off 2023 we will once again be having a 50/50 split on donated livestock only (corals, fish and plants in good health) for members only.
Members must sign in at the donation desk that they want 50% of whatever their livestock items are auctioned for (no reserves). The total of all donations must be greater than $5 and your return check will be available for pickup at the next regular meeting.
Not a member yet? No problem, become one at the event. Join Now
We are back at The New York Aquarium Educational Hall!
We are happy to announce that The New York Aquarium has once again granted us use of the Education Hall for our monthly meetings. (Thank you!)
We are going back to our normal schedule! Regular meetings every second Friday of the month at the New York Aquarium Education Hall. We are very excited!
Schedules, topics and speakers to be posted soon so make sure you check back.
President’s Message – December 2022
Dear Aquarist,
We are coming to a close on another year at BAS. We finished it off with a great holiday party at Dolce Vita in Brooklyn. With about 40 members and their families in attendance, we had terrific food and even door prizes! It was a very good night! While rapping up our 111th year, we are on hold again. We find ourselves with no place to
have our meetings which is rather unfortunate since we’ve built up some nice momentum meeting at the church’s Parish Hall.
Open Board Positions – We Need Your Help.
The board members meet once a month to discuss club business, and we can use your help! There are four board positions currently available: corresponding secretary, treasurer, webmaster and recording secretary. If you’d like to attend a meeting which are held the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify Steve Matassa at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.
MOAPH.org – Museum of Aquarium and Pet History Opens Up
Videos of hundreds of pet artifacts including antique aquariums, bird cages, fishbowls, dog advertising, vintage pet foods, medicines, etc, etc.
Articles written by current pet historians
Illustrations of rare and usual aquariums, pet companies, crazy pet products, etc, etc.
Now Open: Check it out at www.moaph.org
President’s Message – September 2022
Dear Aquarist,
We are back to start another year at BAS, the 112th. That’s pretty amazing even for a fish club. We resumed by bringing you a speaker all the way from Germany, Andreas Tanke. Andreas gave a great talk on Plecos. We will continue to bring you great speakers in the future.
MARINE AQUARIUM CONFERENCE OF NORTH AMERICA IN MILWAUKEE WI COMING SOON
The MASNA Board is proud to welcome you to MACNA 2022 Gathering and Growing, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
We look forward to having you join our community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as we come together to Gather and Grow.
Reunited after two years of virtual programs, MACNA 2022 Gathering and Growing will bring our community together for the best MACNA to date.
MACNA 2022 will enable us to gather as a community, bringing together the greatest educators, businesses, leaders, cultivators, and pioneers to continue to share and educate.
Growing our industry in a sustainable manner has never been more important. MACNA 2022 will lead the way through its exhibits, speakers, and programs as we continue to achieve new breakthroughs.
MACNA 2022 will be held at the Wisconsin Center, with hotel rooms available at the historic Milwaukee Hilton City Center & the Hyatt Regency.
Project Piaba Expedition 2022
Many of you are familiar with Project Piaba and our goal of fostering and environmentally and socio-economically beneficial aquarium fishery in the Rio Negro region of the Amazon. This fishery links the economic welfare and livelihoods of rural families to environmental conservation that must be maintained for the fishery to thrive. This sustainable aquarium fishery is an effective driver of stewardship that protects habitat for critically endangered species, sequesters substantial amounts of carbon in tropical forests as well as the continuation of atmospheric scrubbing of greenhouse gasses, and alleviates poverty for rural fishing communities.
We have a lot of work to do this year and we need your help!
Come on an expedition! Every year since 1991 our scientists and specialists have participated in an expedition to explore and study the fishery, and to identify, recommend and implement changes that can improve the health and quality of the fish being exported. We have not been back since COVID turned everything upside down in 2020 and we have a lot of work to catch up on: best handling practices training, traceability implementation, document newly legalized species for the aquarium trade, and export facility training work.
Our next expedition will take place from September 24 – October 8. Please consider joining us on this expedition!
If you are interested or if you have questions, please email me directly (SDowd@projectpiaba.org). More information in the attached folder and on our website: http://projectpiaba.
Thank you for supporting Project Piaba!
Scott & the Project Piaba team
President’s Message – May 2022
That’s right: The Brooklyn Aquarium Society is finally back! We had our first event in over two years, and we had a great time. Our location was changed to St Brendan’s Church, and it was a big success. We had many familiar faces and also many new ones. There were a lot of great deals on fish, tanks, and supplies, and a great speaker, James Perronod from Discusrus.com, who graciously stepped up at the very last minute since our scheduled speaker, Yemi Amu was sick. James, as always, held an informative question and answer session. There was no question that could stump this pro! We thank him. Continue reading President’s Message – May 2022
Mark your calendar. April 8th, 7:30PM @ St. Brendan’s in Brooklyn
We are back at it! We’re excited to see you all in person.
At St. Brendan’s Catholic Church Parish Hall
1202 Avenue O, Brooklyn, NY 11230
April 8th – doors open at 7:30 PM. Speaker, auction, sales tables overflowing with gear, chemicals and food for sale and 100+ people that share your enthusiasm for fishkeeping. It’s good to be back!
Free parking and free refreshments too!
Continue reading Mark your calendar. April 8th, 7:30PM @ St. Brendan’s in Brooklyn
Letter From Editors – January 2022
Dear Aquarist,
We have a new issue of AquaticNews that represents a wide variety of fish, from the mysterious Coelacanth to locally bred Angelfish. Our virtual meetings are gaining more popularity with members and we have some compelling speakers coming up. Todd Gardner, breeder of over 60 species of salt water fish, returns to BAS in February. March will bring us Samantha M. West of Zoo Med Laboratories. She will be discussing Environmental Enrichment for your Aquarium Fish.
One article we would like to point out is on page 7, “Why Hobbyists Should Write for their Club Journal.” We encourage all members to share their passion and knowledge. Since we can’t get to meetings please put your experiences to paper. We’ve all had fish we love but can’t keep alive and fish that survive despite doing everything wrong. Whether you’ve had a great experience with new equipment or bought something that totally failed please share with fellow members.
President’s Message – September 2021
Presidents Message
I usually try to focus on the good when I write my message, but this is the hardest President’s message I have ever written. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of our past President and my longtime friend Joe Graffagnino. Joe was well-liked by all who knew him. I have never met anyone who had a bad thing to say about him. He was always the first to volunteer his help for our club and even other clubs, in any way he could. He has left a big void in all of us and he will be greatly missed. Our heartfelt prayers go out to his family.
R.I.P – Joe Graffagnino
Please donate to Tunnel to Towers Foundation on behalf of Joe.
Click here or here. Every bit counts.
It is with an extremely heavy heart that we announce the passing of our former Brooklyn Aquarium Society President, lead board member and widely known Joe Graffagnino.
Joe has been the face of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society for over 30 years. Joe will be greatly missed and our prayers go out to his family.
A viewing will be held on Friday, September 10th
At
Scarpaci Funeral home
1401 86th Street
Brooklyn NY 11228
Between 4 & 8 PM
More details to follow…