President’s Message – September 2016

Dear Aquarist,

September is the start of another year at BAS, and it kicked off great. This is our 105th year, and we are still growing stronger and larger. With many familiar faces and plenty of new members joining our ranks, we had a great turn out as well as beautiful weather.  Speaking of familiar faces, our very own Joe Graffagnino gave a talk on his new fish room. The talk went over very well, as do most of our talks. Joe was very informative as to what was used and why, along with how he squeezed in tanks in every possible space. It was educational and very interesting on how he walked us step by step through the basement build out of his fish room from beginning to end.

Next month is our Giant Auction, so there is no speaker and no door charge. We will have many rare and hard to obtain livestock for freshwater and marine set ups, including soft and hard corals and plants. As always, free parking and refreshments. Doors open at 7:30pm. Bring your friends and family, as it is always a fun time for all.   See you in October.
Please visit our website where you can read the Bulletin and enjoy a full color Aquatica. The interactive forums and sponsor sections are truly remarkable. Provided you have given us your email address, you will be getting notifications of club events via email.

I am asking for your help and support. We need knowledgeable members to help fill the void for our Society’s officers and Board members. We have several positions open, such as 1st Vice President, Treasurer and Exchange Editor. How will the loss of these positions affect you? We won’t know what our sister clubs are doing without the Exchange Editor; the 1st VP slot is our main coordinator for trips, breeders awards program, photo contest and many other things that our Society is involved with; without our Treasurer, there are no more 50/50 livestock events. Please get involved – by helping us, you are helping yourself and what you have come to enjoy in our club.

If you want to see different speakers or try different things, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! Please let us know what you want and why. It would be helpful to everyone.

It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455.

On a more personal note – Any member who desires to attend a Board meeting (which are held at the Education Center of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June), please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

Steven Matassa
President