2012-2013 BAS Sponsor Calendar – Available For Download

2012-2013 BAS Sponsor Calendar –

For a list of our upcoming event please visit “Our Events

You can now download/view/print your own copy of Sponsor Calendar.  See all area events happening each month at BAS and all sister societies around the tri-state area.

Many thanks to our board member Gene Kogan for creating this nifty calendar.

Enjoy, and let us know (by leaving a comment below)  if you’d like to see something included/changed.

2012

September 2012 | October 2012 | November 2012 | December 2012

2013

January 2013 | February 2013 | March 2013April 2013May 2013

June 2013July 2013 | August 2013

“Breeding Blue Angelfish”

Breeding Blue Angelfish

by Joe Graffagnino

At a Greater City Aquarium Society meeting last year, fellow member Jerry O’Farrell came up to me and asked, “Have you breed angelfish?” I said that I had, but it was over 25 years ago. He said. “Good, then it’s time you did them again,” and he thrust a bag of 8 beautiful quarter size blue angels in my hand. Before I could respond, he walked away. I looked at the plastic bag full of fish and marveled at how beautiful and majestic these little cichlids appeared. The blue on their heads stood out in dramatic contrast to their silver bodies.

Continue reading “Breeding Blue Angelfish”

Reef Swap; Sunday, May 20th at Pace University.

If you are into saltwater fish and reefs this event is definitely for you. Entrance is $25 per person, children under 16 admitted FREE.

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Every single attendee at the swap this Sunday will be receiving the following:

  • Fluval Sea Salt – 10 gallons worth of salt
  • Fish Pellet Samples
  • Fluval ION Water Conditioners
  • Live Aquaria $20 Gift Certificate
  • Instant Ocean Marine Stablilizer
  • Gift Bag

…and of course, the swap includes:

  • Free catered lunch
  • Coffee, Cookies

Our guest speakers for this swap are
:

  • Joe Yaiullo – Nutrient control in a 20,000 gallon reef and why this matters to you.
  • Gary Parr – “How’d you shoot that?” has helped thousands of hobbyists across the country refine their photographic skills.
  • Lots of free corals will be given away at our frag demonstration station throughout the day including chalices, soft corals, SPS and more.

    If you have not already RSVP’d, do it now on the first post in the thread here:

    Don’t wait until the event is sold out!

    President’s Message – May 2012

    Dear Aquarist,

    The May giant auction was a huge success. We had over 200 items up for grabs and a packed house of members and friends looking for (and finding) great deals. We had an enormous selection of marine fish, invertebrates and corals, as well as freshwater plants, fish and interesting shrimp and snails.  We needed our three auctioneers because there were so many items that their voices were getting tired really fast. Dennis Alestra, Bill Amely and former President Seth Kolker all pitched in and made like a tag team, giving breaks to each other when needed.

    We also had several tables represented by Your Fish Stuff manned by Bill Arndt and his lovely wife (who won the 50/50 drawing), Python Products, and Charles Stein aquatic supplies, in addition to BAS equipment with a special $1 only table. Members and friends departed the evening with many great deals.

    June will be our final event for the year.  As always, we shall finish it off with a big bang and who better to end the year with than Todd Gardner, whose topic for the evening will be “Getting Started In Marine Aquaculture.” Todd is an aquaculturist at the Long Island Aquarium & Exposition Center. For a great night of educational fun, join us on June 8 at 7:30 PM.  As always, there is free parking and free refreshments.
    We are planning a bus trip to Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center, Riverhead, NY, on Saturday July 28, 2012. Anyone interested in attending, please let me know at the June event.

    I am asking for your help and support. If you want to see different topics offered, please let me know. June is elections month; please consider running for a position as an Officer or a Board member. If anyone is interested in running for a position, please let me know at the beginning of the June meeting. Believe me, we need all the help we can get.

    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, please notify me at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

    Joe Graffagnino
    President

    Earn 50%* on donated livestock in June 2012

    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 or during our board meeting on July 13th.

    If you have any questions regarding this event please don’t hesitate to contact us or just post your questions below.

    Not a member yet? No problem, become one today http://membership.basny.org/

    BAS Event – GIANT SPRING AUCTION, May 11, 2012

    This BAS meeting was hosted at the New York Aquarium on May 11, 2012

    Title: GIANT SPRING AUCTION

    Event Flyer: Download / View Here

    Event Photos

    [nggallery id=15]

    Event Donors

    Individuals

    Bernard Deren, Louis Beltran, Louise Bergstresser, Bonnie Biancardi, Matthew Bronsnvag, Joe Caparetti, Anthony Denicola, John Fox, Lita Goldberg, Joe Graffagnino, Marty Karfinkel, Gene Kogan, Kay Martin, Steve Matassa, Seth NovickScott Peters, Chris Potter, Dan Puleo, David Ramirez, Nelson Rowe, Charles Stein, Ken Walsh, Michael Weiner


    Local Stores

    Absolutely Fish, Aquarium Village, Aquatic Empire (Tommy), Brooklyn Zoo, Mark’s Discus, Pacific Aquarium, Pet Shanty, Petland Discounts, Royal Aquarium, Tri County

    BAS Event – “Setting Up A Fish Room” by Larry Jinks, April 13, 2012

    This BAS meeting was hosted at the New York Aquarium on April 13, 2012

    Title: “Setting Up A Fish Room” by Larry Jinks

    Event Flyer: Download / View Here

    Event Photos

    [nggallery id=14]

    Event Donors

    Individuals
    Bill Amely, Norman Benjamin, Walter Chow, John Fox, Joe Graffagnino, Brian Goldstein, Mike Gallo, Abid Ikram, Larry Jinks, Marie Licciardello, Kay Martin, Steve Matassa, Frank Nell, Scott Peters, Dan Puleo, Lisa Quilty, Dan Smith, Ed Vukich

    Local Stores
    Brooklyn Zoo & Aquarium,Fauna,Mark’s Discus, Pacific Aquarium, Petland Discounts, PetQua, Royal Aqua World,

    President’s Message – April 2012

    Dear Aquarist,

    The warm winds of April blew in a good friend of Brooklyn – Larry Jinks. Larry is the apex fish breeder. He stands alone in his entitlement as the “Grand Poobah Yoda” of fish breeders, with greater than 4,000 BAP points. This is truly an unbelievable achievement. How many guesses do you want for what Larry’s topic for the evening was? Yes, about fish breeding, BUT Larry went one better – his topic was creating your own fish room. What Larry did was visit and take notes from every person who breeds a lot of fish. He took all the best and none of the worst hints and created the ultimate fish room for breeding and raising fish. It was a fantastic evening. Larry drove up from North Carolina and brought with him many species of fish that he generously donated to our club.

    May not only brings the flowers, but it also brings our Giant Auction! Yes, on May 11 there will be no speakers, only fish, plants, corals and aquarium products. As always, this will be a lively event that brings people in from the surrounding areas. It is not to be missed, with the best and most hard to acquire species any hobbyist has ever seen.

    There will also be several vendors available that have many unique and interesting items. So come on down and join us on May 11 at 7:30 PM.  As always, there is free parking and free refreshments.

     
    We will be panning a bus trip to Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center, Riverhead, NY. We are looking at Saturday July 28, 2012. Anyone interested in attending, please let me know at the May event

     
    I am asking for your help and support. If you want to see different topics offered, please tell me. 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, please notify me at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

    Joe Graffagnino
    President

    What’s In A Name? Much Confusion! by Joseph Graffagnino

    What’s In A Name? Much Confusion! by Joseph Graffagnino

    As Chairperson of the Breeders Award Program, I must research fish species to determine that the hobbyist who has bred that particular species, registers all of the particulars of that species onto the breeder form, accurately and truthfully. On rare occasions I must question the breeder regarding the spawning behavior or the environment or the aquarium parameters of that species if what the person has written is beyond the normal parameters of that particular species’ requirements. In almost all cases the hobbyist has rendered the information truthfully and accurately because many species can and do spawn outside of the range the “experts” list for them.

    I use a multitude of methods to determine the accuracy of what the person applies to the breeder form. During the fish fry witnessing, I need to verify that the species is indeed the one supported by photographs or drawings. I use several research books such as Baensch Atlases on tropical fish, Tropical Fish Hobbyist research books on various species and also aquarium related books on particular geographic areas and their endemic species. I also make generous use of the World Wide Web, searching aquatic fish sites, international club sites, such as Planet Catfish, American Cichlid Association, American Livebearer Association, American Killifish Association, International Betta Congress; the list goes on and on.

    I believe that I have all of this finally under control when the powers that be decide to change the names of fish species. Some of the experts say that the reason for the name changes is to better align groups into families based on the species’ fins, teeth and jaw bones and/or skeletal body bones. Others say the reason was to sell books with the updated species names. Any way you look at it, when one researches the fish presented, it is a nightmare to verify it wasn’t presented before.

    As an example; I found a very nice Central American cichlid that goes under the name Cryptoheros myrnae. The fish were in a plastic bag and obviously stressed, so the coloration and close inspection would have to wait until they were home and acclimated to an aquarium prepared for cichlids. Through trial and error, I had tried to breed these fish. My error was trying to breed them in a gravel-free tank. After I moved several members that weren’t breeding into another tank, I noticed the relocated fish were digging in the gravel and moving it to clear an area near the cave they wanted to spawn in. Aha! So that was a little secret they shared with me.

    No problem. I added gravel and kept a pair, or what I believed was a pair, in a separate 10 gallon tank that contained caves. A couple of months went by and viola! a batch of little babies came out of the cave and were guarded and paraded around by mom and dad. Great! Now I wait the required two months before I can register them as being successfully spawned and reared. I look up the species and discover the common name is Topaz cichlid. That name stirs my memory a bit. I check through the voluminous records of the Breeders Program and discover that I had already bred Topaz cichlids five years previous. In those days, they were called Archocentrus myrnae. No credit is given for breeding the same species twice, even though it went through a name change. I was aggravated and wanted to give the fish away at my earliest opportunity so I can clear my aquarium to breed another species.

    The next species I want to breed is called Melanochromis Joanjohnsonae Exasperatus, a beautiful African cichlid that goes by the common name of “Pearl of Likoma.” Oh wait, this species also had a name change. It was formally called Labidochromis exasperates. All right, how about Cichlosoma sajica, the “T Bar Cichlid”? Wait! it also changed its name to Cryptoheros sajica- darn it, foiled again!

    President’s Message – March 2012

    Dear Aquarist,

    March is a warm month for us and it became sizzling hot when Tony Vargas came in to be our guest speaker. As always, Tony provides a fantastic presentation to our marine loving and freshwater members. Tony’s topic for the evening was “Successful Reef Aquariums Around The World & How They Got That Way.”  Tony provided dazzling pictures and phenomenal video clips of individuals’ giant aquariums and the audience ate it up. Tony has a new book out entitled “The Coral Reef Aquarium: From Inception to Completion.” Those who purchased the book through our website received a nice discount.  Tony had fun autographing the book for our attendees.  In case you weren’t aware, Tony did his first presentation at BAS, back in the 80’s. Tony hung around with a great group of guys that had gotten into salt water fish and corals and today are leaders in that arena. Are these names familiar- Joe Yaiullo, Greg Schiemer, Julian Sprung? If memory is correct, I think the majority of them started their speaker presentations at the Brooklyn Aquarium Society.

    .

    April will bring in a great freshwater breeder, probably the greatest freshwater fish breeder ever – Larry Jinks. Larry has bred all species of tropical freshwater fish and holds the record in Brooklyn and North Jersey for the most first time spawns in the respective clubs. Larry moved to North Carolina last year and maintained his passion for breeding fish by creating a fully automated fish room. Needless to say, Larry’s topic for the evening will be “Creating My Fish Room.” So come on down and meet with us on April 13 at 7:30 PM.  As always, there is free parking and free refreshments.
    We will be planning a bus trip to Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center, Riverhead, NY. We are looking at Saturday July 28, 2012. Anyone interested in attending, please let me know at the April event.

    .

    I am asking for your help and support. If you want to see different topics offered, 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, please notify me at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

    Joe Graffagnino
    President

    BAS Event – “Successful Reef Aquariums Around The World” by Tony Vargas, March 9, 2012

    This BAS meeting was hosted at the New York Aquarium on March 9, 2012

    Title: “Successful Reef Aquariums Around The World” by Tony Vargas

    Event Flyer: Download / View Here

    Event Photos

    [nggallery id=13]

    Event Donors

    Individuals
    Ray Camacho, Anthony Denicola, Michael Gallo, Joe Graffagnino, Joe Magnoli, Kay Martin, Steve Matassa, Joe Morra, Dan Puleo, Charles Ridgeway, Dan Smith, Cap Streeter, Al Turco

    Local Stores
    Absolutely Fish, Brooklyn Zoo, Fauna, Long Island Aquarium, Mark’s Discus, Pacific Zoo & Aquarium, PetQua, Pet Shanty, Python Products, Royal Aqua World

    President’s Message – February 2012

    Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Aquarium Society! February 14th is our birthday when we turn 101 years old. We had a great time at our birthday party with a beautiful fish birthday cake. We had a special birthday gift with  several memberships through Amazon Local. Many new members signed up using that unique method.

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    For our 101th Birthday event, we had Peter Warny as our guest speaker. Pete’s topic for the evening was “Visiting Various City & State Aquaria.” Peter’s talk went into environmental pollutants and what they do to fish, turtles and frogs. He also discussed many ways to combat the detrimental effects of pollution. Peter travels around the country to assist Health and Wildlife centers identify and battle water and ground pollutants. It was a real eye opener for us and we thank him for informing us of these problems.

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    Next month our guest speaker is an old favorite; Tony Vargas! Tony is an author, lecturer & aquatic photographer. His topic for our March 9th event will be “Successful Reef Aquariums Around The World & How They Got That Way.”  Tony has a new book out entitled, “The Coral Reef Aquarium: From Inception to Completion.” Purchase it through our website and get a nice discount. The book sells for $45 at Drs. Fosters & Smith; via the BAS website, it’s $33.71.

    ORDER HERE >> The Coral Reef Aquarium: From Inception to Completion

    Once purchased, bring it into the event and Tony will autograph it for you. So come on down and meet with us on March 9 at 7:30 PM.  As always, there is free parking and free refreshments.

    .

    We will be planning a bus trip to Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center, Riverhead, NY. We are looking at Saturday July 28, 2012. Anyone interested in attending should please let me know at the March event.

    .

    I am asking for your help and support. 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, please notify me at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

    Joe Graffagnino
    President

    The Coral Reef Aquarium: “From Inception to Completion” by Tony Vargas

    This great book is finaly available for order directly from Amazon. We highly recommend this book to all reefkeepers and those looking to start in saltwater hobby.

    Order your copy today!

    ORDER HERE >> The Coral Reef Aquarium: From Inception to Completion

    As an added bonus you can bring the book to our March 9,  2012 event and ask Tony to sign it for you. You can’t get that anywhere else :)

    BAS Event – “Visits To Various City & State Aquaria” by Peter Warny, February 10, 2012

    This BAS meeting was hosted at the New York Aquarium on February 10, 2012

    Title: “Visits to Various City & State Aquaria” by Peter Warny

    Event Flyer: Download / View Here

    Event Photos

    [nggallery id=11]

    Event Donors

    Individuals
    Bill Amely, Stephen Chen, Walter Chow, John Fox, Demmi Jay Coxe, Gene Kogan, Kay Martin, Steve Matassa, Scott Peters, Dan Pulea, Charles Ridgeway, Mike Roman. Al Tureo


    Local Stores
    Absolutely Fish, Brooklyn Zoo, Mark’s Discus, Pacific Zoo & Aquarium, Royal Aqua World, Pet Shanty, PetSolutions.com

    BAS Event – “Nutrient Control in 20,000 Gallon Reef Tank” by Joe Yaiullo, January 13, 2012

    This BAS meeting was hosted at the New York Aquarium on January 13, 2012

    Title: “Nutrient Control in 20, 000 Gallon Reef Tank” by Joe Yaiullo

    Event Flyer: Download / View Here

    Event Photos

    [nggallery id=12]

    Event Donors

    Individuals
    Benjamin Basile, Louise Berelstresser, Matt Bronshwag, Nick Caputo, Anthony DeNicola, Bernard Deren, Ray Downs, Joe Graffagnino, Jim Hanna, Gene Kogan, Steve Matassa, Seth Novick, Scott Peters, Dan Puelo, Mike Roman, Roger Schillizi (estate), Robert Stark, Joe Yaiullo

    Local Stores
    Absolutely Fish, Brooklyn Zoo, Mark’s Discus, Pacific Zoo & Aquarium, Petland Discounts, Petqua, Royal Aqua World

    Manufacturers
    E.S.V., Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center (formerly Antlantis Marine World)

    President’s Message – January 2012

    I want to start off by wishing a Happy New Year to all of our members and their families.  Another year has gone by and I don’t know if it is just me, but they seem to be going faster as you get older.

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    Our January meeting was a cold one, but our members still showed up for their monthly meeting. I am not sure if it was just to hear Joe Yiallo or for the great auction we had. Joe spoke on nutrient control in his 20,000 gallon reef. Just to put that in to perspective, for those of you who have a 100 gallon tank, multiply that by 200.  That’s pretty impressive, right. Joe, as always, gave a great talk and also donated some great frags from his famous reef tank. I myself actually bought two of them. Joe always seems to captivate the audience with his talks, no matter how many times we have him here. I guess when you have a 20,000 gallon tank; there is always new material to speak of. If there are actually any members who have not been to the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center, you don’t know what you are missing. The pictures of Joe’s reef just do not do it justice. We will be auctioning off another pair of tickets to his aquarium in February.

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    This was the first time BAS has ever done a 50/50 donation, and I think it went well. With over 200 bags to auction, the die-hard members that stayed to the end got some great buys, though they probably didn’t get much sleep.

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    February brings us a new speaker to BAS, in Peter Warny.  Peter will speak on visiting Aquaria in various states. The doors will open at 7:30 as always, and the speaker should go on around 9:00.

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    Please visit our new website where you can read the Bulletin and enjoy a full color Aquatica. The interactive forums and sponsor sections are truly enjoyable. Provided you have given us your email address, you will be getting notifications of club events via email.

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    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!

    .
    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, please notify Joe at (718) 238-1792 by the Tuesday previous to the meeting.

    Steven Matassa
    First Vice President

    Black Eggs

    “Black Eggs” By Joe Graffagnino

    I have bred many species of fish, but I have never seen black eggs. I was amazed when I saw them and from a West African cichlid no less.  I obtained a breeding pair of Tilipia snyderea from fellow fish breeder Vinny Babino. Vinny informed me that these are very beautiful fish,with striking color markings. They are aggressive fish when spawning and protecting their young, and they are the gift that continues to give – once they start spawning you can’t get them to stop.
    Tilipia snyderea are the smallest of all Tilipia and they hail from Lake Bermin in Cameroon, West Africa. This species’ common name is “Snyder’s dwarf tilapia.” There are three colors that these species can display, based on their mood and especially during breeding. They can go from a pale bland color to a green, to a red. In breeding dress, both the male and female are absolutely stunning with a green top that goes to the middle of their body (lateral line) which extends from the head through the anal fin. The lower portion of the body is an orange red. But that’s not all — the face changes color as the mouth becomes a dark black, while the lips become pure white — truly amazing coloration on a fish that gets no larger than 4 – 5 inches.
    When I received this beautiful pair of fish, I realized they were too large for a 20 gallon aquarium, so I quickly did some rearranging and moved them to a 30 gallon wide aquarium. I believe in species tanks so I kept them by themselves. After less than one month in their new home, they started moving large amounts of gravel in the tank. They really like to landscape. Four days after the landscaping began, the female took up residence in a small clay breeding cave that had an opening the size of a thumb. It was obvious that the male could not enter. I assumed that they would lay their eggs on the glass bottom since they made it bare by moving all the gravel away. A day or two later I used a flashlight to see into the cave and lo and behold! I saw around 20 or so black eggs.

     A few days later, they must have hatched because the parents moved the fry one foot away from the cave and under a piece of coral. I was worried for the fry because this tank was overrun with Malaysian burrowing snails, who I thought may go for the babies. However, within a few days my snail problem was a problem no more. After their yolk sacs disappeared and the fry started free swimming, I fed them microworms, vinegar eels and frozen baby brine shrimp. The fry grew quickly and they tended to clone each other, for although I initially counted around 20 eggs, I now counted about 80 swimming fry.

    I would highly recommend this beautiful, but aggressive West African cichlid as a welcome addition to a species only tank. Also, this fish is on the endangered list of fish species, so maintaining this fish will help it from becoming extinct in the wild. Please share this wonderful fish with other members of local fish clubs and let everyone enjoy them.