Dear Aquarist,

We had a terrific meeting this month, attended by over 100 members, and with more than 200 items for raffle. Guess everyone knew we’d have a huge birthday cake to celebrate the club’s 115th birthday! The meeting went well with the new format where NYA is letting us use the parking lot from 7–8 p.m. then again from 11 p.m. to midnight. We were done by 11:30 for February’s meeting, which is perfect. The days of auctions ending after midnight are gone. Once the meeting is over, please exit quickly, as we have to cleanup and put everything back to the way we found it.

The gates open at 7:00 p.m. sharp and close at 8:30 p.m. Anyone arriving after 8:00 need to find on street parking. The gates reopen at 10:30 to close. If you have to leave before 10:30, you must use street parking. Also anyone on arriving on has to use the entrance on the Boardwalk, accessible from West 10th. You should have your active membership card on you for entrance into Education Hall. If you don’t have one, we will issue one free for the first time, afterwards we will charge $1 dollar for replacement cards. Please try to help us with the new rules, or we risk losing the parking lot.

I have notice members opening boxes at the sales table. Please, if you want to buy something ask our sales person to show it to you. But if you have no intention of buying it, please don’t open anything. You would not do that in your local pet shop, so please don’t do that at our meetings. It’s hard to get things back in the box, pieces go missing and waste our sales person time. Please be considerate.
Our photo contest will still run, so enter your pictures. You can enter as often and as many as you like. As you know, taking good pictures of your fish is challenging, but showing off your tank can be rewarding! Show us your stuff! There is also an opportunity to feature your tanks in the AquaticNews publication that is produced twice a year: March 1st and July 1st. There is a feature called “Meet My Tank” which is a great way to show people what you keep and how you handle and display your fish, corals and plants. Please reach out to Ginny Cahill to present your history of the hobby.

The 50/50 will continue each month, as it has been pretty successful for both the club, and our members. Whatever livestock and plants members bring in, we split the proceeds 50/50 for their highest ten bags. This is for livestock only. We have had encouraging feedback from doing this, because it’s a great way to make some money and enjoy breeding your favorite species.

Let us know if you want speakers on a particular aquatic topic. We need our members to be more involved as we are always trying to improve our club. So let us know your ideas! Also consider lending a hand at the meetings. It takes a lot of hard work from our board members to put on an organized, informative and entertaining show every month. Anyone wishing to help out, we will gladly give you something to do.

Remember to visit our Facebook page where we feature items for sale, manufacturers listing, and member’s feedback. We always have tanks and equipment for sale. If you are looking for something aquatic, reach out to us. We probably have it in storage. We can’t bring everything to the meeting! Also if you have any aquatic related items you don’t need, we will always take them for our sales table.
Once again, after the auction ends, please exit the building promptly so clean up can occur. Only board members are allowed to be in the building after the auction ends. The aquarium security needs to leave at a reasonable time. We must stay on good terms with the Aquarium, so we can continue to meet there.

We have Mark Soberman speaking on Corydoras on March 13. Mark is very knowledgeable and give a great talk.

Our sole publication, AquaticNews, is now published twice a year: Winter/Spring and Summer/Fall. Any hobby or aquatic information you hear or read about, please share with our editor, Ginny Cahill. Please send all emails to Ginny at Editor@basny.org. We are always looking for your input on our events and publications!