We are happy to announce that The New York Aquarium has once again granted us use of the Educational Hall for our monthly meetings. (Thank you!)
We are going back to our normal schedule! Regular meetings every second Friday of the month. We are very excited!
Schedules, topics and speakers to be posted soon so make sure you check back.
!!! IMPORTANT !!!
We are currently looking for an affordable venue to host future events. With the NY Aquarium’s facility still unavailable and the St. Brandon’s facility fully booked for next few months, we currently have no place to hold meetings.
If you know of a place that can host our event please kindly call Steve Matassa at (347) 277-4793
Thanks much!
We will post our next event as soon as we secure space.
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.
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.
Reservations and required in advance.
Friday, December 9th @ 7:30PM
Dolce Vita Italian Restaurant
5811 Avenue N in Brooklyn
$40 Per person
All payments must be in by/at November 11th meeting – kindly see Marie
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
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.
For More Info or to Buy Tickets Visit: Reef-A-Palooza
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
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
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.
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.
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…
Brooklyn Aquarium Society July 2021 Auction
Questions? Email:
DeeFromBrooklyn@gmail.com or JoeGraffagnino@yahoo.com
The tentative exchange location is the Toy’s R Us Parking Lot Flatbush off the Belt Parkway on July 10th.
The auction is open to the public. Non-members are welcome and encouraged to participate in the auction. All monies will be handled by BAS. Don’t exchange money directly with a buyer. All lots sold are “as is, where is”. BAS can not guarantee the proper identification or health of animals or plants. BAS can not guarantee the working order of any equipment.
Sellers drop their lots off between 11am to Noon. Help sorting is appreciated. Buyers can pick up their lots and pay at time of pick up between 1:00pm and 2pm. You must arrange for someone else to pick up or drop off your lots if you can’t make it on that day and time(s). Continue reading Online Auction: July 2021 – Join Now.
Hello,
This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The Brooklyn Aquarium Society board is working with Auction.Fish to bring you our first Aquarium Club Online Auction platform. That’s right, you can now buy and sell your fish and other merchandise online with the rest of our aquarium society members. The Auction.Fish website is used by several aquarium societies allowing their members to create their own personal accounts and take part in their local club auctions. Once you create your account you can also post items for auction. It’s Simple, Safe and Secure.
Step 1.
Visit the website at: https://auction.fish/
Continue reading The Brooklyn Aquarium Society 2021 Online Auction
Happy New Year,
The Brooklyn Aquarium Society welcomes you to take part in a virtual online presentation by Pat Donston of Absolutely fish in New Jersey on Parasitology of Fishes on Friday, January 8th at 7:30 pm
During this talk Pat discuss ailments and possible treatment for our aquatic friends
This meeting will also be streamed live on the Brooklyn Aquarium Society Facebook page. Questions will be taken during this interactive event.
Absolutely Fish owner Pat Donston started in the hobby with his first aquarium when he was nine years old. In college, he majored in Zoology, and got his Master of Science degree specializing in fish reproduction. Upon completion of his Master’s degree, Pat worked in a public aquarium teaching docents and volunteers about the biology of invertebrates in the inter-tidal exhibit. Pat believes aquarium keeping is one of the best educational tools for children and adults to learn more about the oceans and reefs around the world. Learning about the animals one has as pets sparks an interest to become more aware of the environment in which we live. It can bring people closer to a part of the world they may never see or otherwise know.
Absolutely Fish is located at 1080 US-46 in Clifton, NJ 07013
Absolutely Fish is a proud supporter of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society.
Seth Kolker
08/08/1954 – 11/05/2020
President of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society
1989 – 2001
Seth was a dedicated aquarium hobbyist his entire life. He was the youngest member ever elected, in the Society’s 109 years, to the Brooklyn Aquarium Society’s Board of Directors while still in his early teens. Seth was a visionary in the aquatic industry. His keen eye for the hobby and insight into the future helped propel the Brooklyn Aquarium Society into unknown areas. In the 1970s and 80s, it was Seth’s influence to move the club into African cichlids and then into marine environments with saltwater fish and corals.
Continue reading R.I.P. Seth Kolker, BAS President from 1989 to 2001
Dear Members,
I hope this note finds everyone in good health during these troubling times.
Not having our usual monthly events is strange to us. I know we miss the normalcy of everyday life, especially our fish club meetings, but our health and those of our loved ones is the most important thing we can consider. Social distancing prevents our events from happening.
The Brooklyn Aquarium Society wants to assure all our members that no one will lose membership dues payment time while we are not meeting during this pandemic. When we are back to normal, all regular members will be credited with the months we have lost.
Everyone stay safe and healthy, continue your water changes, and we hope to see you soon.
Steven Matassa
President
Acclimating Fish
by Steve Matassa
There are two ways most hobbyist use to acclimate their fish. I will try to explain these methods for those of you who do not know. The first is the drip method, where you would empty the bag with the fish in to a bucket, and set up an air line with a knot in it. Then let the water slowly drip in to the bucket in till the bucket starts to fill up. Then empty some of the bucket and continue with the drip. This should take about half an hour if done right. You do not want to drip it too fast, and stress the fish. The purpose of these methods is to make the transaction for the fish as stress free as possible.
President’s Message
All of us at BAS are hoping that everyone is well and staying safe and healthy. We all know this pandemic continues to grip our world. All of us are praying that we can resume normal life in the near future. I do not have any information as to when we can have in person BAS events at Education Hall. I have been in contact with Scott Doyle of the New York Aquarium and I am quoting his email response to my question about any updates we can share with our members. His response is: