Dear Aquarist,

February the club featured Joe Yaiullo from Long Island Aquarium who came to speak to us. Joe never lets us down! His talk was on “A Hard Reboot of a 20,000 Gallon Reef Tank and Combating a New Coral Parasite Known Only as THEM.” It was a riveting tale on how he got his showcase tank emptied out and then ready for prime time again. He battled creatures both big and microscopic. In fact prior to the talk, he’d just gotten stitches removed from his hand and arm due to the potent and mysterious mytobacteria. What an incredible story! Joe is the curator of the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead, and if you haven’t been there yet, it is worth the trip!!
It takes a lot of effort from many people like our board members who continue to work hard to bring a great show every month. I want to thank them for their dedication, drive and loyalty. Anyone wishing to help out, we will gladly give you something to do! Please ask.

Continue reading Presidents Message – April 2024 →

Dear Aquarists,

Our January Auction showcased James Perrenod speaking on cichlids,.  As always James gives a great talk. He packs the house.  We had many donations from stores, Manufacturers, and our own members.  The 50/50 is bringing in many bags of donations each month.  Whatever livestock our members bring in they split with the club, 50/50. This is for livestock only.  We will continue to do a 50/50 every month from here on out.  This is a great way to make a little money and enjoy the breeding.  Don’t forget to submit your breeders form to claim breeders bragging rights and submission to the awards points program.  Sending in a photo with short description of the fish and tank description will grant you addition points.

Continue reading Presidents Message – February 2024 →

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.

Continue reading President’s Message – November 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.

Continue reading President’s Message – April 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!

Continue reading President’s Message – March 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.

Continue reading President’s Message – February 2023 →

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.

Continue reading President’s Message – September 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 →

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.

Continue reading President’s Message – September 2021 →