Past Events
General Meeting
Thursday September 2nd 2010 7:30PM
* * * Thursday Night Location * * *
"Jenny Kruckenberg"
Killifish
Nothobranchius talk
Jenny's Bio
I began this fascination pretty much as far back as my first memories. I was in first grade and my elementary school had an aquarium in the library. I remember being very much more interested in staring into the tank than reading!!
My Mom grew up in Miami so she was a visitor of the SeaQuarium. She started collecting aquarium literature in 50’s and 60’s and by the time my younger brother and I were 10- 11 yrs. old, we were given the duties of caring for a built-in 55 gal. and a 20 gal. metaframe. I also loved to draw at an early age. I would dream of the next purchase of a scoop of neon tetras, calculate the costs… This was when $1.50 could buy a lot of fish!!
My middle school and high school years are a bit of a blur, but I certainly remember fishing and poking around in numerous creeks, rivers and lakes. I helped with our family tanks and when I moved away, I kept my own tropical fish all through college. Because of the various moves, I learned about water parameters. Then came marriage and I continued to have two tanks while my girls were little.
In the late 80’s, I was at a LFS to pick up some fish food. I saw an MAS flyer for their annual Spring Show at the Como Park Conservatory. I knew I wanted to attend so I jotted down all the pertinent information. The sound of the bubbling tanks amongst the beautiful plants was positively hypnotic. So shortly after, I was attending regular meetings and not too long after that, BOD meetings. It’s nice that I’ve known many persons in this club some twenty plus years!!
The speakers at the MAS meetings and club members taught me to take my fish keeping to a new level. In fact, I was changing so much water, on one occasion I completely threw my tank’s balance out of whack. The fish were fine, but the water was very white and cloudy. A past President and dear friend, Ken Nordby advised me to step back from my water change routine and let the tank settle down. Voila!! It worked!!
At around the same time, I started spawning fish earnestly and with purpose. A cichlid was first, but soon after, I kept and spawned a killifish. What a beautiful family of fish, I thought… they are not very big, but they (the males) possess so much color!!
Nothobranchius is a dynamic and species rich genus of the killifish family. In September, I hope to do a good job inspiring you to attend the MKKA show and also to keep some of these lovely little annuals.
Jen K.
September 2010
1. Livebearers - Natural Varieties
2. Killifish - Aphyosemions
3. Virtual Bowl
BAP Meeting at 6:00PM
General Meeting
Thursday August 5th 2010 7:30PM
* * * Thursday Night Location * * *
"Greg Steeves"
Long time cichlid enthusiast Greg Steeves is perhaps best known for his interest in Lake Victoria, surrounding waterways, and the cichlid fauna contained therein. His interest in aquatics began early when he was living in New Brunswick. His attention to Lake Victoria began in the early 90's. At this time he fell into a collection of cichlids from Lake Victoria and the found his focal point in aquatics. Greg has been fortunate to be helped along by Dr. Les Kaufman of the New England Aquarium who is a world reknowned expert on these fish and who has become a mentor to Greg.
In 2002 Greg moved to Texas where he resides with his wife Lee Ann, and children Karli, Stuart and Erin. He maintains a small breeding operation focused on haplochromine cichlids. Fish produced in his breeding room can be seen at public aquariums and hobbyists fish rooms around the world. He has written many articles on a variety of topics generally centered on the fauna of Lake Victoria. He has initiated the LVP (Lake Victoria Project) in his home club (www.hillcountrycichlidclub.com), and is Lake Victoria species coordinator in the CARES program. Greg is a moderator and contributor to the Cichlid Room Companion, particularly in the section related to Lake Victoria cichlids.
When not playing in his fishroom, you can find Greg and Lee Ann attending cichlid shows and conventions or snorkeling, fish collecting and shooting video footage in some waterway. Cichlids have become a big part of Greg's life
June 3rd 2010
Eric Bodrock
I have been interested in fishkeeping since age 10 when my Mother brought home five Corydoras paleatus, which spawned and started the adventure! By age 20 I had opened my first retail store, have operated three since then, and continue to operate All Oddball Aquatics. I have been active in the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society, Inc. since the mid 70's and at the end of 2007, finally reached the title of "Grand Master Breeder", spawning more than 400 species of fish, including over 60 Corydoradinae species, and accumulated over 4,500 points in the club's Breeders Award Program (BAP) program. Along with my girlfriend, Regina Spotti, we maintain about 120 aquariums at our home and continue to work with many species of fish, with Corys still my focus. I have judged dozens of fish shows, have given many presentations and attended events thru out the USA, Norway, Germany and the UK. My highlight in the hobby has been getting to be such good friends with so many great hobbyists thru out the world.
Eric will be bringing fish for auction and for sale follow this thread on MinnFish.
http://www.minnfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20275
Bowl Show
June 2010
Antabantoids (no Betta splendens)
Cichlids - Lake Victoria
Virtual Bowl
May 2010
Two Meetings in May
Thursday, May 6th 2010 - General Meeting
Friday, May 7th 2010 - Meeting at Bob Randall's
Peter Unmack - giving two talks
Peter will be giving two talks - one talk on rainbowfishes and the other on native fishes. Both talks are fairly general and broad with most focus being on their aquarium care and diversity. One talk will be on Thursday and one on Friday.
Thursday meeting - starts at 7:30pm at King of Kings Luthern Church (directions and address below articles)
Friday meeting starts at 7pm and will be at Bob Randall's house. Feel free to bring along some treats to share on Friday. Thanks to Bob for hosting! Here is his address and phone number:
Bob Randall; 965 Beacon Lane; Apple Valley, MN; 55124; 952-432-6298
Fish for Thursday's Auction - courtesy of Peter Unmack
Wow! Look at these fish! After Peter's talk, you'll also know just how to care for them! Don't miss this auction!
Bio
Peter Unmack is currently a postdoctoral associate at Brigham Young University in Utah. He is currently working on two projects. One is focused on the comparative phylogeography of organisms in Patagonia. The second is on the phylogeography of various fish groups in western North America.
Peter received his Masters and PhD from Arizona State University on the historical biogeography of Australian freshwater fishes. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Peter has travelled extensively across Australia collecting fishes as well as in North America and southern South America.
Peter's academic interests are broad and include just about anything to do with freshwater fishes - especially biogeography, conservation and desert springs. His current research is primarily focused on understanding the relative contributions of historical and ecological factors in determining biogeographic patterns in freshwater fishes.
Peter's web page is at www.peter.unmack.net which has links to most of his other pages.