The Underwater News - Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society

The Underwater News
The Publication of the
Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society
IN THIS ISSUE:
A Journey to England & the British
and International Discus Show by
Martha Morris
Keeping & Breeding Amphilophus
zaliosus, the Arrow Cichlid
By Michael Liu
A PVAS Crossword Puzzle
by Scott Alexander
Project Amazonas
FEBRUARY 2010 ISSUE
MEETING DATE: FEBRUARY 2, 2010
Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society, Inc.
James White
11 Barry Lane
Windsor, CT 06095
Directions to The Meeting: Until Further Notice The Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society will be
meeting at the Springfield Science Museum in Springfield, Mass. Directions to the meeting are
printed in this newsletter and are on the PVAS web-site at http://www.pvas.net.
The Underwater News is the official publication of the Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society, Inc. and is published either monthly or
bi-monthly except for July and August. The views and opinions printed herein are those of the individual authors, and are not necessarily those of PVAS. The Underwater News is provided free to our members as part of their membership. Unless otherwise indicated, original articles and drawings may be re-printed in other non-profit publications, as long as credit is given to the author and
The Underwater News. Two copies of the publication in which the reprint appears should be sent to PVAS. Address all exchange
bulletins and correspondence to the Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society, Inc. c/o James White, 11 Barry Lane, Windsor, CT 06095.
BOARD MEMBERS
OFFICERS
President: David Giza, PO Box 201, Palmer, MA 01069
(413) 283-8680 E-mail: [email protected]
V. President: Jim White, 11 Barry Lane, Windsor, CT 06095
(860) 683-2109 E-mail: [email protected]
Secretary: Martha Morris
E-mail: [email protected]
Treasurer: Linda Giza E-mail: [email protected]
COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS
Bowl Show, NEC Delegate: James White
Library: Bill Maier
E-mail: [email protected]
Refreshments, Mike Lucey
BAP: Chuck Pixley E-mail: [email protected]
Alt. Editor: Linda Giza
Alt. Delegate:Will Fontaine, Sr.
Programs: Mike Liu
Past President : Will Fontaine Sr.
E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Jim White
Mike Lucey E-mail: [email protected]
Chuck Pixley E-mail: [email protected]
Mike Liu E-mail: [email protected]
The Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society, Inc. is a not for
profit educational group. We meet the first Tuesday of
every month except for July and August, at the Springfield
Science Museum. Meetings start at 7:00 PM and include
refreshments. Club news and activities are discussed and
planned, and an education program or slide show is presented followed by an auction. The general public is welcome at our meetings and is encouraged to see what fish
keeping is all about. PVAS is affiliated with the Northeast
Council of Aquarium Societies, Inc.
PVAS, Inc. Membership Form
Name ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________________________________________________
City ______________________________________ State ___________ Zip Code ____________________________
Telephone __________________________________E-mail address _______________________________________
Interests ________________________________________________________________________________________
To Join The Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society, annual dues can be mailed to:
Linda Giza, P.O. Box 201, Palmer, MA 01069
Rates are $15.00 for a single membership and $20.00 per family
President’s Message
This President’s message finds us only weeks from the auction on Feb. 14th. We will therefore spend part of our
meeting finalizing plans for this year’s event. We’ve done very well over the last few years with club members volunteering and we are hoping for the same participation this year. Set up will begin early Sunday morning and the earlier
folks can get there the better. Normally, the February meeting is all about the auction, but we will be having a program
this month. Our speaker will be our very own Martha Morris on her trip to the UK Discus Symposium in England.
There are also several trips up-coming and the final sign up sheets for the Northeast Pro Aqua trip on February
6th and the Atlantis Hatchery trip on Feb. 13th will need to be filled out. Also, the deadline for the joint PVAS/Hartford
Club Bronx Zoo trip is rapidly approaching. If you are interested in the trip you must send in the form along with your
money for the trip to Dan McKercher. The bus is filling quickly so you will need to confirm your spot on the bus with
Dan. This bus trip is available for all members in good standing, so your dues must be current. If you need to pay for
your dues, (whether or not you are going on the trip ) it needs to be sent to Linda.
See you in February. David Giza PVAS President
PVAS Minutes of the General Meeting held at Springfield Science Museum December 1, 2009
7:15 PM Meeting called to order by Dave Giza who made the following announcements:
The Christmas party is tonight. Dave thanks the brave souls who went all the way to Burlington and Boston. He added that
it is important to go and show support for sister clubs.
It’s good to see the caravan from Ohio made it back. Dan says, `What happened in Ohio stays in Ohio.’ Welcome back.
Our website is up and running. Dave thanked Dan and Doug for their efforts. It has up-to-date information and is almost
complete.
We are going to the Bronx Zoo and will split the trip with the Greater Hartford club on May 22. There will be a sign-up
sheet next month. The trip costs $20 and $10 will be returned on the day. Members will get a mailing about it.
There was one entry for the grow-out contest. The judges were under pressure to pick a winner and Bill won. Next year’s
contest may be keyhole cichlids but it will probably depend on price. Keyholes are expensive.
Our January speaker is Karen Randall, who will be talking about plants. Fliers went out to the pet shops about the event.
Dues are due next month.
Will reported on the auction: We are getting a lot of donations earlier than last year. If anyone has a 20 gallon high tank and
could bring it to the auction, let Will know. Eric is going to make a terrarium and will add a dart frog for the auction. Mike Liu
brought fliers so let’s get them out to supermarkets, drug stores, pet stores, etc.
We will be making a trip to Atlantis, possibly the week before the auction.
The lanyard order was cancelled.
Food, food, food, food.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Minutes from the Board of Directors Meeting held December 15, 2009 at Fish Frenzy:
Attending: Dave Giza, Linda Giza, Martha Morris, Mike Lucey, Will Fontaine, Ed Pecord, Bob McCarthy, Bill Maier, Chuck Pixley,. Meeting called to order: 6:55 PM.
1.Grow-out fish: There was only one entry at the contest final. We’ll put up a sign-up sheet to see if there is interest. The idea was
discussed to let people vote for their choice of one out of three fish, with the longest list winning. There will probably be a tetra, a
catfish or loach and a cichlid. We’ll wait until after the auction to do this.
2. Website: It looks good! We have access to it so we can make changes. The automatic posting date below announced events might
confuse people.
3. Auction: Will has been doing a lot of e-mails. We have a list of companies who have donated. We need the stores as our friends.
We need to get the fliers out. Invites will go out to past bidders a the beginning of 2010. Jim White will be the auctioneer but we
need a second announcer to describe the contents of the bags. This will save time and Jim’s voice. Mike Liu and Dan L. can possibly do it. We will need a second microphone. We will be picking a day when we can visit the hall. A few of the vendors have said
they will come but no all have responded. There will be no cash sales and no credit cards. There will be ditty bags for door prizes.
The gift bags will be decorated for Valentine’s Day and we will use bidders’ numbers for the door prize draw. Kudos to Mike Liu
for making the corrections on last year’s forms.
4. Other Events: A trip is scheduled to Doug Conklin, NE Pro Aqua on February 6. More information will be coming shortly. An
Atlantis trip in New York is being planned by Mike Liu. Bill is planning a central Massachusetts trip to Central Mass Aquatic, Uncle
Ned’s, etc.
5. Karen Randall: Her room is paid for and Scott will be picking her up. A few of the club members will be taking her out to dinner.
We’ll need more snacks for the meeting so let’s all try and make a contribution.
6. New News: Chuck wrote a few words on the Breeders’ Award Program (BAP), to be published in the newsletter and the website.
Mike Liu looked at an office supply store for name tags and lanyards. He will check to see what is in stock and will get a price. Dave
is going to place a few words about Ken’s Fish in the newsletter so people will pre-order for pick-up at the auction.
Meeting adjourned 8:35 pm
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PVAS Minutes of the General Meeting held at Springfield Science Museum January 5, 2010
7:10 PM Meeting called to order by Dave Giza who made the following announcements:
Happy New Year everyone. People who are new to the club made their introductions. New membership cards have arrived. We
want people to wear their lanyards. If people do they will be eligible for the draw for a $25 gift certificate. Dave thanked the people
who brought food.
The NEC weekend brochure is out and we should have received an e-mail message about it. Get reservations in.
Hopefully everyone has noticed our new website. Doug is doing a great job getting all the information up. No guest speaker
for next monthly because we will be talking about the auction. Please take fliers and get them out wherever we can post them. January 23 we will do a preliminary walk-through at the hall. We plan on setting it up differently this year. Mike Liu has fish bags for
sale for the auction. We have three sizes.
Next month we will have a sign-up sheet for the Bronx Zoo. We have 27 seats available.
Mike Liu is organizing the Atlantis trip on February 13.
February 6 – Chuck has a trip.
There is a grow-out contest sign-up sheet. Let us know what fish you want for the contest.
Ivan Dibbe passed away this weekend. He was one of the great fish-keepers of his time. He was a leading force behind Fish
Arc of Mexico.
Al Sabatta will be the PVAS speaker for March. The 21st is Norwalk’s “Name That Fish” contest. There will be a talk on
planted aquariums at the GHAS on the 26th. NECA will have out-of-state speakers three times a year. On Feb. 6 Ted Judy will
speak.
Announced Karen Randall who gave a presentation on the planted aquarium.
The bowl show winner was Bill.
Jim White conducted the auction with his normal engaging enthusiasm and good humor.
Meeting adjourned.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Minutes from the Board of Directors Meeting held January 19, 2009 at Bob McCarthy’s House:
Attending: Dave Giza, Linda Giza, Martha Morris, Mike Lucey, Mike Liu, Will Fontaine, Bob McCarthy, Bill Maier, Chuck Pixley,
Kevin White, and Jim White. Meeting called to order: 7:05 PM
1.Complaints: Linda received two complaints about excessive talking and noise when a speaker was presenting. It is rude, and if
people want to talk they should go outside. Secondly, Mike Lucy should ask for help cleaning up the tables so we can get out on
time. If we stay too late, we will have to pay more.
2. Receipts: If we spend money and need to be reimbursed, we need to get a receipt. We need a record of our spending.
3. Auction: We need people to volunteer for the kitchen. We will have burgers, dogs, sausage, meatballs, subs, muffins, chili, and
chips. If we run out of food we can order pizzas but they tend to get cold fast. There will be a free meal for everyone who is working.
Jim figured we will need 300-400 sodas. Linda suggested diet sodas too. Mike Lucy is running out of plates and cups. We have forks
and knives. We want to have chocolate kisses for the registration table. David will check for a power strip. If we can get crock pots
we can have hotdogs. Prices were discussed and Mike Liu recorded them. Kevin suggested adding 25 cents for cheese. Someone has
the easel for the food prices. Most things will be sold at double the cost. Ed Pecord is giving us a 38 gallon set-up and possibly a
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stand for a tank raffle. We will have a terrarium raffle and a 50/50 raffle. David is working on a pleco raffle. He is trying to get 10
different plecos. People buy raffle tickets to pick one pleco. We are getting things in for the auction. We are loaded with confirmed
vendors. Someone must be in charge of collecting donations from vendors. David is reminding everyone to put in pre-orders from
Ken. We won’t be limiting the NE Guppy Club with the 3-bags-per-species rule. Mike Liu explained the lay-out of the hall. We will
be using plan #1. We sent out 147 postcards. The NEC gave us their mailing list to send post cards. . Linda will get another date in
the event we have to cancel because of snow. We need to find out how many raffle tickets we have, the colors, etc. Bidder numbers
will be drawn for ditty bags. Jim is making the bidder cards. People will need to turn in their bidder numbers when they pay. Can the
PA system be moved from the front? We need two mikes and two speakers. We have two mikes and an adaptor plug but we need
another speaker. David will ask Scott.
4. Trip to the Bronx Zoo: Dan wants $150 to secure the bus for the May zoo trip. We still have spots on the bus. Don’t send membership fees!
5. Grow Out Contest: It was decided to shelve the contest until next year because no one expressed any interest and there was only
one name on the sign up sheet. Jim made a motion and Linda seconded it.
6. Sign up Sheets: Sign up sheets will be put out again for the Pro Aqua and Atlantis trips.
7. Membership Book and Updates: David needs the four membership books to be coordinated. They all need to have the same information.
8. Newsletter: The newsletter is all set for next month.
9: New Business: Linda gave the treasurer’s report. We opened a new account in the Chicopee Savings Bank. We were paying fees
at Citizen’s Bank. There are no charges at this bank. May’s meeting will be at Fish Frenzy.
Meeting adjourned 8:45 pm.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PUZZLIN’ Isn’t It? by Scott Alexander
A Journey to England & the British and International Discus Show by Martha Morris
I was very fortunate to have
had the opportunity of attending the
British and International Discus
Keepers Association (BIDKA) discus show this past November 28th
and 29th, held at Haydock Park race
course in Newton-le-Willows, England. Some of the most beautiful discus in all of Great Britain was on
display and these were evaluated by
renowned judges from around the
world. At the same time, worldrenowned speakers gave presentations on a multitude of topics related
to discus. There were numerous trade
stands in the great halls, and one
could spend hours examining the fish
that were there for sale, along with a
myriad of other aquarium-related
goods. The well-planned activities
even carried well into the evening.
At the same time, I was able to do
some sightseeing in the surrounding
area. It was a fantastic four-day
weekend, and a weekend not to be
missed!
It was just good luck that the
show was held over Thanksgiving
vacation because it wasn’t possible
to take more than a day off during
term. I arrived in Manchester, England, Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, and headed first for a day of
sightseeing in the historic town of
Chester. There is a lot of history and
culture in the area to entertain those
significant others who might have
other interests than discus. Nearby
Liverpool, for example, is famous
for its historic ties to maritime trade
and for its Beatles heritage. Chester’s
legacy is built on its Roman and
Celtic past but today it is well known
for its magnificent shopping! It is
possible to walk along the tops of the
medieval city walls that still ring
much of the city. I had a wonderful
day exploring the ancient and medieval ruins and finding souvenir presents to take home.
The following afternoon I
made my way by train to the Thistle
Haydock Hotel, just five minutes
from Haydock Park, and made what
would be my home for the following
three nights. It is a splendid four-star
hotel with first-rate accommodations.
I then walked the short distance to the
show arena where I was greeted by
Paul Butler, the owner of BIDKA and
BIDKA Owner Paul Butler
the primary organizer of the show. I
had met him this last summer when
he had attended and spoken at the
Northeast Discus Association
(NEDA) meet in Connecticut and I
was delighted to see him once again.
Friday was benching day and the
team was hard at work, seeing that the
show fish were comfortable in their
rows of tanks and that the vendors
were able to set up their stands without incident.
The show fish were arranged
in six classes: solid, striped/striated,
patterned, spotted, open and wild
caught for a total of 72 tanks. The fish
were well prepared by the owners and
well tended to by the team for they
showed no signs of wear and tear or
undue stress. They were absolutely
magnificent! Picking winners for each
class and for grand champion must
have been a daunting task. The grand
champion was a gorgeous spotted
leopard snakeskin, owned by Alicja &
Robert Kuzmicz. The judges were a
distinguished collection of experts who
brought with them considerable knowledge and expertise to the show. Andrew Soh of Singapore, the author of
two books on discus and a worldrenowned breeder, was one of the
judges and I am very pleased to have
made his acquaintance. Jeffrey Tan is
another famous breeder of discus who
came from Malaysia to judge the
BIDKA fish. A third judge was Jorg
Stendker of Germany, who is an owner
of Diskus Zucht Stendker, a breeding
facility with 400 breeding pairs and
1,000 tanks. Other judges include Cuneyt Birol of Turkey, a breeder of both
wild and domestic discus, breeders
Mike O’Sullivan of Wales and Sid
Adam of Scotland, and Dr. Peter Burgess, a fish health scientist in England.
The trophies were beautiful ceramic
representations of discus in a multitude
of colors.
There were four lecture presentations over the course of the weekend. Andrew Soh presented an interesting and entertaining lecture on discus
genetics. I thought it a particularly
relevant topic because the fish come in
many color varieties and because other
traits such as eye color and body shape
are very important factors to consider
when purchasing and breeding. Jorg
Stendker discussed the methods used at
the Stendker facility to breed thousands of fish every year for the international market. Jeffrey Tan described
how to breed a Grand Champion, and
Peter Burgess gave an informative
presentation on "Parasites of discus and
other fish." It is important to be wellversed on the issues and problems that
our fish may one day face so that we
can be prepared for any eventuality.
The well-planned content of the presentations appealed to discus keepers of
all level of experience.
One could find for sale at the
trade stands pretty much anything a
fish keeper might need. Discus South
had set up what was virtually a store
on-site. Their fish come from Asia and
they had a beautiful selection of albinos, which are a particular interest of
mine. Devotedly Discus displayed
rows and rows of tanks of discus for
sale, bred at the Stendker facilities in
Germany. The Stendker fish are very
popular, particularly in Europe and
here in the U.S. I was rather frus-
trated because I was not able to bring
some home with me. The amount of
paperwork and expense involved in
doing so is prohibitive. People had told
me beforehand that I could probably
tuck a bag under my clothes and get the
fish safely through customs but I didn’t
dare, if only because discovery would
probably lead to the demise of the
fish. All I could do was look, and
enjoy.
Other stands were manned
by Yorkshire Beefheart, Chen’s Discus, New Era Aquaculture, the British Cichlid and Livebearers Associa-
BIDKA SHOW WINNERS
Clockwise starting above left: 1st Place Open Class, Stendker Tefe owned by Jeff Cannons, Above middle:
Grand Champion and 1st Place Spotted Class owned by Alicja & Robert Kuzmicz, Above right: 1st Place
Striped Altum Flora owned by Paul & Ange Lucas, Below right: 1st Place Solid Fire Red, owned by Mark
Evenden, Below middle: People's Choice and 1st Place Wild Class owned by Tom Meaden, Below left: 1st
Place Patterned Pigeon Blood owned by Mark Evenden.
tions and others too numerous to list.
I came away with a very generous
helping of free food samples, courtesy of Discus South and New Era.
The most entertaining, I thought, was
the stand occupied by snakes and
lizards belonging to Premier Morphs.
I’ve always liked snakes, and I spent
so long playing with a Kayuadi
Dwarf Reticulated Python that Barrie
Woodward, the owner of Premier
Morphs, had to wrestle it away from
me!
The events didn’t end when
the show closed to the public for the
day. Ange Lucas of Discus South
organized a delicious banquet on
Saturday night, held at the hotel. After the meal we were all entertained
by a rowdy and fun-filled auction
where high-quality, fish-related crafts
and other items were sold to the highest bidder. A classic English pub a
few minutes from the venue provided
dinners and a round or two of refreshments on Friday and Sunday evenings. After dinner, three evenings in
a row, I could be found in the hotel
bar, doing my best to show the Europeans the stuff we Americans are
made of. I probably benefited from
the time difference, for 2:00 am British time was only 9:00 pm on the
American east coast. It was fairly
easy to keep American time in the
evening, but more difficult to revert
to British time in the morning! Well,
the point of going back to work is to
rest and recuperate from the vacation.
The BIDKA show was a magnificent event and I am certain I will
never forget it. I was warmly welcomed by everyone I met and I was
never without good company. Many of
my new friends were people I had conversed with on the BIDKA forum, and
so it was particularly enjoyable to finally be able to meet them. Paul Butler
recently announced that the next show
will take place in the spring of 2011.
He promises that it will be the best
show yet, but I think this show will be
a tough act to follow!
*Special thanks to Paul Butler and the
owners of the winning fish for their
permission to print their photos in this
issue.
Project Amazonas Silent Auction by James White
For a number of years now at the annual convention the Northeast
Council of Aquarium Societies has hosted a silent auction to benefit organizations that are involved in conservation. This year the conservation committee
has chosen Project Amazonas, Inc. as our donation recipient. Project Amazonas is a non-political, non-profit company working since 1994 to serve the
people of the Amazon and conserve the rainforest.
As stated on the Projects website (www.projectamazonas.com) “The
preservation of the rainforest is directly tied to the welfare of the people who
live there. When rural people are forced to move to the cities for medicine,
education, or tools, the land is left open to loggers, ranchers and oil companies. Healthy rural people making a decent living are an essential defense
against destruction of the rainforest. Project Amazonas has the only regularly
operating hospital boat in the Peruvian Amazon. Our current boat, the Tucunare, provides basic medical care for six to eight thousand people annually
who would otherwise have little to no access to healthcare.” 100% of all donations go to cover the operational costs of the floating hospital which include
fuel, food, crew salary, and medical supplies.
Devon Graham is President and Scientific Director of Project Amazonas and sent this e-mail to us, “We are honored that the North East Council
of Aquarium Societies has chosen to benefit Project Amazonas through your
silent auction in 2010. We will certainly do our best to ensure that any funds
are stretched as far as they can possibly go!”
Of course we need to generate those funds, so we are once again calling out to our NEC members to provide the donations for our silent auction.
Anyone who wishes to donate can contact James White at [email protected]
or Bill Maier at [email protected]. The auction will be set up on Friday afternoon and will end on Sunday afternoon. If you wish to donate, please
let us know in advance so that we have enough tanks ready for any fish you
bring. Other items such as books and working aquarium equipment are also
welcome. For more information on Project Amazonas just go to their web-site
www.projectamazonas.com. Project Amazonas is a 501 c3 and all donations
are tax deductible. Thank you and we hope to see you at the Convention.
Keeping & Breeding Amphilophus zaliosus, the Arrow Cichlid By Michael Liu
Text and photos by the author (unless noted otherwise)
Amphilophus zaliosus is a
cousin to the Red Devil Cichlid
(Amphilophus labiatus) and Midas
Cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus).
It’s common name is the Arrow
Cichlid, and it is found in the crater
Lake Apoyo in Nicaragua. I first
heard of this fish about 9 years ago
while reading an article about the
cichlid fauna of the Nicaraguan
Lakes in Cichlid News Magazine. I
think the common name refers to this
fish’s more elongate appearance than
was soon shredded and harassed to
death, unless I pulled that fish out
before its demise.
Eventually, this large Arrow
Cichlid ended up with Ken Purcaro-I
wonder if it is still alive or terrorizing
other fish in Ken’s pond. Again, I put
this fish out of my mind until a little
over a year ago when I saw some at
West Hartford Puppy Center &
Aquarium. They had several in their
tanks, and also kept a pair in a 15 gallon tank. I thought to myself “That
its cousins, either that or it is very
fast-like an arrow! The normal coloring is a light grey with faint darker
vertical bars and a darker mid-body
spot. There is also a small dark spot
on the upper part of the caudal peduncle. Males get a nuchal hump, but
maybe not as large as the Red Devil
or Midas Cichlid. During spawning
and brood care, they become much
darker. The faint vertical bars develop into a much darker grey, as can
be seen in the accompanying photos.
Cool fish, I thought, and put them
out of my mind, as I thought they
were very aggressive and when
would I ever see them in the hobby?
Well, in 2007 our old friend Dan
Moquin, who used to work at James
Tropical Fish, had a large male in the
store. He convinced me to bring him
home, and I was right, this is an aggressive fish. I could not put any
other fish in the same tank. Any fish
tank is way too small”. Some months
later, I visited the store again, and the
pair was still in the same 15 gallon
tank, and they had spawned! They
seemed very compatible and no damage could be observed on either fish.
This seemed odd to me, that the pair
was living and raising fry in such a
small tank. Even though they were
not full grown, it made
sense that they should
not be doing this in
such a small tank! This
pair spawned in the
store tank at least three
times.
Well, I could
not resist the urge to
have this pair of fish.
Since it is basically
grey, aggressive and
not popular in the
hobby, it seemed perfect for me! The male
was around 6”-7” and the female was
smaller at 5”+. I have to admit that all
of the work keeping and growing the
pair of Amphilophus zaliosus must go
to the folks from West Hartford Puppy
Center & Aquarium. I brought them
home and put them in a 38 gallon tank.
I would normally use at least a 55 gallon tank for such fish, but since they
were accustomed to living in a 15, I
thought the 38 would be a good upgrade. The tank contained a dolomitegravel substrate, one 8” overturned pot
with the bottom knocked out, and two
6” overturned pots with bottoms
knocked out and glued together to form
a tunnel. I used two bubble up cornertype filters driven by my fishroom air
pump. I fed them mostly Tetra Jumbo
Sticks, with some frozen krill, and
other cichlid pellets and sticks. They
would not eat any flake food offered. It
wasn’t long before they felt at home,
and proceeded to perform major gravel
excavation, pushing all the gravel away
to reveal a bare bottom around the
glued pot tunnel.
After another week, both fish
changed color, developing the black
stripes. With this coloring, they become much more attractive, in my
opinion. I could tell the female was
interested in spawning since her tube
was extended and quite thick. After
two more days, I was sure she had laid
eggs, but I could not tell for sure as the
tunnel was sideways and I couldn’t see
into it. I just had to wait and see if fry
Male and female Arrow Cichlid inside the tunnel
Female Arrow Cichlid claiming pot-tunnel for spawning
developed. During this time, both
fish would swim quickly at each
other and stop at the last second before striking each other, or veer away
at the last instant. They never bit or
rammed each other. The female
seemed to be a bit more aggressive,
and that is understandable if she was
guarding a clutch of eggs or wriggling fry. One day, as I was peering
into the tank, I noticed a pile of wriggling fry at the end of the tunnel. It
was hard to tell the number, but after
three more days, the fry became free
swimming and there must have been
over 300. It was quite a site to see.
What would I do with all
these fry? As I said before, this is not
a popular fish, they are aggressive
and not very colorful. I do not usually
feed fry to my other fish, but maybe I
would have to this time with so many.
I fed the fry crushed up flake food,
and the dust from Jumbo Sticks and
other pellets. The fry did not grow
very quickly, and once they were ½” I
netted out about half and put them
into a 10 gallon fry tank. There were
Arrow Cichlids with a cloud of free swimming fry.
just too many in the 38 with the parents. I had a group of Bucchochromis
nototaenia, a Lake Malawi cichlid that
predates on fry of other fish. They
really enjoyed getting live food as a
treat. Soon, I began losing 6 or 8 fish
every day in the 10 gallon tank, and a
few each day from the tank with the
parents. I did water changes daily on
the fry tank, but I still found daily
casualties. It seemed they were overcrowded, so I took half from the fry
tank and put them into a 20 gallon tank
that I had just emptied. This seemed to
help the situation but there were still a
few deaths every day in the 10 gallon
tank. There were also more casualties
in the parent tank, and by this time, the
fry were between ¾” – 1” large, a few
were larger. I contacted Jeff Rapps
who owns Tangled Up In Cichlids, a
breeder and importer of mostly New
World Cichlids in New Jersey. He
agreed to buy some Arrow Cichlid fry
and I quickly looked at his list and we
did a mail swap, 40 Arrow cichlid fry
for some other fish I picked from his
list. The remaining fry from the parent
tank were moved to the 20, and I also
ended up moving the remaining fry
from the 10 to the 20. As of this writing, I still have about 35-40 Arrow
Cichlid fry in the 20 gallon tank. I had
lost many to overcrowding, and maybe
used 40-50 to feed to the Bucchochromis. I feel these fish are pretty aggressive, even during the fry stage, and
the larger and more aggressive specimens harassed smaller fish to death.
About five days ago in the parent’s tank, I found a pile of wriggling
fry in the tunnel. Here we go again. Is
there anyone out there who likes big,
grey, aggressive fish besides me? The
Arrow Cichlid is a large aggressive
fish that is suitable for a species tank,
or a very large community tank with
other aggressive cichlids. I can easily
understand that not many people would
have the tank space or desire to keep
them. If a compatible pair develops,
they make excellent parents and can
produce large quantities of fry. I enjoy
keeping and watching the pair, because
they are so good together, and exhibit
excellent cichlid behavior.
The Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society wishes to thank the following companies who made generous donations to
the PVAS 2009 Annual Auction and helped made it such a success:
Animal Crackers Pet Store
Aquatic Life, LLC
Atlantis Fish Hatchery
Boston Red Sox
Boyd Enterprises
Brown Trout Publications
B’Shara’s in West Springfield
Craig Aquatic Specialties
Danner Mfg., Inc.
Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.
DS Art Studio Gallery
Eaquatics
Exotic Fish & Pet World
Finlay Aquatic Books
Fish Frenzy Tropical Fish
Rolf Hagan Corp.
Harris in Wonderland
HBH Enterprises
Hikari Sales USA, Inc.
Ken’s Fish Supplies
Kimmy Koi
Kordon/Novalek
Majestic Theater
New England Aquarium
New England Hydroponics
Northeast ProAqua
Ocean Star International
Omega Sea
PetStarr, LLC
Portland Maine Baseball, Inc.
Reef Renovators
San Francisco Bay Brand Foods, Inc.
Seachem
Segrest Farms
Sera USA
Six Flags
Ted’s Creative Jewelers
Tetra Holding USA
Tropic Marin
Tropical Science Labs
Zoo Med Laboratories
Items for Sale or Trade
Anyone who wishes to buy, sell or trade
aquarium related items may advertise said items
in the Underwater News. Send items you wish
listed to Jim White at [email protected] or see
Jim at the monthly meetings and give him your
list. Posting your list is free.
BOWL SHOW
The Final results for 2009 are as follows: First place went to Bill Maier, Second place went to Mike
Liu and third place went to Dan McKercher. Bill also won the annual grow out contest as he was the only person who managed to keep his Pearl gouramis alive to the end of the contest.
So far this year we have only one entry for January, Bill Maier’s convict.
Bill Maier - 4 Points
THIS MONTH’S MEETING - FEBRUARY 2, 2010
This month’s meeting will be our February Auction. Martha Morris will also give a short presentation about the BIDKA discus show she attended in England.
DIRECTIONS TO THE SPRINGFIELD SCIENCE MUSEUM:
From the North - Take Interstate 91 South to Exit 7. Turn left onto State Street, proceed for three
blocks and you will see the large, white marble Springfield City Library building on your left. Take the first
left past the library onto Elliot Street and then the next left onto Edwards Street.
From the South - Take Interstate 91 North to Exit 6. Stay on Columbus Avenue to State Street. Turn
right, proceed for three blocks and you will see the large, white marble Springfield City Library building on
your left. Take the first left past the library onto Elliot Street and then the next left onto Edwards Street.
From the East - Take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 6 (I-291). Exit at Dwight Street (Exit 2B),
turn left. Follow Dwight to State Street. Turn left at the light, go through another light and you will see the
large, white marble Springfield City Library building on your left. Take the first left past the library onto Elliot Street and then the next left onto Edwards Street.
From the West - Take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Interstate 91 South and follow I-91 South to
Exit 7. Turn left on State Street, proceed for three blocks and you will see the large, white marble Springfield
City Library building on your left. Take the first left past the library onto Elliot Street and then the next left
onto Edwards Street.
Parking: Free parking is available in the lots on Edwards Street.
To Download Directions go to http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/about/hours.php or contact Linda
Giza at [email protected]
BREEDERS AWARD REPORT
Tony & Denise Panetta 555 points
Master Breeder Award
Mike McKinney
550 points
Master Breeder Award
Mike Duffy
390 points
Breeder Award
Jim White
380 points
Senior Breeder Award
Chuck Pixley
370 points
Master Breeder Award ,
Dan Balser 225 points Senior Breeder Award
Joe Coleman
170 points
Breeder Award ,
Elva Hughes 160 points
Breeder Award
John Frappier
80 points,
Ed DeRocher 40 points
Tom Stevens & Kim Reynolds 30 points,
Mark Reisner & Robin Cooley 25 points
Dan Moquin
25 points ,
Dick Doucette 15 points
Dave Giza
5 points,
Seth Harris
5 points
Updated 1/28/2009
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Chicopee Elks Hall
431 Granby Road, Chicopee, MA 01013
Auction starts at 11:00 AM
Doors open at 9:30 for viewing & vendor registration.
Free Admission
Everyone is welcome!
Giant Auction of Live Tropical Fish, Plants and Dry Goods
Door Prizes!! Raffle for Tank Setup!! 50/50 Cash Raffle!!
Food & Refreshments Available From our Kitchen
Free Coffee!!
Bring the Family and Enjoy The Day with New & Old Friends!
DIRECTIONS TO CHICOPEE ELKS HALL
From I-91 north or south: take Exit 12 to I-391 north; go 1 mile to Exit 3, take a right on to
Granby Road; go straight thru lights and up hill, Elks Hall is 1 mile on your right.
From I-90 east & west: take Exit 5 Chicopee; bear left after toll booth to Montgomery
Street, take a right on to Montgomery Street and stay in left lane; take a left at lights on to
Granby Road; Elks Hall is 1-1/4 mile on your left.
Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies
th
SPEAKERS
35 Tropical Fish
Convention
JM Cousteau Ocean
Futures Society
February 26-28, 2010
Asian Fishes
Speakers - Vendor Room
Fish Show - Discussion Groups
All Day Auction Sunday!
Holly Lohuis
Ingo Seidel
Loricarids
Tony Orso
Lee Finley
Banquet
Jay Hemdal
Breeding Marine Fish,
& Mini Aquariums
Lee Newman
Don’t miss this opportunity to see great speakers, get new fish
and learn from others who share your interest!
So. American Cichlids
Dr. Michael Kane
Culturing Aquatic Plants
THE CROWNE PLAZA
Cromwell, Connecticut
Exit 21 off I-91 South of Hartford. Turn left off exit.
An Educational and Social
Weekend Open To All!
Gary Bagnall
Aquarium Collectables
Tony Pinto
Anabantoids
Larry Johnson
Lake Malawi
David or Janine Banks............(802) 372-8716
[email protected]
Penny or Al Faul...............( 978) 534-3683
[email protected]
Leslie Dick …………...(203) 748-7800
[email protected]
Dave Hardenbrook……………(860) 657-3315
[email protected]
Visit Convention Web Page for All Details
including Auction Rules & Online Lot Listing,
Online Registration, Hotel Reservations, Event
Schedule & Speaker info!
http://www.northeastcouncil.org/convention