ACA News, Volume 2, #11

ACA News

 

 


Volume 2, #11, November 2016 

 

Editor: Alan R. De Angelo

[email protected]


 


Greetings and Electoral Salutations!

I just finished doing a second water change on my 200 gallon tank in the basement family room. It fell onto hard times when I injured my back. Ugh! A week in the hospital virtually immobilized by excruciating pain is no fun. Luckily, they found the Green Kryptonite that was causing my demise and I am doing much better. Two epidurals, traction and a Physical Therapist that I swear enjoyed hurting me for the past nine weeks did the trick for me. I hope I never experience anything like that again in my life. But, all is better and I’m about 85% back to my normal self. Time will tell.

ELECTIONS

The 2017 BOT election results are in! Before I put them to print, I want to ask you all to not cry, protest, miss work or school when you read them like the foolishness that has been occurring lately.

Okay? Here we go. And the winners are:

Alan De Angelo;
Mo Devlin;
Peter George;
Andy Hudson.

It was a very close election with Mary Finnstrom losing by just one (1) vote. Thanks to all who voted.

Here is a little factoid, about 42.5% of our membership participated in the vote. Thanks to Daryl for the numerous reminders emailed to us all.

Factoid II: In case you thought there were too many Election “Reminders”, 50.96774193548387% of the eventual total of voters responded to the initial e-mail, most of those within a few hours. The other 49.03225806451613% of respondents were almost evenly spread across the five subsequent reminders [ – Electoral Minion].

AQUATIC EXPERIENCE

The AE was a resounding success. The Cichlid Show was very well attended and from the number of people passing through the tank area, I’d say that there was a lot of interest in what cichlids are. Handouts about the Constellation of Community Cichlids written by Paul Loiselle and The Wide World of Cichlids written by yours truly, flew off the table between the tank stands. The ACA booth was manned by several BOT members and others. Thanks to all who took the time to help out.

A special Thank You goes out to the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association and its members who were present, helping with the show. Without them the show could not have gone on.

👍HOORAY FOR THE LITTLE GUYS!👌

Now, I may have been the Editor of the ApistoGram for five years, but I have kept all types of cichlids up to and including Paratheraps dovii, it warmed my heart to see The Best in Show fish chosen was an awesome example of Dicrossus filamentosus. Perhaps the largest, and prettiest, specimen of this fish that I have ever seen. Congratulations!

I was one of the judges for the show and I can tell you that the competition was fierce. Many great specimens were on hand to choose from. As a judge, let me tell you a few of the things that we look for. Size: is the fish at the proper adult size for that species? You may have a beautiful fish that is not yet at full size, so it will lose points because of it. Fins: Are they at full extension? Any ammonia burn of them? Are the paired fins of equal length? Are the fins the best that they could be for that species? Deportment: This is a biggie. If your fish sits with its nose buried in the corner with clamped fins and is looking anti-social, it will have points knocked off. Granted, some fish are normally skittish but experienced judges know this and take that into account, too. If I was training a show fish, I would keep it in a high-traffic area so it was accustomed to people walking around and it felt comfortable.

Now, the stands at the AE were not the greatest, but they did the job. Luckily, with my current spinal problems, I had Mike Schadle with me judging and he crawled around on the floor helping to judge the row of tanks only a few inches off the floor. Thanks, Mike!

My four-month-old grandson was at the show and I got a chance to not only show him off to some of my fishy friends but I took him on a tour of the fish show. My son keeps a few fish and now I had a chance to indoctrinate my grandson into the cichlid hobby early. You know, you can never start them too early!

By the way, the Sea Lions at the AE were a great hit. Everyone enjoyed them and I thought it was a great attraction. You could even get a picture taken with these hams.

The only drawback is that your shoulder smelled like fish for the duration. But, you were in the right place to have that problem. Fish were everywhere!

ACA PHOTO CONTEST

The Photo Contest is still going strong. If you have not looked up the results and enjoyed Scott McLaughlin’s video presentations, you are missing out on a lot of fun. Check it out! And submit your photos, too.

BOOK SALES

It’s never too early to ask Santa for a copy of Ross Socolof’s book Confessions of a Tropical Fish Addict. It’s a great book that I have read twice and probably will read again. It is available at ACA BOOK SALES. Don’t forget the flashback to the early history of the ACA that the compilation of BB 1-20 will give you that is also for sale.

BB Back Issues can also be had.

💤 Well, it’s about time to put this turkey to bed (the Newsletter, not me). So, I would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving! Don’t eat too much bird and please, no matter what life has thrown at you, remember that you always have things to be thankful for. Like I am thankful for Daryl making my ramblings appear in color with graphics 🐟.

🎅 Ho Ho Ho! Oh, wait, that’s next issue.🍗

Take care,

Alan

 

Go to the convention website for information

2017 Convention

MONTHLY PHOTO CONTEST

ACA Photo Contest: Goto cichlid.org > Community > Photo contest.

LOCAL CLUB EVENTS

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