Summer 2017 Volume 46, Issue 7
The official Publication of The Aqua oCf l uLbaon s atset r Coou nutn yc, . I n c . | r |iTuhm e AC q ulau r ibu m f Lcaa nc er C y , tI n
Table of Contents
Tank Tales™ 3 4 5 ON THE COVER: Embossed version of the ACLC™ Logo PUBLISHED BY: Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc. 590 Centerville Road #318 Lancaster, PA 17601
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editor@aclcpa.org WEB : www.aclcpa.org FACEBOOK GROUP:
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www.facebook.com/Aquarium-Club-ofLancaster-County-165146629317/ MANAGING EDITOR: Tim Brady
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kurt Johnston
Tank Tales™ is the official publication of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc. (ACLC). Ten issues of Tank Tales are published annually. Anyone using original material from any issue of Tank Tales must return two (2) copies of the publication in which the article is published to our exchange editor at exchange@aclcpa.org. The views expressed in any material appearing in Tank Tales are those of the authors, and do not necessarily express those of the ACLC. The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County is a Federally Registered 501c3 Non-profit public charity and a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Non-profit Corporation under the provisions of the Non-profit Corporation Law of 1988. “ACLC”, “Tank Tales”, Piscatorial Pearls” and the fishdrawn buggy logo are all Trademarks of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.
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Welcome Message The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc. (ACLC™) has been a part of the Aquarium Hobbyist scene since 1972. In our 45th year, the Board of Directors wanted to find a way to answer the questions that we get from our members and visitors at each meeting, in emails and in social media. This Special Issue of Tank Tales™ is our attempt to make this information available to everyone in one publication. In this issue, you will find descriptions of the Breeder’s Award Program (BAP), Horticultural Award Program (HAP), Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program (WAAP), and C.A.R.E.S., written by the respective Chairs with links to the current Rules and Regulations. Each explains what each program is, why we participate and how you can get involved. We also have a description of the Aquatic Life Education Fund (ALEF), how we conduct our meetings, why we have Tank Tales™ and our reason for participating as members of the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (NEC). We hope that after reading this Special Issue of Tank Tales™, our members will decide to get more involved with the club and its programs and if you are not a member, you will make the leap and join us in our Aquatic Adventures as a member of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County. Enjoy!
2017 ACLC Board of Directors Michael Buchma—President Kurt Johnston—Vice President Gary Haas—Secretary Tim Brady—Treasurer
Jack LaFayette—Past President Mike Mull—Member at Large Clair Klinedinst—Member at Large
| 3 | The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.
The Monthly Meeting Attending an ACLC meeting is both fun and informative. After you have signed in at the front table, you will probably find yourself headed over to the auction table to see what is up for grabs. ACLC always has an assortment of dozens of fish, aquatic plants, aquarium literature, aquarium supplies, and much more at its monthly auctions. You will find it very hard not to want something. While you are looking at the fish in the auction, you will probably strike up with a conversation with the person next to you about the fish. Yes, we are friendly! When you aren’t looking at the items that will be auctioned off later, you will want to make sure that you head over to the raffle table. At the raffle table, you can see all of the items that our sponsors have so graciously donated to our fine club. Before you leave, make sure you purchase a few tickets for the raffle items. By the time you have had a few fishy conversations and looked at the raffle and auction items, it will be time to take a seat so the meeting may be started. After some general announcements, the ACLC monthly speaker then begins their presentation. The presentation can be on anything related to the aquarium hobby. It all depends who is speaking. Our presentations have been about aquascaping, saltwater aquarium care, Discus fish, Apistogramma cichlids, collecting trips, and much more. After the speaker is done, we take a short break before selecting the raffle winners, and the member’s door prize winner. We then have our auction, which is the final portion of our meeting. ACLC meetings are typically held the third Saturday of every month, except for July and August. The meeting is held at 1:00 PM at the Bird-In-Hand Fire Company at the following address: 313 Enterprise Dr, Bird In Hand, Pennsylvania 17505. In recent years, ACLC has chosen not to have a meeting in September, due to the Keystone Clash; which you can read about in this special edition of Tank Tales. If you find yourself interested, please stop by and visit. If you are not sure the ACLC is for you or not, no worries. You can come to the meeting as a visitor. After you know the ACLC is for you, make sure you sign up as a member so that you can reap the benefits. Benefits include a larger split in auction items, a chance at a monthly member’s door prize, and 10+ issues of Tank Tales. Why do we do all of this? The answer is simple. ACLC meetings are fun and they may make you more aware of what is going on in the aquarium hobby, such as conservation efforts. Also, our meetings will expose you to other people with the same interests as you. You will be sure to learn things from other fellow aquarists as well.
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Tank Tales™ Tank Tales was first published not long after the ACLC was born in 1972 and has been published regularly ever since. The main purpose of Tank Tales is to inform and educate our members about all things fish! We also distribute Tank Tales to many other clubs in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom in exchange for newsletters from those other clubs. This exchange of information is vital not only to the members of the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County but to the hobby as a whole. Over the years, the writers, photographer, cartoonists and editors of Tank Tales have won numerous awards presented by the Federation of American Aquarium Societies (FAAS) and the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (NEC). In spite of the reputation that Tank Tales has earned , we have always had to beg for our members to contribute. We have continually tried to make it as simple as possible for our members as well as beneficial. The Breeder’s Award Program as well as the Horticultural Award Program give bonus points for those member that write about a species that they have worked with. You don’t even have to be successful in your endeavors, just write about it. You’ll be surprised how many people will step up to help you succeed on the next try. We will be looking forward to receiving your submission for our next issue of Tank Tales! It’s Your Club, Your Tank Tales! Thank you Tim & Kurt
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About the ACLC™
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AQUARIUM CLUB OF LANCASTER COUNTY – MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
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Officers, Directors & Chairpersons Officers
Members-at-Large Chairpersons
ACLC Sponsor Advertisement
ACLC Sponsor Advertisement
Phone: (717) 471-6244
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Email: mike@thereliableplumber.com Website: http://www.TheReliable Plumber.com | 7 | The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County, Inc.
Aquatic Life Education Fund
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Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program One of the most important aspects of any hobby based group such as the Aquarium club of Lancaster County, is the exchange of information. Since the first human like creature started carving characters on rock walls, humans have learned by reading about the experiences of others. Over the last 45 years the ACLC has published a newsletter with the intent of informing our members. However, getting people to put their thoughts into an article is sometimes a difficult task for our Tank Tales Editors. Out of this need and frustration was born the Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program. The purpose of this program is to encourage members to document their aquarium hobby experiences in articles, photographs and artwork and, to share them with other hobbyists around the world. The ACLC Exchange Editor regularly exchanges publications with dozens of other society publications in the United States and other countries in an effort to inform our members regarding the efforts and expertise of other hobbyists, and to share our experiences with the world. The W.A.A.P. awards members for their efforts no matter what their skill level or experience is. Points are awarded for every article, photograph or original artwork submitted and we give additional points for articles that are reprinted by other societies or hobby related publications. Those that receive awards by
the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (NEC), Federation of American Aquarium Societies (FAAS), or any other award program in which we participate also are rewarded bonus points. Our goal with the Writer’s & Artist’s Award Program is to encourage every ACLC member to find a way to record their experiences and share it with other members so that we can all benefit and learn from each other. To participate all you have to do is write, shoot or draw something related to our hobby and send it to the Tank Tales Editors at editor@aclcpa.org, it really is that easy.
Click Here to download a copy of the WAAP Rules and Regulations
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Breeder’s Award Program The Breeders’ Award Program (BAP) is a program that encourages ACLC members to breed their fish and distribute the fry, and to share their lessons learned. It formally recognizes them for doing so. Recognition takes the form of a Lifetime Achievement points structure, certificates and plaques documenting levels of achievement, shout-outs in Tank Tales and in membership meetings, and a friendly competition for Breeder of the Year (BoY) honors. (There’s a Novice BoY, too). BAP participants are viewed by
club members as authorities in keeping and spawning aquarium fish. ACLC sponsors the BAP to encourage members to learn about the fish they maintain, to provide them the conditions that will make them healthy and happy. Happy healthy fish will breed. An aquarist actively involved with his fish will grow in the hobby. And a supply of young healthy juvenile fish in the monthly auction will encourage other hobbyists to try their hand at breeding as well. Another benefit of the BAP is that ACLC
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automatically. (Notice that if you donate the fish at an upcoming auction, you get breeders often focus on species not often extra BAP points). Make sure you have all seen in aquarium shops, sometimes the required entries, and submit. It’s not species endangered in the wild, bringing terribly hard, but the first few times can fishy diversity to ACLC auctions. be confusing. To participate in the BAP, there is a hard If you need help, drop me an email at way to get started, and an easy way. One bap@aclcpa.org . Or corner me at a way is to read the rules, and then fill out meeting. And we’ll arrange a telephone the spawning report. Both are at the consulting session. That’s the easy way. ACLC website, aclcpa.org, under the I look forward to your Spawning Reports, “About the ACLC” pulldown menu (Fig and to presenting your first achievement 1.). Most of the report is self-explanatory: award. Your Name, Fish Scientific Name, Will fish be donated. No photo is necessary if the fish will be donated or brought to a meeting. The Class and Group, however, require that you look at the rules. Click Here to download Near the bottom of the Rules is a list of a copy of the BAP Rules fish commonly spawned, and the Class and Regulations and Group for each. See Fig.2 for an example. Find your fish and enter in the Spawning Report the Class and Group to which Fig. 2 it belongs. The Estimated Points will fill in (Continued from page 10)
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Who C.A.R.E.S. ? That’s right, we do at ACLC. We in the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County are members of the CARES Preservation Program, an international organization. C.A.R.E.S. is Conservation, Awareness, Recognition and Responsibility, Encouragement and Education, and Support and Sharing. Shorten that to CARES and know we are interested in maintaining fishes that are imperiled in the wild. Few people today are not aware of the many species of animals that are in danger worldwide, and I think many aquarists are among the most knowledgeable. So, what can we do? We can take our interest in whatever type of fish we prefer and select one that is in danger and maintain a colony. This establishes a source for these rare imperiled species that could possibly be used to reintroduce these species back into the wild, it has been done! So now you are thinking, “I like the idea, but the fish are probably high maintenance and pricey”. That is far from true, one of the most common fish in the commercial trade is extinct in the wild! This is also one the most undemanding fish in the hobby, the White Cloud Mountain minnow, Tanichthys albonubes. No, we did not catch them all out of the wild, they went extinct in the wild because of habitat loss in their native China. The aquarium hobby unintentionally saved these fish and really laid down the premise that CARES built on with their organization. T a n k T a l e s ™ | S u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 12 |
Ok, now Cares has your interest, you can get your feet wet in conservation. But how do I get started, is there someone to contact? If you are a member of ACLC, or another club, CARES fish come up at auction at almost every meeting. We are a busy crew, we have your fish covered! Getting started can be as easy as going to the C.A.R.E.S. website, http:// caresforfish.org/ and following their instructions. This is a new format and for some it may seem a little daunting, especially us that are a little long in the fin. But lucky for you ACLC has a CARES liaison to help you through the process, all you need to do is come to a meeting and contact Clair Klinedinst to get started. This is a benefit for you as a member of ACLC. We welcome you to ACLC and hope you participate in CARES or one of our other fine programs. Coming September 22-24 is the famous Keystone Clash, you can almost be sure to find your fish at the giant auction at the end of the show. Look for it on Facebook or on the website, https://keystoneclash.com/. We hope to see your there or at one of our monthly meetings. ~ Clair Klinedinst ACLC C.A.R.E.S. Coordinator
Horticultural Award Program By Michael Buchma—HAP Chair The Horticultural Award Program (HAP) is one of the newest programs at the ACLC, having only been implemented two years ago. This program is dedicated to world of aquatic plants. Just like the CARES, WAAP, and BAP programs, each member is encouraged to participate in order to receive points and awards. It isn’t all about the points and awards. Aquatic plants, like fish, are very susceptible to habitat destruction and run the risk of going extinct. Without our little water garden worlds, there would probably be many species that would simply not exist. Preservation is key so if you find a rare plant that nobody else has, buy it and try to keep it long term in your setups. Some plants that were once available in abundance years ago, are no longer available. It is up to us for their legacy to live on. Any serious aquatic plant enthusiast will kick themselves years down the road when they are trying to find a plant they once had and find out that it is no longer available. Believe me, I have! Participating in the HAP program at ACLC is easy, if you have a green thumb! Just kidding, anyone can grow aquatic plants as long as they follow a few simple guidelines. Now back to participating. First you will have to grow enough plants to qualify for participation in the HAP
program. The rules and points for various species can be found on the ACLC website by clicking on the button at the end of this article. You can also email the HAP chairperson at hap@aclcpa.org, or talk to him at the monthly meeting. Submitting your plants for award points is easy. All you have to do is place them in the monthly auction. The HAP chairperson will review all of the plants for that day. Award points will be made visible to all in the next edition of Tank Tales.
Let’s Get Growing!!! Click Here to download a copy of the HAP Rules and Regulations
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Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County has been a proud member of the Northeast council of Aquarium Societies (The NEC) since 2010. We have participated in the NEC’s Article Competition, BPP Program, Exhibitor Competition and in November will participate in the first NEC Bowl Show League Season! We encourage all of our members to visit other NEC Member Clubs and to attend the Annual NEC Convention each spring!
About the NEC The Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies was established in 1956 to assist and strengthen member societies, to act as a clearing house for material relating to the aquarium hobby, to assist local societies in publicizing their events and to promote the aquarium hobby in general. These goals remain as important now as they were then. New regulations are continuously being imposed and the computer age offers so many alternatives – both tremendous challenges to the tropical fishkeeping hobby. The NEC continues to promote education and comradery gained by sharing experiences and participating in other clubs’ activities. Communication is still the key.
weekend open to all and we invite you to come experience the NEC’s Annual Convention this year!
NEC Membership Benefits The NEC membership is extended to any aquarium society within the US and abroad who wishes to join the organization. Currently there are 31 member clubs in the council. There are 4 quarterly general and 4 quarterly board meetings, all of which are currently conference calls. There is one annual face-to-face meeting every second year when we hold elections. Each club appoints/elects a delegate and alternate to attend the general meetings. Each delegate/ alternate can vote (only one vote per club) at the general meeting. The yearly dues are payable at the beginning of our fiscal year, January 1st.
In 1976 the NEC hosted its first “Weekend Workshop” which was designed to teach hobbyists about new fishkeeping techniques, Membership entitles each club to: new fish available, the importance of 1. Representation at the general meeting conservation and assist the hobbyist with their 2. The newsletter (via email) fishkeeping goals. Over 30 years later the 3. Advertising via the NEC web site convention still holds to these ideals and provides speakers from across the United States 4. Web site space and an email address (under the NEC domain) and the world, meetings of specialty groups in 5. Access to the NEC membership list the hobby, a Vendor Room, manufacturers’ representatives, a giant auction of live plants and 6. Free advertising of events in the newsletter 7. Participation in NEC competitive events: fish and endless networking possibilities to further your fishkeeping experience. • Breeder Participation Program (BPP) The NEC’s Annual Convention is an opportunity • Exhibitors Competition to gather knowledge related to our hobby, meet that special speaker, mingle with long-time • Articles Competition hobbyists and share your experiences with • Photo Contest (Annual Convention) newcomers in the hobby. We encourage everyone to expand your knowledge and • NEC Tropical Fish Show (Annual socialize with the friendly group who appear Convention, limited classes) year after year; this is an educational and social (Continued on page 15) T a n k T a l e s ™ | S u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 14 |
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8. Club member eligibility for Betty Mueller nomination 9. NEC speaker list 10. NEC slide and video lending library 11. NEC certified show judges 12. Reduced registration rates for the annual convention 13. A table at the annual convention (no charge if meeting attendance minimum is met) 14. One (1) free registration to the annual convention (if meeting attendance minimum is met) 15. Each club has the opportunity to announce their events and discuss items at the general meeting
NEC Member Clubs
Aquarium Club of Lancaster County Boston Aquarium Society Boston Guppy Club Brooklyn Aquarium Society Central New York Aquarium Society Cichlid Club of York Connecticut Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts Connecticut Betta Club Danbury Area Aquarium Society The above list highlights some of the items that Greater City Aquarium Society membership provides; also, the networking that Greater Hartford Aquarium Society occurs before, during and after the meetings. Jersey Shore Aquarium Society You will find that becoming a member of the NEC will help your club generate a network of Koi Organisation International supporters from other sister clubs. Long Island Aquarium Society If you have any other questions regarding the Long Island Killifish Association NEC, please email me Metropolitan Area Killifish Assocation at president@northeastcouncil.org or call me at 508-643-4603. Nassau County Aquarium Society Regards, New England Cichlid Association Richard Pierce, New Hampshire Aquarium Society NEC President Northeast Livebearers Association North Jersey Aquarium Society Norwalk Aquarium Society Otter Valley Aquarium Society To increase participation in the Exhibitor Pioneer Valley Aquarium Society Competition and revitalize interest in South Jersey Guppy Group fishshows in general the NEC has formed Pioneer Valley Water Garden & Koi Club a bowl show league for 2017-2018. These Southern New England Killifish Association Bowl Shows will be Open Class People’s Choice Shows and are open to any Tropical Fish Club of Burlington member of an NEC affiliated club. Tropical Fish Society of Rhode Island Upstate New York Killifish Association The Aquarium Club of Lancaster County Worcester Aquarium Society will hold its first NEC League Bowl Show at the November 2017 meeting. More Details in the next issue of Tank Tales ! | 15 | T h e A q u a r i u m C l u b o f L a n c a s t e r C o u n t y , I n c .
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