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Hi everybody!
June is here already and it is almost time for our summer break, but that doesn’t mean that things just stop until September! We have a few things planned for the summer months.

At our June club meeting we will be having James Taylor speaking on collecting fish in Uruguay, South America. I’m sure his talk will be full of interesting adventures.

And don’t forget our Jar Show this month! There will be three classes open for members: fish, plants, and invertebrates. Be sure to use a containers with at least one flat side for optimal viewing. It will be people’s choice for the judging, so even if you don’t enter be sure to cast your ballot! Consider bringing an entry or two… you just might win a cash prize.

We are also planning a bit of a pond tour and summer barbeque for our members. We plan on visiting a few ponds during the day followed by a potluck barbeque at Carla’s house. It should be a good day to see the ponds at their best. More details will be available at the June meeting. Come out, the more the merrier!

Enjoy your summer break!!!
Karen

Hi everyone!
April went by fast and the warm spring weather is here! It’s May and it’s time to start planning our ponds and water features. I’m even planning a small one for my garden this year.

Last month was our Home Show program. I want to thank all the participants who volunteered to have their aquariums judged and photographed. The tanks were amazing, everyone deserved honours! A real big thanks to our judges Frank, Charlie and Peter. Our Jessica did a fantastic job of putting together the photos and videos to present to our members. It was an added bonus to see a slide show from our Spring Show and Auction.

This month our program will be a Q&A with an experts panel. Our membership has many years of experience and knowledge on our hobby, it will be good to have time to share some of it. We’ve come up with a few ‘experts’ from our ranks and some intriguing questions to get us started. I’m sure it will be an interesting and informative night!

May us also convention month. The Canadian Association of Aquarium Clubs (CAOAC) is putting on its yearly convention with Betta Breeders Canada (BBC). Be sure to get your ticket and attend, there will be great speakers, two fish shows, and a large auction! It is taking place the Victoria Day long weekend, May 15-17 at the Holiday Inn in Burlington. Visit caoac.ca for details.

See you at the meeting,
Karen

Hi everybody!
March was a busy month! We had Ken Boorman at our monthly meeting speaking on rainbowfish and blue-eyes. I’d like to thank Ken for coming and sharing his knowledge and love for fish that can shine every colour of the rainbow – it had me thinking about putting rainbowfish in the pond for the summer!

The H&DAS Spring Show & Auction was on the 21st and it was a great success! It was standing room only at times, and the bidding got very exciting! I hope you all won the bid on the fish you wanted to take home.

The show was great! All of the entries were great representatives of their species and it was hard for the judges to pick the winners. Congratulations to all who entered in the show. I want to thank all of our sponsors who generously donated to the event and congrats goes to Udo and John, our aquarium kit raffle winners. Most of all, I’d like to thank all of the people who gave their time to help at the event – you made it possible for the show and auction to be a success!

Our Home Show judges and photographer were out visiting members in their homes during March, viewing their tanks to judge and share with the club. I hear they all had amazing tanks and can’t wait to see them during April’l program! Come on out to the meeting and vote for your favourite!

See you at the meeting,
Karen

Hi Everybody!

March is finally here and spring is on it’s way! So many things are happening with our club this month, so make sure to mark your calendars.  Our monthly meeting will be Thursday, March 12th. Ken Boorman will be speaking on rainbowfish, one of my favourite types of fish. Ken has been keeping and breeding many species of rainbowfish for many years and is quite an expert on them.

Spring auction season is here and H&DAS is happy to hold the first event of the season! Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 21st – that’s the date of our Spring Show and Auction. The event will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 551, 79 Hamilton St North, Waterdown, Ontario. Registration for the show and auction begin at 8am, the auction starts at 10am. Show and auction forms can be found on the H&DAS website (hdas.ca) or can be picked up at the March meeting. Don’t forget to enter your fish in the show! I know our members have prize winning fish, so let’s prove it! Tell your friends and be sure to come out, some of the best locally bred fish and plants will be available.

See you all soon,
Karen

February is the shortest month of the year – there are a lot of events coming up and only a few more weeks to get ready. For the February meeting (Thursday, the 12th) we will be having Peter DeSouza speaking on Killifish. He has been keeping and breeding these fish for many years and has some of the most beautiful specimens of this group of fish.

Have you got a tank that you’re proud of? I’m sure others would appreciate seeing your tank! April’s program will be our Home Show, so get your tanks ready to show off and sign up! You’ll get the opportunity to share with others the pleasure you get from your tank.

Speaking of March; it’s time to get ready for our Spring Auction and Annual Show, Saturday March 21st. Get your fish ready to show off and enter in the show – take a chance and possibly win a prize. I know our members have prizewinning fish… let’s prove it!

See you soon,
Karen

Happy New Year and welcome to 2015!

Our December holiday meeting was a great success, we had fun and games while raising donations for Neighbour-to-Neighbour Food Bank. Thanks to our members who came out and participated, your donations helped those in need. Special thanks to Noel, for organizing the game for us, and to Sarah, for running the gift raffle table. Albert was kind enough to take the money raised from the raffle table and a truckload of food donations to Neighbour-to-Neighbour for us.

Our January speaker will be our very own Jessica Bullock. She will be speaking on dwarf cichlids, fascinating gems that they are.

See you st the meeting,
Karen

It’s December and the holiday season is upon us. It’s a time to get together with family and friends to share good cheer. With the season being so busy, our meeting will be one week early this month. Please join us December 4th at 7:30pm as the church has an event on our regular night.

Our December meeting will be our Holiday program. Thus time of year our club has a food drive for the Neighbour-to-Neighbour Food Bank. We’re asking members to bring nonperishable food items as well as gifts items for our gift raffle table. All proceeds will go to Neighbour-to-Neighbour.

For members we will have pizza and wings as well as a game or two. If anyone wants to bring a dessert to share, please feel free to do so. I’m sure it will be a fun night for all, and we hope to raise even more for Neighbour-to-Neighbour than last year.

The club will also be gathering at King’s Buffet the following Thursday, December 11th at 7pm. The restaurant is located at 200 Centennial Parkway North, just South of Barton. Come on out to celebrate the holidays with your fish friends!

See you at the meeting,
Karen

Hi everyone!
I hope you’re all well.

It’s November already, boy time flies! September and October were very active months for the local clubs holding their annual fall auctions. I’d like to again thank our volunteers who helped at our auction – we couldn’t have done it without you. I hope you all attended at least one event and found something new for your tanks. I know I gave a new project for the winter and I enjoyed picking up new things for it.

I’d like to thank club member Larry Johnson for his wonderful presentation at the October meeting.  He had just returned from his trip to the African Rift Lakes. He always has new updates about what is happening in Lake Malawi with regards to some of our favourite cichlids.

Our November speaker will be Zenin Skomorowski, a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Aquarium Society frequently spotted at our own events. Hus topic for the evening will be a Beginners Guide to Photographing Your Fish. We all appreciate great photos of fish and it would be nice to pick up some pointers on how to get good shots of our own fish. Bring your camera if you wish.

I hope to see you all the 13th,
Karen

Hi everyone!
September was our first meeting back from summer break and it was good to see so many of you there.  I want to send a big thank you to Ron Bishop for giving us a very informative talk on how to and how not to show fish.  A lot of what was discussed will be very useful to us when H&DAS hosts its annual show in March 2015.

The October meeting will take place on Thursday the 9th at 7:30pm.  Our speaker for October will be our very own Larry Johnson.  He has recently returned from a trip to the African Rift Lakes.  He will be filling us in on the details of his trip to Lake Malawi.  It will be a meeting any cichlidphile wouldn’t want to miss! I’m really looking forward to seeing his pictures of some of the hobby’s favourite fish species in their natural environment.

See you there,
Karen

Hi everybody, it’s hard to believe that it’s May already. It’s time to get our gardens and ponds beautiful again for summer; I know I have been thinking about what plants and fish will be going in my pond this summer.

Speaking of ponds… May is pond month!! Our speaker for Thursday May 8th  we will be Lisa Vanderwallers coming from Moore’s Water Gardens. Be sure to come out to the meeting and see and hear some great ideas for your pond. Or if you don’t have a pond or water feature learn how to do one.

What else is happening in May? Durham’s club is hosting the CAOAC Annual Convention this year over the Victoria Day long weekend, Friday May 16th to Sunday the 18th, at Humber College. It should be a fun filled weekend with lots of events happening. Be sure to order your tickets from the Durham club.

There are just two months left before our summer break . We are going to have our Jar Show at our meeting in June. I am sure you all have at least one fish you would like to show off. Bring that fish, plant, or invertebrate to the meeting and show it. We will be doing a “people’s choice” for voting on the favorite ..You will be casting your votes as to who you think should win in each of the three categories we will have.

Our speaker for June will be Al Ridley. He will be talking about West African Cichlids…..Yes, there are other cichlids in Africa that don’t come from the Rift lakes. There are some unique ones in that group.. Be sure to come out and hear about “the other African fish” See you all soon…Karen