October 2011 Meeting (ACLC joint meeting)
The October 2011 GWAPA meeting was held jointly with the Aquarium Club of Lancaster County (ACLC) at That Fish Place in Lancaster, PA on Saturday, October 15th. ACLC invited Allen Wood from the American Livebearer Association to talk about his fishroom devoted to livebearers, and Kris Weinhold from GWAPA gave a talk about how to arrange hardscapes.
To begin our joint meeting, Allen Wood from Pueblo, Colorado, gave a presentation on how he adapted his fishroom and fishkeeping procedures to allow him to keep more species with less time spent doing “drudge work” and more time observing and working with the fish. Allen has bred over 250 species of fish including over 100 species of livebearers. Allen is currently the Chairman of the American Livebearer Association.
Kurt Johnston (right) introduces Allen Wood
Kris Weinhold during his introduction
Then Kris Weinhold gave an excellent talk on setting up hardscapes for the different aquascaping styles. Kris discussed the three major aquascaping styles of Dutch, Nature and Iwagumi and how to choose materials that are appropriate for each, and then use them to set up your hardscape.
After Kris’ talk, several pre-registered groups participated in a hands-on workshop/competition! Each ACLC group had the opportunity to put into practice what they had just learned. Several GWAPA members provided advice and guidance in setting up a hardscape of their choosing in a 10-gallon tank. Finally, the tanks were judged by Kris, Francine Bethea, and Kurt Johnston. The judges had a hard time selecting a winner because all four tanks were very well done!
The judging panel explains what they like about this tank
The winning aquascape, done by Ricardo, Chelsea, and Mike
The other three entries:
The meeting closed with an absolutely huge auction.
The auction table - it was a monster auction!