2014 All Aquarium Catfish Convention

[gossei]

Frankly, the in-room sales have become the highlight of the convention for me. Allows me to talk to people I might not have otherwise, as well as decimating my budget for the weekend. I've had the opportunity to talk to speakers in depth and really pick their brains. I've learned quite a bit from other hobbyists and it's made me a better fishkeeper in turn. The beer doesn't hurt either.

Now, if I can only get my fish breeding promptly and efficiently, I can be a seller as well as paying for someone else's room.

Blaise

[TwoTankAmin]

Thanks all for the info. I had looked on the convention site a bunch of times and kept being directed to the PVAS site. Nice to see the info is now up.

I am currently downsizing and am about to have not only fish to sell, but tanks, lids hardware etc. Most of these tanks are between 5.5 gals and 50 gals many 20 or smaller. I have a biofarm full of cycled filters and a ton of new and used supplies and equipment I no longer need. I also have a number of plecos which have been spawning so who knows what fish I will bring. I still hope ti be able to donate some of the sales proceeds to a few good catfish sites.

I really need to make this years convention as I doubt in another two years I will still have most of my fish or tanks, I am getting too old to keep up.

[unblinded]

My wife gave the green light to go to this convention. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you that will be there. Especially looking forward to Birger's talk Saturday morning being the Syno nut that I am.

[syno321]

[quote="gossei"]Frankly, the in-room sales have become the highlight of the convention for me. Allows me to talk to people I might not have otherwise, as well as decimating my budget for the weekend. I've had the opportunity to talk to speakers in depth and really pick their brains. I've learned quite a bit from other hobbyists and it's made me a better fishkeeper in turn.[u] The beer doesn't hurt either.
[/u]
Now, if I can only get my fish breeding promptly and efficiently, I can be a seller as well as paying for someone else's room.

Blaise[/quote]

http://www.pilgrim.co.uk/newsevents/gre ... quote.aspx Proof that the beer makes you smarter

[jp11biod]

Paul -- are you going to AACC this year??

JS

[syno321]

I would say that it's a very strong possibility

[jp11biod]

cool--- I look forward to seeing you guys again

JS

[verbal]

Those registered for the convention by July 31st will be in a drawing for $200 in "Auction Bucks" for the Sunday auction.

Registration is here:
http://catfishcon.com/register.php

Hotel link is here:
https://resweb.passkey.com/go/CATCON2014

Details about room sales are here:
http://catfishcon.com/roomsales.php

If you have a room and have registered you can contact the room sales coordinator at catfishconroomsales@pvas.com

[TwoTankAmin]

It is official. I just booked room for three nights- Thurs-Fri-Sat. I am planning to do room sales and will be happy to welcome you all to

TwoTankAmin's Used Fish and Tank Bazar

I am also happy to announce that 15% of the gross proceeds from all sales will be donated to Planet catfish to be used in any way the site deems fit. I will post a thread about what I will be bringing for sure and another list of items that I can bring if anybody wishes to purchase them. And these purchases will be included in the gross proceeds for the site donation.

[Barbie]

I can't believe you waited to come until you're getting out of it! It will be nice to see you, regardless ;). Let me know if I can help with anything.

Barbie

[TwoTankAmin]

Barbie- I am not getting out of it, I am resizing. I am decreasing the number of tanks and increasing the number of gallons. The goal obviously is fewer but bigger tanks. The result is I have a number of smaller tanks, filters and a host of hardware I no longer need or use. The goal is to be going from 20 tanks to more like 12 or 13.

In addition, my fish still spawn so I have to rehome the offspring.

But I will admit I am heading in that direction. Nobody told me that water can gain weight and get fat. I am certain a gallon of water, at least in my house, weighs a lot more than when you and I first met at Tom's Place. That fat water combined with hip and knee surgeries in the past year have slowed me down some.

[Shane]

I am headed the same way after my back surgery earlier this year. Less tanks with more volume per tank.
Really looking forward to seeing everyone!
-Shane

[TwoTankAmin]

Shane- before I had those problems I was already dealing with back issues. I refused to even think about back surgery. So you for sure have my sympathy.

I will also say that I feel like a rank amateur heading into a hotel full of catfish pros.

[Shane]

No worries. As a young man in Germany I was a rank amateur in a hotel full of professionals on several occasions... and it always turned out well for me
-Shane

[jp11biod]

it is a lot of fun to spend a few days with people that share your passion. All those pros have lots to share and my experience is that they are very generous with their experiences. This will be my 4th AACC

[Jools]

TTA,

Look forward to meeting you after all these years, will be great!

Jools

[corybreed]

I will be arriving on Thursday. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. It has been long time since we have had such a big PC presence at the convention.

Mark

[Birger]

I will be there Wednesday evening if any are going a day earlier...you will know where to find me....check the pub...

Birger

[Barbie]

Julie and I arrive Wednesday also. There was a rumor of a bbq on Thursday night. (I'll check with Michael and see what his plans have progressed to) Maybe we could do a planet catfish shindig of some kind?

I'm glad to hear you aren't quitting TTA. Life happens, but it's just too short to live it without suckie fish ;). You're no more a novice than any of the rest of us. It will be fun. You'll see!

Barbie

[msjinkzd]

Finally made my reservation as well!

[verbal]

Updates on the Catfish Convention website:
http://catfishcon.com

T-shirts & pint glasses available:

http://catfishcon.com/souvenirs.php







Registration is now open for the Fish Show:

http://catfishcon.com/fishshow.php

There are some great prizes for the show. For the subclasses prizes prints from Ian Fuller will be awarded. Here are some examples:

[TwoTankAmin]

Can anybody tell me from past events about what the water parameters are for the hotel's tap?

I have a portable ro/di unit if I need it.

[Barbie]

TTA your fish do fine in hotel tap water, speaking from experience. The pH was a little high and I think there chloramine one of the years so we used amquel, but all fish acclimated and handled it, no problem. Don't make this harder than it has to be. We'll be there to help .

Barbie

[TwoTankAmin]

OK- Barb. But I still worry since my tap doesn't ever get treated and comes out at about a neutral pH and 83 ppm on my TDS meters. The fish have lived for many years in cuddly soft, neutral water. Adding dechlor (I have Amquel for just such purposes) will also raise the TDS.

[Shane]

Local water parameters are circa pH 7.8 and 120 dGH from the tap. If we have had a good amount of rain hardness can fall to 110 as the tap water comes straight from the Potomac river. Dechlorinators are a MUST.

You can download a full report here

http://www.loudounwater.org/Residential ... r-Quality/

-Shane

[TwoTankAmin]

Thanks Shane- very helpful. I think I may want to bring my ro/di unit. My fish are pretty much living at 7.0 and 83 ppm or less. I am not concerned with the pH difference as much as the TDS. The unit is a 75 gpd, 3 stage portable and is fairly compact.

[verbal]

Thanks to PlanetCatfish for the sponsorship support.

The following talks were covered:
Julian Dignalll, "Suckers Around the World"
Hans Evers, "Brochis"
Birger Kamprath, "Synodontis"

[verbal]

I added a thread on the PVAS forum for room sales. You should be able to see it with out logging into the PVAS forum.

http://www.pvas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7317

[msjinkzd]

Thanks to PlanetCatfish for the sponsorship support.

The following talks were covered:
Julian Dignalll, "Suckers Around the World"
Hans Evers, "Brochis"
Birger Kamprath, "Synodontis"

Its actually "friends of planet catfish" and my business, Invertebrates by msjinkzd that did this sponsorship- the primary donor wishes to remain anonymous.
http://catfishcon.com/sponsors.php


In other news, I hope to have some neat hillstream loaches and gobies, as well as many species of shrimp, nano fish, and my new book to sell (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982026250/ref ... dub015B103)

My husband will be selling decorative "fish forks" as well as custom, hand-made fish signs (the word fish with various styles of marquis lighting). Here are a couple examples:

the sign is against the back wall:

[PseudaSmart]

We are all set to arrive Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I will have very little to bring. Since meeting Ingo last year in New Jersey my L600 pairs have had 6 healthy spawns. Something in my tanks has forced me to watch the fry die off 1-2 months later. This happens only with my pseuda fry. Many great minds have offered suggestions but the end result has been the same. Thanks to advice from Barbi 4 survived from the last batch. I look forward to the possibility of a large group think tank.

I have offered to being as many different L Number Pseudacanthicus juveniles as possible to show in David's room. The main concern is setting up tanks and heaters. I do not want to overtax anybody but driving in from Michigan takes some time. I want to at least bring LDA07, L114, and L600 to show their distinct patterns. Once you see them together the differences are obvious. The next ones would be L24 and L25 with nice trailers. After that L273 (red),L185, L160, L97 might be possible. We will see where this goes.

There has been a lot of changes in the past year and my wife and I are looking forward to another great convention!
Regards,
Jim