PlanetCatfish.com

Althouh it is still a ways away, I wanted to get the message out. In October 2004 (no exact date yet) the Potomac Valley Aquarium Society (PVAS), which is my "home" fish club, will sponsor a convention oriented towards catfishes. Speakers lined up so far will include:
Ian Fuller
Ingo Seidel
Lee Finley
Stan Weitzman
Me (Shane Linder)

Other speakers will be announced as they are confirmed as will the actual site of the convention (probably Baltimore or Washington DC). Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine is being very supportive of this endeavor and is looking at running a catfish issue of their magazine to coincide with the convention in October. I'll post more information as it becomes available.
-Shane

I have to wait a year and a half... Patience is not a strong point of mine

I'm glad to see this is going to happen... I'll be sure to spread the word around the local club and I'm sure there'll be a few catfish geeks representing MN when the time rolls around.

Andy

very cool. I'll be out of college and who knows where...Maybe I'll have to pick my job depending on this....ok maybe not but I'll have to put it on my calander

I had to dig quite a ways to find this post...

We have dates! And a place to do it! It will be October 15-17 in Laurel, Maryland (halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC).

Keep an eye on http://www.pvas.com for details starting in November/December of this year. We should be ready to take registrations in about March.

Hope to see you there!

Andrew

I will *try* and attend but the year is filling up... Funny going back to that part of the world - I worked there (Ocean City, Delaware) for the summer of 1993. Hmmm, I feel a road trip coming on...

Good to get a decent amount of notice about it however, thanks Shane.

Jools

Barbie, why must all the cool stuff (not to mention the lot of the cool fish!) end up on the wrong side of the pond???

I'd kill to get to such a convention when given somewhere on mainland Europe.....

Why mainland Europe? There is one every year in England and only a short distance away from Manchester airport which is one of Europe's cheaper airports to get too.

Jools

Jools wrote:Why mainland Europe? There is one every year in England and only a short distance away from Manchester airport which is one of Europe's cheaper airports to get too.

Jools

And our very own Shane will be top of the bill. Just to give advance notice the date is March 21st 2004

Ian

... and various forum regulars will be there along with Allan from scotcat.com too. plug plug plug You can even talk to Ian if you want too! We have however hijacked this post - anyone else in Europe thinking of making a trip to the states for the meet?

Jools

We can add another speaker to the list... Heok Hee (Silurus) just volunteered to come out as well the others listed above.

For those of you thinking of coming out to the meeting, let me know (via email or pm) what you wish to hear me speak about. I am working on a list of possible topics for Andrew to choose from, and will most likely end up giving more than one talk.
Still, I'd like to know what people out there want.

Well, it looks like I'm going to give two talks:
One on Asian hillstream catfishes (I will cover the Amblycipitidae, Akysidae, Erethistidae, and Sisoridae as well as hillstream members of the Bagridae and the Siluridae).
Another on the current status of catfish systematics, as well as a brief intro to the ACSI.
I wanted to give another talk on my field experiences , but there probably isn't enough time for that. Oh well, maybe I can sneak an informal one in during the convention somehow...

Andrew, President of the Potomac Valley Aquarium Association (PVAS), has passed me a few updates. PVAS hopes to have a web page up in the near future with all the details. As soon as they do I will post a link. This is what PVAS has put together so far. Mind you things are still at the point where there might be some minor changes.

Speakers for the convention and most likely presentations:

Lee Finley: A History of Catfishes in the Aquarium Hobby

Ian Fuller: (topic yet to be determined)

Ng Heok Hee: 1. Asian Hillstream Catfishes AND 2. Collecting Catfishes in Sumatra and India

Ron Nielson: Catfishes of Africa

Ingo Seidel: 1. The Mouthbrooding Catfishes of Loricariid Subfamily Loricariinae AND 2. The Loricariid Catfishes of Subfamily Ancistrinae: Ecology, Care and Breeding in Captivity

J.R. Shute (not yet confirmed): North American Madtom Catfishes

Stan Wietzman: Hearing in Catfishes: The Remarkable Ear Horn of Otocinclus

Shane Linder: Collecting Catfishes in Venezuela and Colombia (Banquet Talk)

Forum: Breeding Corydoras featuring Eric Bodrock, Ian Fuller, Don Kinyon and Mark Soberman

Dates are 15-17 October 2004 and PVAS is looking at trying to put together a number of very cool excursions and an auction on Sunday.

This may be one of the best speaker line ups ever to appear at one convention. I am also looking forward to seeing some old friends and hopefully meeting many of you in the flesh.

I'll keep the updates coming.
-Shane

Shane wrote:This may be one of the best speaker line ups ever to appear at one convention. I am also looking forward to seeing some old friends and hopefully meeting many of you in the flesh.

Clare and I very much plan to be there, but I am wondering if a video of all the talks would

(a) be logisitically possible?
(b) be "legally" possible?
(c) something that would be worth doing?

I'm not volunteering for the job, just thought it might be a good idea.


Jools

If this doesn't pan out, I will be glad to send you the presentation material (I'm presuming you want the video to be used in PC someway?).
I can also do a voiceover in a monotone, if you want. ;)

Silurus wrote:If this doesn't pan out, I will be glad to send you the presentation material (I'm presuming you want the video to be used in PC someway?).
I can also do a voiceover in a monotone, if you want. ;)

Thanks for the offers (i think !). Actually I wasn't asking this question with my pc cap on, rather more for a permanent record of the proceedings that we could dip into over time. Maybe even something the PVAS (or even Planet now that I think of it) could sell.

Jools

Great idea. I'll bring it up with Andrew.
-Shane

I knew there was another thread on this! This is partially to bump the thread to the top!

Jools, as this is along way out yet, can you make it sticky (with an expiration date)?

A few notes about the plans for the convention:

It's planned for October 15-17 in Laurel, Maryland which is halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Ian has sent me his topic; it will be: Breeding Corydoradinae Catfish: "I Did it My Way". Lee has also update his topic title, it's now: Catfishes as Aquarium Inhabitants: A Preliminary History.

The Corydoras Forum will be an opportunity for conventioneers to ask four of the best Corydoras hobbyists in the world any questions they have about Corys. Between these four, if they can't answer it, no one can!

Shane, you won't have to speak until we're done eating. We'll all be sitting around the tables enjoying a beer or six by the time you get up there... And we'll make sure that your throat doesn't dry out either.

We defintely hope to videotape the speaker seminars, if for no other reason than for the convention workers who won't be able to hear all of the talks live. We also hope to keep a record of this momentous event. It depends entirely on whether the speakers will allow us to do so, and I don't think that will be much of an issue.

In addition to the amazing lineup of speakers there will be an all-day auction with many rare catfish and other animals and plants available. We'll have an all catfish fish show alongside an all FW species fish show. There will be a number of manufacturers's reps on hand. Plus, a bunch more stuff that we're not quite ready to announce.

As you all can see, there are a lot of details that we're still working on including the field trips that Shane mentioned. We will have a web site up very soon with more information and you'll be able to check on the progress. Registration should open by March 1, 2004.

It's going to be a lot of fun and we're really looking forward to the event.

Andrew,

I wouldn't mind taking part in the judging side if possible, especially the Cory's and so long as it does not interfere with the speaker schedule. I had a sample at the OCA and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ian

Jools wrote:I will *try* and attend but the year is filling up... Funny going back to that part of the world - I worked there (Ocean City, Delaware) for the summer of 1993. Hmmm, I feel a road trip coming on...
Jools

hey, thats 20minutes drive from where i live.

maybe i can sweettalk my parents into driving me there, its not as long of a trip like the last time i asked them to take me some where across the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge

Good idea Jools! The location is WAY too far for me to attend...but it looks awful tempting A video would provide a middle ground for those that are too far away to attend.
Rich

We have a logo for the event...

Andrew,
What is the split at the auction?
Rich

PVAS keeps 2 dollars or one third of the sale price, whichever is higher. For more auction rules, see http://www.pvas.com. I can't promise that we won't make some minor adjustments to rules but the split will stay the same.

The website is now up: http://www.pvas.com/catfish/welcome.htm

Registration seems to be open.

http://www.pvas.com/catfish/registration.htm