Dear Aquarist,

Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Anniversary to the BAS! The cold and snow of February got a heat wave in the form of our speaker, Patrick Donston, whose topic for the evening was “Biodiversity Practices for Reef & Planted Exhibits.” Patrick has spoken here many times and always comes up big to a packed house. He graced our club again this month and, as always, gave a great talk. He is definitely one of my favorite speakers. For those who don’t know, he owns Absolutely Fish in Clifton, New Jersey, which is one of the best coral, fish and plant stores you’ll ever see. He continuously has a great assortment of livestock and a knowledgeable staff; it’s definitely worth the trip. Patrick is also a very generous sponsor to our club, and we thank him for his loyal support and donations. He has once again invited the BAS members to come on out to the store in a group this Spring/early Summer, promised to open early to accommodate us, and a larger discount than usual on our purchases.

For March, our guest speaker will be Emily Voigt, the esteemed author of the novel, The Dragon Behind the Glass, a true story of power, obsession and the world’s most coveted fish, who will highlight her search for the Asian red arowana in the wild. An Asian tycoon paid $150,000 for a single arowana. People have been robbed and even murdered in their quest to possess this fish. The date of her talk will be Friday, March 10th at 7:30 pm.
Due to February’s inclement weather, we thought that March would be better for our 106th anniversary celebration. We shall then have a birthday cake for your enjoyment.

In response to your requests, we will be changing our methods starting in March. The speaker will start at 8:00 pm and last for one hour. Our auction will commence within 15 – 20 minutes after the speaker concludes, with the goal of having the meeting conclude earlier than it has in the past.

We would like to thank our members and our sponsors for their constant generous donations that keep us going. Anyone who has any aquatic items, supplies or equipment, and that would include healthy livestock of fish, corals or plants, we always welcome the donation.

If anyone has any topics they want to hear an expert speaker on, or any specific speaker, please tell us.

Steven Matassa
President