Dear Aquarist,

June brings warm weather and sunny skies, but it is also the final event before our summer hiatus. We ended our fiscal year with a fantastic speaker – James Perrenod, President of Discus R Us, he is also the President of the Jersey Shore Aquarium Society. James topic for the evening was “Discus Keeping Q & A Session.” The entire event was asking and answering questions. All of us learned a lot. It was educational as well as entertaining. James invited us to his fish warehouse in Ocean Gate, New Jersey and we plan on carpooling there in mid-August. James will give a 25% discount to all that attend this trip. James has many other types of freshwater fish such as cory’s, angelfish, cichlids, tetras, etc., as well as marine fish and corals.
We plan on sending out an email to all active members about this trip in the near future.

New BAS shirts arrived and they were selling like hotcakes! Many of you noticed that the BAS officers and Board members wore the regular BAS shirt with the word TEAM on the back. We did this to identify our members that work and help organize our events. We also have new BAS hats in a light blue color. Everyone enjoyed the supplies and clothing tables and auction items.

Our next event will be on September 14 and our guest speaker will be Justin Spall of www.H2Oplants.com. Justin is a big hit on YouTube! His topic for the evening will be “Setting Up A Plant Room”.

Anyone wishing to donate any healthy livestock (fish, plants or live corals) or dry goods can bring them to any general meeting. Donations are always welcome and appreciated – it’s what keeps our club healthy!

I must ask for our members’ help – our Treasurer Al Turrisi must leave his position due to personal reasons. Please, if you have experience in accounting, we need your help.

Also, we are looking to rent a garage, street level, to hold our BAS equipment and supplies. If you have something reasonable, please let us know.

If you want to see different speakers and learn about different aquatic systems, fish, plants and marine life, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! So please let us know what you want and why, because it would be helpful to everyone. It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455.

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, which is held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.

From all of us at BAS please have a happy and healthy summer! Like the song said, “See You In September”, unless your going with us for the August carpool trip.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

May felt more like April with the cool and wet weather, but we always have sunny skies at our Giant Spring auction. We got new style hats in a light blue color with our logo in gold. We ordered more of our BAS shirts and they should arrive by our next meeting. Our discounted shirts, hats and patches kept the crowds looking for more. The aquatic supplies, books and equipment tables held our hobbyists’ interest. The auction had over 200+ bags of livestock, not counting aquariums, lights and aquatic stands. It was a late night, but our members enjoyed it.

In June, we will have James Perrenod, President of Discus R Us; his topic for the evening will be “Discus Keeping Q & A Session.” As always, there will be free parking and refreshments. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Entry is free to all active members. Non-members are asked to donate $5.00 at the door to help offset expenses; however, their $5.00 that night is good towards the cost of annual membership. Members receive discounts in most of our sponsoring stores and free entry to all our giant auctions.

Anyone wishing to donate any healthy livestock (fish, plants or live corals) or dry goods can bring them to any general meeting. Donations are always welcome and appreciated – it’s what keeps our club healthy!

I must ask for our members’ help – our Treasurer Al Turrisi must leave his position due to personal reasons. Please, if you have experience in accounting, we need your help.

Also, we are looking for a garage to hold our BAS equipment and supplies. If you have something reasonable, please let us know.

June is our annual election night – if anyone is looking to be on the Board or run for an officer’s position, please let me know. We need for you to step up and have your voice heard. Please try to help us to help you make and build a better BAS.

If you want to see different speakers and learn about different aquatic systems, fish, plants and marine life, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! So please let us know what you want and why, because it would be helpful to everyone. It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, which are held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

April has brought in Joe Ferdenzi as our guest speaker. Joe’s topic for the evening was “Basic Marine Aquariums.” Joe discussed the basics on setting up and running a small marine aquarium for fish or corals. His information was on low cost and easy to run aquariums. This is what beginners need to determine if they want to get more deeply involved in the marine ecosystem. It was a great talk and newbie’s learned a lot.

Our next event is our giant May Auction. There will not be a speaker just livestock, lighting, equipment, filters, aquariums and all types of marine items, freshwater products and plant supplements and fertilizers. We expect to have several hundred items available for our members to choose from. Our members and sponsors donate heavily to show the best quality items they have. Get there early to view the items of livestock and dry goods. You will not be disappointed! Make no mistake, be there or lose out on unbelievable and rare species that you may never see again.
As always free parking and refreshments. Hope to see you there.

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 speak on, or any specific speaker, please tell us. We shall do our best to bring in those guest lecturers that you have been looking for.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

March has played games with us weather wise. At times it’s a pussy cat and other times it hits us with Nor’easters and snowstorms. However, we were lucky for our event because the weather was beautiful for Nathaniel Curtis of ZooMed came in from California as our guest speaker. Nathaniel’s topic for the evening was “The Science Behind The Spectrum.” He discussed the various lighting fixtures and styles and what works best with corals, plants and fish. He explained where and how halogen, florescent, LED and even incandescent lights worked best for plants, corals and/or fish. It was a very informative meeting.

April showers will also bring in a ray of sunshine in the form of Joe Ferdenzi. Joe was the President of our sister club Greater City Aquarium Society for 23 years. Joe is our April guest speaker and his topic for the evening will be “Basic Marine Aquariums.” This is for all of you that want to try a marine aquarium, be it for corals, marine fish, plants or all of the above. Joe makes it easy and inexpensive. If you ever thought about a salt water aquarium this is the meeting you want to be at. It’s great for all of those that are new to marine tanks. Come on down, you will learn a lot.

As always free parking and refreshments. Doors open at 7:30 with the speaker going on at 8:30. We will have an auction after, with fish, coral, plants, even dry goods. So get there early to view all the items. Hope to see you there.

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.

Steven Matassa
President

BAS President, Steve Matassa with our speaker John Coppolino

Dear Aquarist,

Our February 2018 event marked another milestone for BAS – our 107th Birthday! Happy Birthday to all of us! We are strong and prosperous thanks to you. We all know that February is a cold and bleak month, but we had a really big ray of sunshine come through for us. Our guest speaker for the evening was John Coppolino, whose topic for the evening was “Building My Dream System – 1,300 gallon SPS Display.” John had talked about this topic prior to his move to his new home in Virginia. He had planned to build his house around his aquarium. Well, he did it and he returned to let us know the entire story. Wow, what an understanding wife! John told us about how he planned every detail and what ideas had to be expanded upon to make his marine system work: a very interesting and rewarding story.

March is next and we have Nathanial Curtis from ZooMed [ZooMed is also one of our sponsors]. Nathanial’s topic for the evening will be “The Science Behind the Spectrum.” He will discuss various lighting fixtures and styles and what works best with corals, plants and fish. This is a discussion that you will not want to miss.
We had to make a change of speakers for our April event. Sanjay Joshi was to speak on “Reef Lighting,” but he must attend a business forum outside of the United States. Joe Ferdenzi, former President of Greater City Aquarium Society, will be our speaker instead. Joe’s topic for the evening will be “Basic Marine Aquariums.” This is for all of you that want to get into salt water aquariums but are unsure about taking the plunge. Joe makes it easy to understand and explains that it is not expensive at all. It’s great for all of those that are new to marine tanks. Come on down; you will learn a lot.

As always, free parking and refreshments. Doors open at 7:30 with the speaker going on at 8:30. We will have an auction after, with fish, coral, plants, even dry goods. So get there early to view all the items. Hope to see you there.

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.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

We hope that everyone will have a safe, happy and healthy 2018! Our January meeting was a cold and rainy night, but never the less a packed house. We had Joey Mullen from Canada as our speaker, a.k.a. King of D.I.Y. Joey’s plane was delayed in Boston, and we had a large crowd anxiously waiting his arrival. Joey finally got to talk after 10:00pm, but the crowd waited in anticipation. He also did a Q&A for over an hour after his talk. He walked us through his fish room building which is as big as some house’s in Brooklyn.

 
As some of you are not aware these meeting take a lot of man power and team work, before and during the meetings. This is why we urge our members to volunteer to help out. The board members and all volunteers do not get paid; they do it for the love of our 106 year old (next month we will be 107 years old) club. Without their help it would not happen. If you are interested in helping please let us know.

 
For our February event we will have John Coppolino return as our speaker and his topic will be “Building My Dream System – 1300 gallon SPS Display”. Yes that’s right 1,300 gal. John provides a great presentation so get there early to enjoy all of the festivities..

 
As always free parking and refreshments. Doors open at 7:30 with the speak going on about 8:30. We will have an auction after, with fish, coral, plants, even dry goods. So get there early to view all the items. Hope to see you there.

 
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.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

Our December Holiday Party at Mama Rao’s Restaurant on 11th Avenue in Brooklyn was fantastic. The food was great and the waiter service was spectacular. They made a beautiful holiday cake for our dessert (see pictures of the event). We handed out awards for the past year’s recipients and certificates for Officers and Board members; also we handed certificates of appreciation to those sponsors and stores that donated to our monthly events. We shall mail them out to those sponsors, donator stores and manufacturers that were not able to attend. John Todaro submitted his best of articles for the Aquatica awards. It was a great night and what made it perfect was that all of us were able to sit, eat and enjoy good fishy conversation with fellow members and family.

Our January event will be truly special! We will be bringing in from the cold, Arctic areas of Canada a really warm person – Joey Mullen, aka UaruJoey – King of DIY. Joe’s topic for the evening will be “My Aquarium Gallery…The Untold Story.” Did you know that Joe has nearly 650,000 subscribers on YouTube (Click here for his Channel),  80,000 followers on Facebook and another 50,000 on Instagram? That is amazing!!

After Joe’s talk, we will have our auction of livestock and dry goods. As always, there is Free Parking and Free Refreshments. Doors open at 7:30 pm and our guest speaker will go on at 8:30 pm. We have a new BAS shirt for you, along with our BAS baseball hat and BAS patch. Come visit our tables to check on our new and used aquatic supplies and equipment for you to peruse at your leisure.

If you want to see different speakers and learn about different aquatic systems, fish, plants and marine life, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! Let us know what you want and why, because it would be helpful to everyone. It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455, or visit our modern website at www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org.

On a more personal note – we are looking for a videographer; someone who can edit our speaker videos and upload them to our account on Vimeo. This will be the site that our members can watch and learn from our guest speakers as they give their expert advice on that night’s topic. We have videos of most of our speakers from as far back as 1995.

Any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, which are held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

Our November event was on a cold night, as low as 23 degrees F., but it was red hot at our BAS meeting with the great Joe Yaiullo as our guest speaker. Joe spoke about his 20,000-gallon Bonsai Reef aquarium. He always provides a great talk and stays after his presentation to answer questions. We spoke with him about taking a bus trip this summer to his Long Island Aquarium and Exposition Center in Riverhead, Long Island where he is the curator. We were able to take a bus trip there a few years ago and everyone had a great time. Not only did Joe give a personal behind-the-scenes tour, but we were able to see his breeding facilities. It was fantastic!

Our auction was a huge hit with over 225 items of tropical plants, marine and freshwater fish species, corals and an extensive array of aquariums, stands, lighting, aquarium products and supplies. Members and friends had a great time. Now that we have a Treasurer, we reinstated our 50/50 deal for livestock for members for 10 lots each. For the months of April and November, we will have a 50/50 for live plants, corals, and fish. Members who participated in the 50/50 will be able to obtain their fair share at the January event.

The next event will be our Holiday Party. No auction or speaker, just good food, good friends and a great time. This year the party will be held at Mama Rao’s Italian Restaurant located on 11th Ave. between 65 & 64 Streets in Brooklyn. Party starts at 8:00 pm. The cost to members is $41 per person; see last month’s Bulletin for details.

If you want to see different speakers and learn about different aquatic systems, fish, plants and marine life, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! So let us know what you want and why because it would be helpful to everyone. It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455, or visit our modern website at www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org.

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, which are held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

October is our Giant Auction. As always we had close to 300 items for your aquatic pleasure. We had tropical plants, and because of Victoria, we had house plants. We also had marine and freshwater fish species, corals and an extensive array of aquarium products and supplies. The place was rocking and everyone left with their arms full of aquatic treasures!

On to our November event! Our good friend Joe Yaiullo will be our guest speaker. Joe has been the curator for the Long Island Aquarium and Exposition Center in Riverhead, Long Island. Joe always has an exciting marine talk and he will tell us about upcoming events at his facility. As always, besides our auction, we will have plenty of refreshments and free parking.

Thanks to Al Turrisi stepping up to take the position of Treasurer we can now reinstall our 50/50 for livestock at our November event. This means that any live plant fish or coral can be donated and the person who donates it, if they desire, can obtain ½ of what it goes for. Pick up for their donations will be at the next regular meeting, which is in January. We must limit the number of bags per person to not more than 10.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Entry is free to all active members, non-members are asked to donate $5.00 at the door to help offset expenses; however, that donation is good towards annual membership that night. Members with active membership cards receive discounts at most of our sponsoring stores and free entry to all our events.

Anyone wishing to donate any healthy livestock (fish, plants or live corals) or dry goods can bring them to any general meeting. Donations are always welcome and appreciated – it’s what keeps your club healthy!

Also, if you want to see different speakers and learn about different aquatic systems, fish, plants and marine life, please let me know. The elected officials of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society are here to serve YOU! So let us know what you want and why because it would be helpful to everyone. It is important that you visit and patronize our sponsors. It goes full circle: by helping them, they are also helping you as hobbyists and everyone is helping the Brooklyn Aquarium Society, so help us, help you!

For more info, please call our BAS Hotline at (718) 837-4455, or visit our modern website at www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org.

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, which are held at Education Hall of the New York Aquarium on the 1st Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at (347) 277-4793 by the Tuesday before the meeting.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

The start of our new fiscal year was a great success. Our guest speaker was Joshua Wiegert of Batfish Aquatics. Joshua’s topic for the evening was “Brackish Water Species.” It was a terrific power point presentation on the various types of species, how to care for them and what would be possible tank mates. It was very well received.

We continue to try and conclude our events in a timely manner so that all of us are not there all night. As part of the changes, we have multiple auctioneers to introduce our livestock and dry goods to our attendees. Bill Amely and Dennis Alestra kept the auction items moving at a rapid pace. We had many interesting fish, plants, marine fish and corals and dry goods. We also had many aquariums and stands donated by our members. We had runners to bring the items to our members and prevent a clog at the auction table. It’s your donations that keep us successful, so please keep them coming.

October will bring our Giant Fall Auction! That is correct – No Speaker just items for auction. In past events we had 300 – 400 items so come on down and check things out. I am sure we will have something of interest for everyone. As always, we will have free parking and free refreshments.

In response to your requests, we have changed our routine. Doors open at 7:30 pm, for viewing of auction items. The speaker will go on at 8:00 pm (so be on time) and last for one hour. Our auction will commence within 15 minutes after the speaker concludes, with the goal of having the meeting end earlier than it has in the past. Our new auction routine is that you raise your hand when the auctioneer calls an item that you want to bid on. Please keep your hand up until it goes past the amount you wanted to spend.

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, which 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 speak about, or any specific speaker, please tell us.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

Our final event for our fiscal year ended with great success. We had Ruben Lugo as our guest speaker. I think Ruben is the “pied Piper” of breeding pleco, cory and other types of catfish. His presentation was on “My Adventures Keeping & Breeding L-Number & Other Fish That Suck.” It was a great talk that broke down the complex barriers so that novices could understand the various techniques he used to get them to spawn. It was fascinating and I for one really learned a lot. Ruben was generous and brought several bags of livestock as well as Repashy fish foods to our auction.

For the second time, we had multiple auctioneers to introduce our livestock and dry goods to our attendees to help all of us get home at an earlier hour. Our Bill Amely started it off but had to leave early and Dan Puleo, Mike Roman and even yours truly jumped in to help out. I think everyone enjoyed it and it certainly helped to move the auction at a faster pace. This event we had runners to bring the items to our members and prevent a clog at the auction table. This worked out well to eliminate the auctioned items confusion at the tables. It’s your donations that keep us successful, so please keep them coming.

June is also election night. This is where we vote on members to fill the much needed officer and Board member slots. I am grateful for the volunteering of our members who stepped forward and are willing to help us out. We finally have several positions filled and the open vacancies on our Board list have mostly been filled. Our new Treasurer is Al Turrisi; our new 1st Vice President is Gene Kogan; we may have a new Exchange Editor, but I am waiting for a firm commitment first. We also have several new Board members that I would like to welcome – Leon Perry, Wayne Sinckler, Larry Whitfield and Ronald Wiesenfield. All new positions take effect at our July 7, 2017 Board meeting. Thank you and welcome to all!

As always, we will have free parking and free refreshments. Our regular monthly event auctions have great items available, but they do go quickly. In response to your requests, we have changed our routine. Doors open at 7:30 pm for viewing of auction items. The speaker will go on at 8:00 pm, so be on time, and last for one hour. Our auction will commence within 15 minutes after the speaker concludes, with the goal of having the meeting end earlier than it has in the past. Our new auction routine is that you raise your hand when the auctioneer calls an item that you want to bid on. Please keep your hand up until it goes past the amount you want to spend for it.

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, which 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 speak about, or any specific speaker, please tell us.

We wish everyone a fun, happy and safe summer! We will see you again at the September 8, 2017 event where we shall have Joshua Wiegert as our guest speaker and his topic will be “Brackish Water Species.” See you then!

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

May’s flowers also brought in our Giant Spring Auction. We had hundreds of items on our tables, from fish to plants to corals to equipment and supplies, including aquariums, stands and nano systems. If you could not find something that you could have brought home, then you are not a tropical fish hobbyist. We had three auctioneers with each going in rapid fire succession. That was the only way we could finish by midnight. Much thanks and appreciation to Bill Amely, Dan Puleo and the great Dennis Alestra! A special thanks to you, our members, for making it all possible. It’s your donations that keep us successful, so please keep them coming.

Prior to our June event, we will have completed our trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. We will also have made stops at Discus Hans and House of Tropics aquarium. We joined with a host of other clubs to make this a true sharing of aquatic joy. We have almost 60 people attending from our club, Danbury, CT, North Jersey A.S., Greater City A.S. and the Potomac Valley A.S. of Maryland/Virginia area. We will post pictures of this multiple club event in our next publication.

June will be our last event before our summer break. Our season will end on a fantastic note by having Ruben Lugo as our guest speaker. Ruben is the “Pied Piper” of catfish. If he can’t get them to breed, then they are dead, and even then he could probably nudge a fertilized egg or two. Ruben’s topic for the evening will be My Adventures Keeping & Breeding L-number & Other Fish That Suck.

We will also have our yearly elections in June.  If you are a BAS member for 6 months or more, you can run for an officer or Board member position. We have had several positions open as well as Board member slots available. This is your club, please volunteer to help us, help you. Please come to vote for the running of your society.

As always, we will have free parking and free refreshments. Our regular monthly event auctions have great items available, but they do go quick.  In response to your requests, we have changed our routine.  Doors open at 7:30 pm, for viewing of auction items. The speaker will go on at 8:00 pm, so be on time, and last for one hour. Our auction will commence within 15 minutes after the speaker concludes, with the goal of having the meeting end earlier than it has in the past. Our new auction routine is that you raise your hand when the auctioneer calls an item that you want to bid on. Please keep your hand up until it goes past the amount you wanted to spend for it.

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, which 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 speak about, or any specific speaker, please tell us.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

The April event brought back a great friend, Todd Gardner. Todd has been a mainstay speaker for our club for almost two decades. He also donated marine fish babies that his school and business venture breed in-house. Truly unbelievable! Todd spoke on very rare and very expensive imported fish that his group is trying to breed locally. He has had some success in this area. We wish him the best in all of his ventures!

Next month not only brings May flowers but also our giant auction. We plan on having an unbelievable array of freshwater, marine and brackish water species, along with plants, corals and marine plants and invertebrates. Make no mistake: be there or lose out on unbelievable and rare species that you may never see again.

As always, we will have free parking and free refreshments. There are sure to be great items available, but they do go quickly. In response to your requests, we have changed our routine. Doors open at 7:30 pm for viewing of auction items. THERE WILL NOT BE A GUEST LECTURER AT OUR MAY EVENT, ONLY A FEW HUNDRED ITEMS FOR YOUR AQUATIC PLEASURE!

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 speak on, or any specific speaker, please tell us.

Steven Matassa
President