Dear Aquarist,

February the club featured Joe Yaiullo from Long Island Aquarium who came to speak to us. Joe never lets us down! His talk was on “A Hard Reboot of a 20,000 Gallon Reef Tank and Combating a New Coral Parasite Known Only as THEM.” It was a riveting tale on how he got his showcase tank emptied out and then ready for prime time again. He battled creatures both big and microscopic. In fact prior to the talk, he’d just gotten stitches removed from his hand and arm due to the potent and mysterious mytobacteria. What an incredible story! Joe is the curator of the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead, and if you haven’t been there yet, it is worth the trip!!
It takes a lot of effort from many people like our board members who continue to work hard to bring a great show every month. I want to thank them for their dedication, drive and loyalty. Anyone wishing to help out, we will gladly give you something to do! Please ask.

Continue reading Presidents Message – April 2024 →

Dear Aquarists,

Our January Auction showcased James Perrenod speaking on cichlids,.  As always James gives a great talk. He packs the house.  We had many donations from stores, Manufacturers, and our own members.  The 50/50 is bringing in many bags of donations each month.  Whatever livestock our members bring in they split with the club, 50/50. This is for livestock only.  We will continue to do a 50/50 every month from here on out.  This is a great way to make a little money and enjoy the breeding.  Don’t forget to submit your breeders form to claim breeders bragging rights and submission to the awards points program.  Sending in a photo with short description of the fish and tank description will grant you addition points.

Continue reading Presidents Message – February 2024 →

Dear Aquarist,       

Our October Giant Auction event was a great success! We had many donations from stores, manufacturers and our own members. The 50/50 model is bringing in a lot of bags of donations each month. What is a 50/50? Whatever livestock our members bring in, they split the winning bid with the club, 50/50. This is for livestock only. We are going to continue to do a 50/50 every month except during our next Giant Auction which is in May.

Continue reading President’s Message – November 2023 →

Dear Aquarist,

We had a very good turnout in March to see our own David Manuel speak on starting a saltwater tank. This was David’s first time speaking at any club, and he did a great job! This is a topic that many of our members are interested in. Thank you David for once again stepping up for us! Since the pandemic, it has been hard to get speakers to make the trip to Brooklyn to speak. We will continue to do our best to bring you engaging speakers.

Continue reading President’s Message – April 2023 →

Dear Aquarist,

Our March event was a big success thanks to our faithful board members. I can’t begin to thank them enough because without our volunteers, we would not exist! Our board members and volunteers help put our meetings together while making sure they run to smoothly. I don’t think our membership realizes what’s involved in structuring our meetings: from picking up donations, to bringing merchandise to our meeting location and back to our storage at the end of the night. Then we have our publications, advertising, website, bookkeeping, board meetings, sponsors and the arranging of speakers. This is work done throughout the month and year, not just the day of the show. With that said, I thank all the volunteers for their dedication!

Continue reading President’s Message – March 2023 →

Dear Aquarist,

We are finally back in the NY Aquarium!! In February, we had our first meeting since Covid shut us out in 2020. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are very glad to be back. Our February meeting was a big hit! We had our own Don Lang speaking on breeding fish. Don did a great job filling in as speaker at the last moment. His presentation was well received. He not only delivered his first BAS talk, but he is always there to help where needed, and we’re thankful for his dedication.

Continue reading President’s Message – February 2023 →

Dear Aquarist,

We are coming to a close on another year at BAS. We finished it off with a great holiday party at Dolce Vita in Brooklyn. With about 40 members and their families in attendance, we had terrific food and even door prizes! It was a very good night! While rapping up our 111th year, we are on hold again. We find ourselves with no place to
have our meetings which is rather unfortunate since we’ve built up some nice momentum meeting at the church’s Parish Hall.

Continue reading President’s Message – December 2022 →

Dear Aquarist,

We are back to start another year at BAS, the 112th. That’s pretty amazing even for a fish club. We resumed by bringing you a speaker all the way from Germany, Andreas Tanke. Andreas gave a great talk on Plecos. We will continue to bring you great speakers in the future.

Continue reading President’s Message – September 2022 →

That’s right: The Brooklyn Aquarium Society is finally back! We had our first event in over two years, and we had a great time. Our location was changed to St Brendan’s Church, and it was a big success. We had many familiar faces and also many new ones. There were a lot of great deals on fish, tanks, and supplies, and a great speaker, James Perronod from Discusrus.com, who graciously stepped up at the very last minute since our scheduled speaker, Yemi Amu was sick. James, as always, held an informative question and answer session. There was no question that could stump this pro! We thank him. Continue reading President’s Message – May 2022 →

Presidents Message

I usually try to focus on the good when I write my message, but this is the hardest President’s message I have ever written. It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of our past President and my longtime friend Joe Graffagnino. Joe was well-liked by all who knew him. I have never met anyone who had a bad thing to say about him. He was always the first to volunteer his help for our club and even other clubs, in any way he could. He has left a big void in all of us and he will be greatly missed. Our heartfelt prayers go out to his family.

Continue reading President’s Message – September 2021 →

President’s Message

All of us at BAS are hoping that everyone is well and staying safe and healthy. We all know this pandemic continues to grip our world. All of us are praying that we can resume normal life in the near future. I do not have any information as to when we can have in person BAS events at Education Hall. I have been in contact with Scott Doyle of the New York Aquarium and I am quoting his email response to my question about any updates we can share with our members. His response is:

Continue reading President’s Message – August 2020 →

President’s Message

This is a difficult President’s Message to write. Our events for March, April and May have been canceled, along with every other club in the world. The Coronavirus has impacted economies worldwide, hundreds of thousands of people have died and it isn’t over yet.

Continue reading President’s Message – June 2020 →

Dear Aquarist,

One of the coldest months of the year turned out to be warm and sunny when Joe Yaiullo, Curator of the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead, Long Island arrived. His presentation entitled “Sometimes It’s The Little Things” was fascinating. This event was a wake-up call for marine and freshwater hobbyists alike because it spoke about setting up the steps to prevent catastrophe, planning ahead so disaster doesn’t strike and having redundancy parts and equipment in the event something fails. It was an enlightening and educational adventure from one of our oldest and dearest friends. Joe was kind enough to donate cuttings from the corals in his 20,000 gallon aquarium. The audience was very interested and asked many questions.

Continue reading President’s Message – February 2020 →

Dear Aquarist,

For our first general meeting of the year we thought we would warm things up with one of our favorite speakers, Luis Morales. Luis gave a very informative presentation on “Fish Photography”. It was a great lecture for beginners and advanced hobbyists that wanted to take great photos of their favorite fish, plants or corals. Luis had given similar presentation years ago but updated it with information on the newer technology in the world of photography.

Continue reading President’s Message – January 2020 →

Dear Aquarist,

Our November event was a cold and windy one. Our guest speaker warmed us up though with a great presentation and he came with a few boxes of raffle prizes, which made everyone happy. Lou Ekus, CEO of Tropic Marin came down from Massachusetts and his topic for the evening was, “Reef Chemistry Made Easy.” Lou takes the guess work out of chemicals in our reef aquariums and simplifies the entire environment. It was a great talk from a wonderful person.
November was our semi-annual 50/50 on livestock. We had many bags of high quality freshwater fish, marine fish, both fresh and marine plants and invertebrates, along with hard to get live corals. Many attendees went away with great bargains. We had aquariums, lighting, pumps, filters, aquatic supplies and fish/plant and coral foods. Everything you need to keep and maintain your aquatic creatures with the best of everything to keep them happy and healthy.

Continue reading President’s Message – November 2019 →

Dear Aquarist,

September starts us up again. For the start of our fiscal year we had Tullio Dell Aquila. His topic for the evening was “The Facts of Light”. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about aquarium lighting he is an expert in. He is known as the “Godfather of LED lighting.” He certainly taught me several things I never knew about how to use lighting to its best advantage on aquarium fish, on plants and on corals. Tullio gave a wonderful presentation.

Our next event will be our Giant Fall Auction on October 11. No speaker, just freshwater fish, plants, marine fish, and coral. We also have aquariums, filters, stands, lights and much more. We will have several hundred items available for your pleasure, including rare and hard to find aquatic treasures. So come on over for a fantastic evening. As always there will be FREE parking and FREE refreshments.

Please mark on your calendar that on November 8 we will have Lou Ekus, owner of Tropic Marin, as our guest speaker. His topic for the evening will be, “Reef Chemistry Made Easy.” So plan on giving him a warm BAS welcome.

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 aquatic supplies, clothing and book table and our auction items.

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!

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 1^st 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,

June is the end of our fiscal year and we ended it with a bang. Cameron Provost of House of Fins, in Greenwich, CT. was our speaker and his topic was “Rare Marine Fishes in the Aquarium Hobby.” It was not only educational but entertaining as well. It appears that there are many marine fish that few of us ever see and for a multitude of reasons. It was a great talk. House of Fins was generous by donating marine and fresh water fish species. Thank you very much!

We had our election of officers and Board members last night and there were several changes and some positions remain open. We are still searching for a Treasurer, a Recording Secretary, a videographer and a few positions remain open on our Board. Please step up and help us out, without you helping us we can’t do many of the things our members want.

We wish all our members, along with friends and family a fun filled and relaxing summer. We will return again in September to educate and entertain our members in all areas of aquatic life.
Our next event will be on Friday, September 13 and Tullio DelAquela will be our speaker. His topic for the evening will be “The Facts of Light: a scientific approach to comparing light sources for aquarium use”. Our livestock auction of plants, fish and marine corals, along with aquatic equipment and supplies will immediately follow his educational presentation. Doors open at 7:30 PM. As always there is free parking and refreshments.

Please refrain from selling or purchasing any items from individuals on site at the aquarium, it is strictly prohibited.

We have new BAS shirts and BAS hats, hurry and get yours while supplies last.

Remember, we can always use help. If anyone wants to help out in any way, please let us know. See me personally or any officer or board member. If anyone has any topics they want to hear expert speakers on or any specific speaker, please tell us that also.
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.

For information on upcoming speakers or to leave a message for us please call our BAS Hotline at 718-837-4455. On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, held at Education Hall, NY Aquarium, on the first Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at 347-277-4793.

Thanks and see you next month!

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

May was our Giant Spring Auction month. No guest speaker just auction items for our members and guests. We had close to 200 items that included freshwater fish, marine fish, plants, aquariums, filters, gravel, protein skimmers, lighting fixtures, UV sterilizers and the list goes on.

Everyone had a great time and brought home many aquatic treasures to enjoy. We appreciate the items you donated to make our club one of the strongest in the United States. Thank you!
Our next event, on June 14 will be our last for this fiscal year, but we promise to end it with a big bang! Our guest speaker is Cameron Provost from House of Fins in Greenwich, CT. His topic for the evening will be “Rare Marine Fishes in the Aquarium Hobby”. So come on down on Friday, June 14, doors open at 7:30 PM. As always there is free parking and refreshments.

Please refrain from selling or purchasing any items from individuals on site at the aquarium, it is strictly prohibited.

Please note that our June event is also election time for our officers and Board members. If you or another member, in good standing for the past 6 months, want to run for a position, please let me know so I can put your name up for election. We are always looking for new blood to keep our Society going strong with new and innovative ideas. Please let me know if you are interested and for what position you would like to try out for.

We have new BAS shirts and BAS hats, hurry and get yours while supplies last.

Remember, we can always use help. If anyone wants to help out in any way, please let us know. See me personally or any officer or board member. If anyone has any topics they want to hear expert speakers on or any specific speaker, please tell us that also.

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.

For information on upcoming speakers or to leave a message for us please call our BAS Hotline at 718-837-4455 and visit our updated website at WWW.BROOKLYNAQUARIUMSOCIETY.ORG.

Steven Matassa
President

Dear Aquarist,

Ralph Chi of Pacific Aquarium and Pet. Ralph was our guest speaker for the evening and he surprised all of us with bags of aquatic goodies for every member in the audience. We had 115 people at the meeting and each person received a full bag of items from his store. Ralph’s topic for the evening was “The Thriving Aquarium Retail Still Lives”. He really knows his fish, plants and marine livestock. His store has everything. This generous person is having a huge sale and giveaways for BAS members only. You must bring your current membership card. The first 19 members for each day, that spend $50 each, will receive a Pacific Aquarium Easter egg. Inside the egg will be a note on what you have won – this could be a fish net, an aqua-scaping pincer, or a complete Fluval (or equivalent) setup that includes tank, filter, lighting, etc. This special weekend is on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 and only for our members!

April is also our 50/50 month – many of our members brought in bags of livestock for our auction and they shall be rewarded next month with half of what their fish, plants or corals went for.
Next month we will not have a speaker – it is our GIANT SPRING AUCTION! There will be hundreds of items available – livestock, lights, aquariums, chemicals, filters and everything you can imagine, so be there or lose out on great bargains and hard to find fish. The Giant Auction is Friday, May 10, doors open at 7:30 PM. As always there is free parking and refreshments.

Please refrain from selling or purchasing any items from individuals on site at the aquarium, it is strictly prohibited.
We have new BAS shirts and BAS hats, hurry and get yours while supplies last.

Remember, we can always use the help. If anyone wants to help out in any way, please let us know. See me personally or any officer or board member.  If anyone has any topics they want to hear expert speakers on or any specific speaker, please tell us that also.
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.

For information on upcoming speakers or to leave a message for us please call our BAS Hotline at 718-837-4455.

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, held at Education Hall, NY Aquarium, on the first Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at 347-277-4793.

Thanks and see you next month!

Steven Matassa
President  

Dear Aquarist,

The cold weather did not keep our members from gathering to hear Richard Ross of the Steinhart Aquarium speak. Richard’s topic for the evening was “Coral Spawning and Secore”. This is Richard’s second talk at BAS and it was captivating.

Richard spoke on coral spawning, and the work they are doing at the Steinhart Aquarium.

Next month, our guest speaker will be Ralph Chi, owner of Pacific Aquarium and Pet. Ralph has a very nice store on Delancey Street, in lower Manhattan. He has a great staff of knowledgeable and caring professionals.

We will also have a 50/50 on donated livestock. When you bring in your donations please let us know if you are participating in the 50/50 or if it’s a straight donation. This is limited to livestock (fish, corals, plants) only with a 10 bag limit. There will be no reserve pricing on aquatic donations at our auctions.
Please refrain from selling or purchasing any items from individuals on site at the aquarium, it is strictly prohibited.

Doors open at 7:30, and of there is free parking and refreshments.

We have new BAS shirts and BAS hats, hurry and get yours while supplies last.

Remember, we can always use help. If anyone wants to help out in any way, please let us know. See me personally or any officer or board member. If anyone has any topics they want to hear expert speakers on, or any specific speaker, please tell us that also.

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.
BAS is looking to rent a street level garage for our BAS equipment and supplies. If you have one or know of one please let us know.

For information on upcoming speakers or to leave a message for us please call our BAS Hotline at 718-837-4455.

On a more personal note – any member who wants to attend a Board meeting, held at Education Hall, NY Aquarium, on the first Friday of the month, September through June, please notify me at 347-277-4793.

Thanks and see you next month!

Steven Matassa
President