2020 PROGRAM
Great speakers, all-day auctions, bowl show, holiday party... what more could a fishkeeper ask for?
01/04/2020
Kapil Mandrekar "Debunking Myths of Keeping Seahorses"
1 pm at Green Acres Center, 4401 Sideburn Rd, Fairfax, VA
Feature presentation, raffle, mini-auction
About Kapil:
Kapil Mandrekar is currently a biologist at Seahorse Savvy, the largest seahorse farm in the USA. He began keeping seahorses when he was 17 and has kept them on and off since than. Kapil has been involved in the freshwater and marine aquarium hobby for a majority of his life. During his childhood he was heavily involved in the South West Michigan Aquarium Society and the West Michigan Marine Aquarium Club and has been a member of the Central New York Aquarium Society for the last ten years. Kapil finished his bachelor’s degree in biology from Albion College and is enrolled at SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry in the Ph.D. program in Ecology where he studies the ecology and conservation of Amazonian fish and is working on finishing his thesis.
02/01/2020
Christine Keys "3 Continents, One Basement: Sometimes it just works"
1 pm at Green Acres Center, 4401 Sideburn Rd, Fairfax, VA
Feature presentation, raffle, mini-auction
About Christine:
Christine Keys is a microbiologist who has been involved in fishkeeping most of her life. Even as a child, her parents kept a fish tank in her bedroom. She’s always kept a few fish tanks on her own since high school and would regularly haul them back and forth between home and the dorm during college. After moving to Maryland, she started keeping fish again and quickly expanded from one to 35 tanks. During this time, she joined several of the clubs in the DC metro area and has served in several board positions with the Capital Cichlid Association. She and her husband recently moved to a new house where she got a dedicated fish room that has almost 60 tanks. Although she has a soft spot for keeping cichlids, all freshwater fish are welcome in her fish room.
02/15/2020
LFS Shop Hop
Reserve the date! Members in good standing who would like to carpool to visit local fish stores will be able to sign up on the forum for a day of fun and fishy adventure. We will solicit preferences of our membership for a swing through northern VA fish stores, or a sweep through Maryland and Delaware. Stay tuned for details.
03/07/2020
Cory McElroy "From Top Ramen to Tacos; How Aquarium Co-Op carved its niche"
1 pm at Green Acres Center, 4401 Sideburn Rd, Fairfax, VA
Lightning talk, feature presentation, raffle, mini-auction
Lightning Talk: Daya Hall-Stratton "Properly Bagging & Acclimating Fish"
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About Cory:
Cory McElroy, owner of Aquarium Co-op in Edmonds,WA balances his time between managing his store and creating content for his popular YouTube channel about proper fish and aquarium care. If you haven't listened to Cory's podcast or seen any of his livestreams, check them out! He has an extremely broad knowledge base and is a very entertaining speaker. His love for the hobby and people involved is very evident.
POSTPONED
Spring All-Day Auction
In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, and after thoughtful deliberation, the Board has decided to postpone the Spring All-Day Auction until further notice. We will post updates as more information becomes available about future meetings as long as the outbreak poses a threat. We will follow recommendations by federal, state, and local health authorities in determining our course of action. Our highest priority is the well-being of our members and guests. But don't despair, the moment the coast is clear for future gatherings we'll be back with more fishy fun-filled events than ever!
05/02/2020
Erik Lucas "Shrimp Keeping Q&A Livestream"
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7MXq9rv-otWLZOcBJsfwAg
Time: 2 - 3:30 pm
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About Erik:
Erik Lucas has been breeding shrimp for over 10 years. In 2014 he opened buypetshrimp.com an online source for healthy high quality shrimp and shrimp products. He has judged many shrimp contests in the USA and in Europe. Last year he was awarded 3 first place awards, as well as the overall winner (Best of the Best Award) at the USA shrimp competition in Chicago.
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Note: Submit your questions for Erik ahead of time on the Forum here. Make sure you're signed into our website to participate in the Forum.
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06/06/2020
Londontowne Tropicals Virtual Shop Tour
Time: 1 -2 pm
Web Address: To be announced
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About Londontowne Tropicals:
Londontowne Tropicals opened in 2019 at 111 Mayo Road in Edgewater, MD. It is one of the largest freshwater-only tropical fish stores in Maryland. Owned by Dale Edwards, Londontowne Tropicals strives to bring customers the very best selection of healthy tropical fish. They have more than 450 fish tanks housing more then 550 species ranging from community tropical fish, aggressive fish, semi-aggressive fish to oddballs and rarities. All tanks are separately filtered and completely automated to ensure water changes are done on a very frequent basis to keep fish happy and very healthy. Their motto is: A healthy fish means a happy fish and a successful hobbyist! If you’re not successful we're not successful.
07/11/2020 !!! 2nd Saturday !!!
Virtual Social Chat Time
Time: 1 -2 pm
Meeting ID: 771 8303 5749
Password: 6N6eZJ
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A number of members have expressed how much they miss catching up with their fellow club members, so we will be experimenting with a new format that allows us to talk to one another in an informal way. See the Forum for more details.
08/01/2020
Virtual August Meeting with Devon Graham
1 - 2 pm
Web Address: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71862040920?pwd=RWZucm1zN1VNdDN1T0U1L3BnL2FHQT09
Meeting ID: 718 6204 0920
Password: PVAS1960
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Our August meeting will be via Zoom. In addition to unstructured time to socialize, Devon Graham, President of Project Amazonas, will join us to share his perspectives on how COVID-19 may affect the hobby in both the short-term and long-term. Member Linus Chen will share a short presentation on "Shrimp-Compatible Fish."
09/05/2020
Bob Bock "Minnows & Minnow-like Fishes"
1 - 2 pm Virtual Meeting
Meeting ID: 892 1505 5269
Password: PVAS1960
About Bob:
Bob Bock operates the YouTube channel, Sonny’s Fish Room, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbvkoGdW4yNAOFUu9jVsMvQ. He has been collecting and keeping fish since he was 7 years old, when he brought home two mummichog from the Hackensack River Meadowlands of New Jersey. Bob likes writing and speaking about aquarium fish and belongs to all the Washington, D.C. area's freshwater aquarium societies. He is past president of the North American Native Fishes Association and wrote the "Meet the Hobbyist" column of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. His main interest is in barbs, danios and minnows, but he has also kept and bred sunfish, cichlids, corydoras and brochis, livebearers, loaches, and killifish.
CANCELLED
10/9/2020 - 10/10/2020
9th All-Aquarium Catfish Convention
Venue: Hyatt Regency Dulles, 2300 Dulles Corner Blvd, Herndon, VA
Registration: Cancelled. All registrations and other purchases have been refunded.
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This was a tough decision for the Board of Directors, but in the end we decided it simply isn't possible to conduct an event bringing 200 people together in tight quarters safely during the pandemic. We are planning an outdoor Fall Marketplace event instead. Stay tuned for details.
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10/04/2020 SUNDAY
The Great Fish Tailgate - Do It Your Way!
Time: 1 pm - 4:00 pm (12 - 1 pm seller set-up and 4 - 5 pm seller take-down)
Location: Parking Lot, Emmaus United Church of Christ, 900 Maple Ave East, Vienna, VA
Masks and social distancing required, no exceptions.
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Details
In place of our normal Fall All-Day Auction, we will be holding an informal, outdoor, in-person marketplace event in the spacious parking lot of Emmaus UCC in Vienna, VA. There is no charge to buy or sell fish and other aquarium-related items. Only paid-up PVAS members may sell. Anyone may buy. There is no charge for entry. The event is free and open to the public. See the Forum for more details.
11/07/2020
Joseph Hardin "Dwarf Blue Tetras from Peru"
1 - 2:30 pm Virtual Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 838 1866 6850
Password: PVAS
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About Joseph:
Joseph Hardin is a fellow fishkeeper, breeder, and content creator on YouTube in the aquarium fish keeping niche who loves taking opportunities to collect fish from the wild. In 2017 he collected a group of dwarf blue tetras from threatened waterways of southern Peru. His captivation with this species has led him down a rabbit hole to better understand this fish’s unique reproductive morphology, courting behaviors, as well as identifying successful breeding protocols for this species so that he may share those protocols and the fish with others."
12/05/2020
Joseph Graffagnino "Knowledge of Useless Stuff I Acquired: Ideas and Tips"
Topic: Potomac Valley Aquarium Society - Holiday Meeting
Time: Dec 5, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82608602228?pwd=cjRBR0pBV1lmMVJ5dmdweEtCaXZxdz09
Meeting ID: 826 0860 2228
Passcode: 1960
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Joe has been a hobbyist of freshwater fish for over 45 years. He enjoys breeding all species of tropical fish and sharing them with fellow hobbyists. Joe has written extensively on breeding and raising fish and has been published in various magazines, such as Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Aquarium Fish and Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (FAMA). Joe has also been published in the American Cichlid Association publication Buntbarshe Bulletin and in many local aquarium society publications throughout the United States and England. He also enjoys fish photography.
Joe lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and currently maintains 38 aquariums of various sizes containing killifish, anabantoids, characins, cyprinids, livebearers, cichlids, and catfish both Old and New World and has an outdoor pond with koi and goldfish. Joe is a former president of the Brooklyn Aquarium Society; prior to that position, Joe was the Society’s Corresponding Secretary. He joined the Brooklyn Aquarium Society in 1974.
