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2024 PROGRAM
Schedule

Sat, Jan 6 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:30 pm Feature Presentation: Kevin Wilson"Chesapeake Bay Oyster Reef Biotope Aquarium: Dream tank realized"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Schedule

Sat, Feb 3 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:45 pm Feature Presentation: Chris Teem "Discus"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Mar 2 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:45 pm Feature Presentation: Christopher Scharpf "Adventures in Etymology"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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*** Sunday ***, Apr 7 | Green Acres Center | 10 am - 5 pm

Spring All-Day Auction

8:30 am Set-up

10:00 am Registration opens

10:30 am Tag sale opens

10:45 am Auction opens

4:00 pm Bidding winds down

5:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, May 4 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:45 pm Feature Presentation: Richard Koogle"All About Water Gardening"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Jun 1 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly Meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:45 pm Feature Presentation: Rebecca Goldring"Dabbling in Dicrossus"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Bowl Show & Indoor Picnic

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Register fish and set out hospitality buffet

1:30 pm Eat

2:00 pm Judging and admiring fish, voting for People's Choice

3:00 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Awards

4:30 pm More mini-auction and take-down

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Sat, Jul 13 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 5 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:45 pm Feature Presentation: David Snell: "Exploring the Rio Tapiche"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Aug 3 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

Monthly meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:30 pm Presentation: Shelby Stensrud "Journey of Aquatic Organisms to Home Aquarium"

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Sep 7 | Green Acres Center | 1 - 4 pm

*** SATURDAY ***, Sep 21 | Green Acres Center | 10 am - 6 pm

Fall All-Day Auction

8:30 am Set-up

10:00 am Registration opens

10:30 am Tag Sale begins

11:00 am Auction opens

1:00 pm First raffle

3:00 pm Second raffle

5:00 pm Take-down

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Annual Meeting

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Socializing

1:15 pm Announcements

1:25 Elections

1:45 pm Presentation: Randy Carey "Pencilfish Overview"

3:00 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Nov 2 | Green Acres Center | 12 - 5 pm

Holiday Party & Potluck Dinner

12:30 pm Set-up

1:00 pm Lay out buffet

1:15 pm Announcements

1:30 pm Potluck dinner

2:45 pm Mini-auction

4:00 pm Take-down

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Sat, Dec 7 | Green Acres Center | 1 pm - 4 pm

Speakers
Speakers
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Kevin Wilson

Kevin began fishkeeping at the age of 13. After Graduating High School, he worked his first job at the Barrier Reef Aquarium in Rockville, where he was introduced to the saltwater side of the hobby. It was then after purchasing his first blenny that he fell in love with the blennies, a genus of coastal fishes with interesting behaviors.  While in college, he caught his first local blenny and became fascinated with a grad student’s experiment on striped blennies. This fascination led to his current dream, to keep local blennies in a setting close to their natural environment and resulted in his efforts to build a simulated oyster reef in a home aquarium. He’s also kept local native freshwater fish species in home aquariums for 43 years and is a member of the North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA).

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Chris Teem

Chris Teem joined Capital Exotic Fish as its general manager. Over the past 20-plus years, Chris cultivated an intense passion for fish and aquarium development, service, and maintenance. His mentor, Dr. Robert J. Goldstein, taught Chris everything he knows about how to breed fish. Through Chris’ travels overseas, studying fish in their natural environments, and working for zoological societies, Chris has developed extensive aquarist knowledge and insights. Discus are his favorite fish and loves sharing his experience on what he has learned.

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Christopher Scharpf

Since 2009, Christopher Scharpf has been working on The ETYFish Project (etyfish.org), the first and only reference to explain the derivations and meanings of the generic and specific names of all the fishes of the world. He also serves on the Committee on Names of Fishes, a joint committee of the American Fisheries Society and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists; the Committee’s goals are to achieve uniform use of common names and avoid confusion in scientific names for all fishes from the United States, Canada and Mexico. Formerly, Chris was editor of American Currents, the quarterly publication of the North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA), from 1996 through 2008. He has also served on NANFA’s Board of Directors and as Membership Coordinator. Chris was named a NANFA Fellow in 2004. His articles, papers and book reviews have appeared in Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Aquarium Fish, Fishes of Sahul, Zootaxa, Fisheries, and Ichthyology & Herpetology.

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Richard Koogle

Richard has more than 40 years experience water gardening as Director of Operations, and Water Gardening Designer, Installer, and Consultant for Lilypons Water Gardens near Frederick, Maryland.  Since 1917 Lilypons has offered provided water gardeners a wide selection of water lillies, lotuses, and all manner of aquatic plants, as well as fish and other animals, and equipment and supplies.  It's also a beautiful place to visit, especially in the blooming season, with acres  of flowering plants for inspiration!

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Rebecca Goldring

Rebecca Goldring is social scientist and lifelong aquarium hobbyist. Fascinated with fish at an early age, but often discouraged and misunderstood, she eventually settled into being the weird kid. This aquatic obsession led to early employment opportunities at The Aquarium Center and Roraima Tropicals, outside of Baltimore, Maryland, as well as some freelance work writing for Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine. Early years spent watching fish and animal behavior fed into a career in behavioral and social sciences, where she applies her observational and investigational skills to larger societal issues. To this day, her favorite pastimes include keeping fish, looking at fish, fishing for fish, reading about fish, and writing about fish. She also thoroughly enjoys telling people where they can take their opinions about how much more time she'd have to clean if she didn't have so many fish.
 

Rebecca currently maintains about 30 aquariums ranging in size from 5 to 300 gallons and keeps a variety of freshwater fish, aquatic plants, and invertebrates, as well as a few outdoor ponds. She’s bred a wide variety of fish, including South American Bumblebee Cats, Checkerboard Cichlids, Freshwater Pipefish, and many species of tetra. Current “fish goals” (STILL) include spawning some very uncooperative Gnathochromis permaxillaris, Corydoras pantanalensis, and Tetraodon schoutedeni. You can find her on Instagram at girlsgotfisshues.


Her talk is titled Dabbling in Dicrossus and covers topics on general care, sexing, spawning, and rearing both Dicrossus maculatus and Dicrossus filamentosus. It includes detailed experiential information with both species and will have some new material on best practices for artificial rearing.

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David Snell

David Snell has been a tropical fish hobbyist since 1993. Since then, he has spawned and raised numerous killifish, as well as tetras, corydoras, a few cichlids and the occasional Loricariid (L-333)

He has been active in the tropical fish hobby in the Washington DC area serving in former PVAS positions to include: Treasurer & Board Member, 3 terms as President, and 1 term as VP. He’s currently serving on the BOD as the club’s corporate agent. He’s also been an avid auctioneer since the 90s.

In addition to PVAS, he is a member of the American Killifish Association (AKA) since 1996, lifetime AKA member since 2006, as well as a member of the Mid Atlantic Killifish Organization.

David is an avid photographer. He has had articles and photographs published in FAMA, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Journal of the American Killifish Association, ACA’s Buntbarshe Bulletin, and NANFA’s American Currents.

He has collected fishes in Venezuela in 2002, Peru in 2007, 2013, 2017 and most recently in October 2023 collecting on the Rio Tapiche.

The presentation is a travelogue of pictures, short videos and drone images: Exploring the Rio Tapiche: Collecting, Community & Clinics (the trip that was not supposed to happen).

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Shelby Stensrud

Shelby Stensrud grew up in a family of aquarium enthusiasts, surrounded by fish tanks that fueled her fascination with aquatic life from a young age. Before the convenience of Google, her family relied on
books to research their next aquarium fish, leading to many weekends spent exploring shops across Michigan.

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Shelby spent countless hours observing the intricate behaviors of fish and understanding the complex ecosystems within each tank. Dinner conversations often revolved around aquatic life and the science behind it, nurturing her deep interest in the field.

 

Despite exploring other career paths, her true calling remained with her childhood hobby. Shelby's professional journey began at Preuss Pets in Michigan, where she spent 14 years connecting with fellow hobbyists, managing the freshwater team, and overseeing the livestock for hundreds of tanks.

 

Seeking to expand her opportunities, she moved to Tampa Florida, to join one of the largest tropical fish wholesalers in the globe, Segrest Inc.

As a brand manager for the past eight years, there is no shortage of ways in which she continues to connect with hobbyists. From social media live events to clubs and industry tradeshows, the ever-growing pet community is a dynamic network that Shelby actively engages with, sharing her expertise and enthusiasm.

 

What started with a family goldfish tank has evolved into a lifelong passion for all things aquatic. Now, surrounded by 6,000 aquariums and millions of fish from around the world, Shelby will share the behind-the-scenes evolution and journey of sourcing, transporting, and housing many of the fish you know and love in her talk, "Farm to Tank."

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Randy Carey

Randy Carey has been keeping and focusing on characins for 30 years. He wrote a column, feature articles, and the book, Tetras and Barbs, for Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine. He has presented at more than 40 aquarium societies and served as the "tetra" expert for the Marineland Speaker Program. He earned his club's Lifetime award for fish breeding accomplishments and he runs the BAP program for the Minnesota Aquarium Society. Currently, Randy maintains an aquaria studio of 100 tanks for breeding, experimentation, and observation of characins and cyprinids.

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