June 8 CCA Meeting
***NOTE: We are meeting at the elementary school across the street.***
June 8 @ Glenallan Elementary School: 12520 Heurich Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20902 THIS PLACE IS ABOUT 3 BLOCK AWAY FROM OUR USUAL MEETING PLACE.
Meeting room opens at 12:30 pm (Meeting to start at 1:00)
Meeting from 1:00-4:30 pm
Set up at 12:30-1:00pm
Meeting start: socializing 1:00-1:30 pm
Speaker begins at 1:30 pm
Auction begins at 2:35 pm
Meeting ends promptly at 4:30
Meeting Topic: Exploring the Rio Tapiche: Collecting, Community & Clinics
Speaker Bio
Kevin Wilson began fish keeping 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 blennies, a family of coastal fishes with interesting behaviors. Kevin's fascination with blennies evolved from his first love in aquarium fish, the cichlids. He kept various species of cichlids during his High School years. Blenny behavior is very similar to cichlids, having very alert, active eyes and curious, almost intelligent behavior. They're almost a benthic saltwater version of a smart cichlid.
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 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 entered this tank in the 2022 Biotope Aquarium Project's Biotope Aquarium Contest North America Category and wound up taking First Place! 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).