Do you belong to a fish club?

[brewmaster15]

Just curious but do any of you belong to a fish club and actively participate?

Is it in person or virtual post pandemic?


If you do go to a fish club how active is the club? Wide range of members or mostly older folks?


Al

[Second Hand Pat]

While not a fish club Al, I am very active in my local camera club and it's BOD is heavily vested in it's members and member involvement. I am also helping the new NADA BOD get it's feet wet and get NADA started again which is an interesting experience lol.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Lol.. I'm sure it is.

I guess I am trying to learn more about the current state of in person fish clubs.

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm sure Willie will have some great info Al
Pat

[brewmaster15]

I'm sure Willie will have some great info Al
Pat

I know.. Willie posts his club meetings monthly and they hold virtual also which is really great for some people.

[gimaal]

I'm a member of two national clubs: the AKA (killies) and ALA (livebearers). I've attended conventions for the AKA when they were in Newark. All of my otherwise involvement is electronic.

[Charlyc11]

I am part of Maryland Aquarium Hobbyists not by joining but by default since I am in their group on Facebook and I sold ABN's to the shop they are out of (CTE Aquatics). So I get included in their newsletter and get invited to their meetings. They are getting larger and larger and now they rent large venues since they can't fit everybody in the shop. I won't be attending tomorrow. Vendors donate for prizes and some are big like whole tank setups.

438696160_404146325845387_3095843381146356586_n.jpg

[jwcarlson]

I'm not a member of any, but I do virtually attend Willie's clubs meetings a few times a year when they've got an interesting speaker.

[danotaylor]

When I lived in Perth Australia I was a member of the Perth Cichlid Society, which was actually much more than just cichlids. There were monthly in person meetings, tri-annual swap meets and summer and winter auctions.
Here in Cinci there is the GCAS, greater Cinci aquarium society. I am not a member but they have meetings and swap meets and auctions also

[Willie]

Minnesota Aquarium Society meets 11 times a year virtually featuring a ZOOM speaker. We conduct 5 virtual auctions for our members. The one ending yesterday had 379 items posted, of which 352 were sold. I put in some discus juveniles and the bidding went crazy. Items included product donations by multiple manufacturers.

Lots for The MAS Spring Auction.jpg

After meeting in person from 1931 through 2019, MAS moved to a virtual format. The result has been a huge increase in our membership. In 2019, we had ~120 members. We now have > 300 members, most of whom are younger and less experienced with fish. An interesting development is that the younger, less experienced membership made us more relevant to independent fish stores. (Advanced aquarists usually buy supplies used, in bulk and fish via the Internet.) Every store in the Twin Cities region now offer MAS members discounts in return for inclusion in our website.

With members driving in 1 - 2 hours for the auction distribution, we are adding activities to make the drive more productive. Yesterday we had a panel discussion on building fishrooms, followed by a tour of a member fish room. We do a Schools Program where we donate aquariums to schools and assign a local member to maintain them. We have a Fish Surrender program at every auction for unwanted fishies. We also help aquarists who are liquidating their fish rooms. At yesterday's auction, we added a Free Table. Leave what you don't want, take what you want and the rest goes in the dumpster. All these activities are free.

We're planning to introduce more in-person activities beginning in the Fall. We organized a swap meet in the Spring and are planning another one in the Fall. We'll also have an in-person auction in the Fall, which will be a huge event. We also do an annual Plant Extravaganza where we bring in plants at wholesale prices for the membership in the Fall. The plan is to reinstitute our annual Fish Expo in the Spring of 2025. The last Fish Expo we held in 2020 attracted 2,000 visitors over an 8-hour period.

[brewmaster15]

Minnesota Aquarium Society meets 11 times a year virtually featuring a ZOOM speaker. We conduct 5 virtual auctions for our members. The one ending yesterday had 379 items posted, of which 352 were sold. I put in some discus juveniles and the bidding went crazy. Items included product donations by multiple manufacturers.

Lots for The MAS Spring Auction.jpg

After meeting in person from 1931 through 2019, MAS moved to a virtual format. The result has been a huge increase in our membership. In 2019, we had ~120 members. We now have > 300 members, most of whom are younger and less experienced with fish. An interesting development is that the younger, less experienced membership made us more relevant to independent fish stores. (Advanced aquarists usually buy supplies used, in bulk and fish via the Internet.) Every store in the Twin Cities region now offer MAS members discounts in return for inclusion in our website.

With members driving in 1 - 2 hours for the auction distribution, we are adding activities to make the drive more productive. Yesterday we had a panel discussion on building fishrooms, followed by a tour of a member fish room. We do a Schools Program where we donate aquariums to schools and assign a local member to maintain them. We have a Fish Surrender program at every auction for unwanted fishies. We also help aquarists who are liquidating their fish rooms. At yesterday's auction, we added a Free Table. Leave what you don't want, take what you want and the rest goes in the dumpster. All these activities are free.

We're planning to introduce more in-person activities beginning in the Fall. We organized a swap meet in the Spring and are planning another one in the Fall. We'll also have an in-person auction in the Fall, which will be a huge event. We also do an annual Plant Extravaganza where we bring in plants at wholesale prices for the membership in the Fall. The plan is to reinstitute our annual Fish Expo in the Spring of 2025. The last Fish Expo we held in 2020 attracted 2,000 visitors over an 8-hour period.

Willie that sounds amazing! The model your club has developed is really brilliant and something others may benefit from trying. Really cool stuff MAS has going on.

Al

[AquaticNerd]

I've got to say, Willie's club seems to be doing it right. I've signed up for a few of their virtual meetings when, like Jacob, there are speakers I have an interest in listening to. It's awesome how active the club is and all the events that they've planned.

I've looked up local clubs in the past, but from what I recall they seemed like they were always in a state of "in progress" on a lot of things and their websites don't really make it clear how active they are. Maybe once I get a little more settled with house projects and my caretaking duties lighten up I might be able to get back into the hobby and join a local club and see what it's about.

[Discus Fever]

I use to belong to the Chicago guppy club and yes there were mainly older guys in it not that I am a young guy by any means. I would say the avg age was 69 years old. The main reason I quit was they did nothing to promote more people to get into the club. So I still have some of my guppies left but not staying with them anymore and moving on to new adventures.