Are there any Freshwater Aquarium Clubs in the area?

[Aquayne_wv]

I admire how your club enjoys the reef hobby. It is just not my cup of tea. I just do not have the time, space or money.

I was hoping that there was a freshwater club in WV area. I used to be a member of the Tri-State Aquarium Society. Unfortunately it ran out of steam years ago.
It was always very friendly and a place to share whatever you had. Tom Bell gave me a massive amount of plants. Terry Ranson was a fantastic source of knowledge, Reality Checks and African Cichlids from his basement bath tub. Ralph Taylor was the Guru of Killifish. Richard K's love of Discus was inspiring. I really miss those guys and wish there was something in the area for me to attend. If you know of any please contact me.
I tried to start somthing in Logan but got no response except that someone stole my laminated signs from the
Wal*Mart bulliten board.

Wayne Johnson
fwjohnson@hotmail.com

Logan WV

 

[jmccown]

I'd be interested as well. I'm as big a fan for the FW scene as I am the SW scene.

 

[mcox33]

Well almost as much. And I love planted tanks.

 

[firefish2020]

Best of luck, I get asked almost weekly to start a planted tank club but there is no way. Maybe you could con Terry into it? He is the fresh water master in this area IMO.

 

[mcox33]

Only one I remember hearing about in the last couple of years is in Ohio. They have a huge meet about once a year and show off their fish and other freshwater related stuff. And a huge auction type sale.

 

[grendl]

Heya Wayne!

It seems hard to generate the same level of enthusiasm with planted/FW tanks that is maintained in the SW community. I dont think people realize how beautiful FW tanks can be, & how (relatively) easy they are to create... (I wont say maintain, heh) I would maybe see about getting a club forum on aquaticplantcentral.com, and try to draw local people there, just to see if over a period of a few months you can get some conversation going, & maybe some local trades, etc. There are a few hobbyists locally that are into it. I would also suggest posting ads, or flyers at LFS that include a link to the APC forum, just to see what kind of headcount you can get to pointed to the club site. I think there are several enthusiasts, who are unaware of one another... Be neat to get some local plant trading going on... mosses, etc are easy to trade locally & it makes the hobby alot easier to maintain when you can get a whole new tank full of life with a bagful of clippings that were going to get tossed out.

 

[WVfishguy]

I think Mary's thinking about the Cincinnati club, the GCAS. I'm a member and go to their huge auctions twice a year.
Like Wayne said, we tried to get a freshwater club together a few years ago and it fizzled out. In retrospect, it may have failed because there were mostly older people in it. We lacked youthful energy. As James Clavell wrote, "Young men create empires, old men lose them."
The current trend in the marine field is "technology conquers biology," a natural progression of the relatively new field of computer-related science. Young people gravitate toward this technology; it's the new zeitgeist ("Spirit of the Age").
IMO, it will be difficult to begin another freshwater club because of the dearth of young hobbyists and the apathy of older ones.

 

[wvdaisy]

Hi, Wayne, I wondered why you hadn't been to any reef meetings. That baby keeping you busy?