dogofwar
CCA Members
My daughter Siena and I made the trip to Novi, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) for this year's ACA Annual Convention.
As always it was a great opportunity to catch up with some friends, make new ones, see (and buy) some great fish and hear some great speakers. The Michigan Cichlid Association did a great job and really worked hard to make the weekend a success.
Siena and I left really early on Friday AM, July 14 (the ACA actually started on Thursday) and we made the 6-ish hour drive to Cedar Point, OH to ride some of the world's best roller coasters. It was a blast and by about 4:30 PM we were ready to head the last 2 hours or so to Novi.
The convention this year was in a beautiful hotel (the Sheraton in Novi) and the ACA seemed to be the only convention going on. The fish show and rental tanks were in the same room, which was spacious. I rented a 20H and the pair of acaras that I bought from a guy in Iowa were already in it when we arrived
After dinner across the street at Big Boy, Siena went to bed and I went to the BABES Auction (where they auction rare fish - and there was some GREAT stuff donated - for cichlid conservation and research).
Full house at the BABES auction. Can anyone find me?
Siena competed in the Kids' Decorating Contest (she collected a bunch of rocks from the stream by our house, cleaned them up and created an Iwagumi aquascape for her tank!)... Here are people admiring her aquascape:
There were some great fish, book and supply vendors and manufacturers at the convention this year, including www.supercichlids.com
It's also fun to look at all of the fish for sale around the show. Folks pay a small fee to put their lists on a bulletin board. This was one of a couple of dozen... We've gotta figure out how to get them to our BFD swap meet!
Best of show was a monstrous - like 11" - Cichlasoma. This guy was runner up at OCA and I think ACA 2 years ago. The owner has had him since he was pulled from a canal in Florida at 1/2"... He lives alone in a tank near his desk and gets lots of attention. It shows because he is a like a puppy!
Runner up was an amazing peacock:
Best ornamental fish was an Apisto:
I was impressed with this (real) Altum angel...doing amazingly well in a bare tank in Lake Huron (i.e. hard, alkaline) water.
Also a really nice Phenochilus:
Amphilophus flaveolus anyone?
We announced our $600 donation from The Big Fish Deal Rare Fish Auction to the Paul Loiselle Fund at the Awards Banquet. Dr. Loiselle announced an exciting collaboration with scientists and people on the ground in Madagascar and it's great that we can be a part of it. I tried to get Pat Kelly to come with me but he wouldn't budge
Next year's convention is in Houston, TX, which is actually a pretty cool place (space center, good food, etc.). Probably too far to drive for Siena and me...but we'll see!
Matt
As always it was a great opportunity to catch up with some friends, make new ones, see (and buy) some great fish and hear some great speakers. The Michigan Cichlid Association did a great job and really worked hard to make the weekend a success.
Siena and I left really early on Friday AM, July 14 (the ACA actually started on Thursday) and we made the 6-ish hour drive to Cedar Point, OH to ride some of the world's best roller coasters. It was a blast and by about 4:30 PM we were ready to head the last 2 hours or so to Novi.
The convention this year was in a beautiful hotel (the Sheraton in Novi) and the ACA seemed to be the only convention going on. The fish show and rental tanks were in the same room, which was spacious. I rented a 20H and the pair of acaras that I bought from a guy in Iowa were already in it when we arrived
After dinner across the street at Big Boy, Siena went to bed and I went to the BABES Auction (where they auction rare fish - and there was some GREAT stuff donated - for cichlid conservation and research).
Full house at the BABES auction. Can anyone find me?
Siena competed in the Kids' Decorating Contest (she collected a bunch of rocks from the stream by our house, cleaned them up and created an Iwagumi aquascape for her tank!)... Here are people admiring her aquascape:
There were some great fish, book and supply vendors and manufacturers at the convention this year, including www.supercichlids.com
It's also fun to look at all of the fish for sale around the show. Folks pay a small fee to put their lists on a bulletin board. This was one of a couple of dozen... We've gotta figure out how to get them to our BFD swap meet!
Best of show was a monstrous - like 11" - Cichlasoma. This guy was runner up at OCA and I think ACA 2 years ago. The owner has had him since he was pulled from a canal in Florida at 1/2"... He lives alone in a tank near his desk and gets lots of attention. It shows because he is a like a puppy!
Runner up was an amazing peacock:
Best ornamental fish was an Apisto:
I was impressed with this (real) Altum angel...doing amazingly well in a bare tank in Lake Huron (i.e. hard, alkaline) water.
Also a really nice Phenochilus:
Amphilophus flaveolus anyone?
We announced our $600 donation from The Big Fish Deal Rare Fish Auction to the Paul Loiselle Fund at the Awards Banquet. Dr. Loiselle announced an exciting collaboration with scientists and people on the ground in Madagascar and it's great that we can be a part of it. I tried to get Pat Kelly to come with me but he wouldn't budge
Next year's convention is in Houston, TX, which is actually a pretty cool place (space center, good food, etc.). Probably too far to drive for Siena and me...but we'll see!
Matt
