October Meeting

[limmer]

Greetings.
A REMINDER of our October Meeting.

We have Larry Johnson coming who will do a presentation on "Swimming with Cichlids" Lake Malawi.
We will end the night with a mini auction.

UPDATE ON RESTAURANT
I am changing the location of the restaurant to the Works.  On Richmond Road and Churchill.  326 Richmond Road. http://www.worksburger.com/Home/tabid/10796/Default.aspx Same Time.

(If you would like to get together with Larry, we will be going to supper at the Silver Spoon Restaurant on Carling Ave. near the Meeting place. http://www.silverspoonthai.ca/.)

I will make the reservation for 5:30 PM.  If you are interested in joining us, PM me and let me know how many people.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

[garnpet]

Please note:

The October meeting will be held on the 25th of October 7pm at JA Dulude Arena.

[Malyon18]

Do you have to be a card holding member to attend the meeting or can anyone attend. I am a member and will probably be attending and was wondering if I could bring a friend with me but she is not a ovas member.

Thanks

[Fishnut]

No, your friend is welcome.

[alongfortheride]

I believe that non-members are allowed to attend 2 meetings before being encouraged to purchase a membership
It should be a great meeting, Larry has some great stories and pictures - definitely encourage your friend to come!

[limmer]

Hi,
Posted update on change of restaurant in first post.
Great chance to talk to Larry about everything from African Cichlids, Photography, and Scuba Diving.
PM me if you are coming for Supper.

[bitterman]

This was a great topic and speaker! It was really nice to meet Larry! He had some interesting stories at supper also!

I sure missed out on fish should have had some $$$ who ever got the fish got a steal... That was robbery!

Bruce

[Brent Shaver]

Guilty as charged...smiles.  I got 2 bags he brought for an amazing price and they are swimming happily in my tank now.

As for the topic and presentation it was a great one for sure, was nice to see the area in a bit more detail from which my fish come from.

I think I will be in touch with Larry again in the future for more of his rarer fish.

[Nerine]

I left before the auction, I had $15 in my wallet...and that was for GAS only! HAHA

Sooo Brent - pictures?!

and who got the awesome little tank??

[Brent Shaver]

I will try to get some pics this weekend as they are still unsure of the tank and hiding in the rock work.

But I got
8 Petrotilapia sp. 'Chitimba Bay'
4 nkhomo reef, have to contact Larry to confirm name
elite HOB
3 tank decorations for door prizes
and I only had a $20 on me or I would have bought all his fish..smiles

[ajm1961]

Nerine, if by 'little tank' you meant the Halloween style jar with lights, that was me bringing my decorated fish bowl to the wrong meeting! For some reason I thought this contest was at the October meeting, not the November one...
Doh!

[Nerine]

Oh dear, I guess I'm gonna have to step it up one!!! Are you bringing it back the same? I didn't get a good look but it looked really neat!!!!!

[Al]

Larry did a great presentation last night - much appreciated. I just thought I would add a comment from the meeting as I don't attend often but hope to be able to attend more often, time permitting.
At the beginning of the meeting, it was mentioned that the club was collecting money for a new discus book - that's great. Donations were being encouraged  - hey that's what clubs do. No problem.
What didn't make sense to me is - if we are looking for money for a book - and I am sure there are several other good causes to ask for donations for club issues and support - when it comes to the auction, WHY??? when a speaker comes from out of town with some neat fish (I remember the same scenario with Rusty Wessel) - would we auction off their fish with a starting bid of $2 - I mean, come on, a bag of 6-8 interesting fish not always seen in the stores and we start the bidding at $2 - to end up with a sale at $5, $6 or $7 ?. It's almost embarrassing - "Larry, great fish - glad you took the hassle of bagging and bringing them from Hamilton - we should be able to raise some money for the club with your kind support!!".
Bruce, I agree with your comments. 
We're trying to raise money - and there are some great fish available - In future, why wouldn't we start a minimum bid like 15 or 20 bucks - that's still only $2 a fish or so? Our members are still getting a terrific opportunity and a great buy!
Looking forward to the next meeting.

[mseguin]

I agree with you that the price that we get for these fish is kinda sad. On the other hand, if we only made it to $6, a minimum bid of 15$ probably isn't going to get us anywhere. And the speaker can't exactly take the fish back with him if they don't sell.
Prices go in cycles in the club. 5 years ago, those africans would have gone for at least 30$ a bag, with stiff competition. Nowadats, there are less people keeping africans then back then, so prices have dropped. I have a feeling in a few more years prices will be up again.

[Al]

Well then, maybe don't make it a "minimum bid" of $15 - but start the bidding at $10 - $15 - if nobody steps up you go down a little. I am pretty certain the guys who bought these fish would have comfortably paid an extra 10 bucks for their 6-8 fish without feeling like they were taken advantage of - I saw some pretty happy faces with the selection of fish and what they bought.
I hear you on the dwindling interest in africans and agree to some extent, but at the end of the day BA and many of the other retailers are still committing lots of tanks to africans in their stores - and the prices at the auction, never mind the selection, are a steal. And there was a good turnout to hear and see a presentation on.... africans!
I'm not trying to suggest we turn this into some big profit center, but we could make it a better win-win for OVAS (as well as the buyers who do well) and better reach some of our initiatives that require financial support or donations.
Thanks,
Al

[markw]

I agree with you that the price that we get for these fish is kinda sad. On the other hand, if we only made it to $6, a minimum bid of 15$ probably isn't going to get us anywhere. And the speaker can't exactly take the fish back with him if they don't sell.
Prices go in cycles in the club. 5 years ago, those africans would have gone for at least 30$ a bag, with stiff competition. Nowadats, there are less people keeping africans then back then, so prices have dropped. I have a feeling in a few more years prices will be up again.

I agree with Al in that when you start an auction at $2.00 then people assume a value given where it started. A good auctioneer and supporting network identifies value and strives to realize that value throughout their bidding process. If you're going to auction junk then start low, but when someone like Larry, Rusty or Klaus bring fish from such distance with such effort then show them we appreciate the value and start it where it belongs. African's may have lost some appeal, but the club showed the same lack of appreciation with the South Americans Klaus brought and the rare live bearers Rusty brought. Doesn't take long to see a trend here...and our speakers all talk amongst themselves. Soon we won't have guests bringing fish. Sometimes a little education goes a long ways when it comes to showing the value these fish command elsewhere.

[Nerine]

Very valid points!

I would have loved to have stayed to drive the prices up but I only had $15 !! LOL So I knew I had to leave before the auction started

but I do agree they shouldn't start at $2

[Big Als]

Hi Brent,

     I didn't see the Petrotilapia there, are you sure that you didn't get a Cynotilapia sp Chitimba Bay?
The names should be on all the bags if you still have them.

Jody

[Brent Shaver]

Yep your right..   It was really hard to read the bag, that is why I was going to fire Larry off an email.

[artw]

there are times when I think I should start up the operation again..  I would have bought all of larry's fish, and paid more than $7 a bag for them