A few of us trekked on down to Washington DC this past weekend to the bi-annual Aquatic Gardener's Association Convention in Washington DC. We were all very excited to be there - plenty of sponsors and vendors, great speakers and plenty of Geeking out! It was a 3 day affair so we got down there Thursday - a looong 12 hour drive.
First thing Friday was a trip to the Zoo to take a look at the Amazon biotope set-up. Entrance to the Zoo was free! Here are some Shots:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/HHd6Hh1njC25rOo-ZK0z6YeAPCCY7q685cIJ82b-UfA=w800-h600-no)
A grey Wolf
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/kXpVP7SivOC819HTPj4C0RJvHAF3bgFl9d21W3TYFlk=w800-h600-no)
Pacu
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-FZ-gGtCIAPA/VS4HEkUxPuI/AAAAAAAAF7k/KZ2W_cSbhwo/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150410_103940.jpg)
Giant FISH
Next on the list was a trip to the Botanical Gardens but we had other plans - it was my first trip to the States and one of the other members had never been to the landmarks around Washington DC either so we made a side trip:
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(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0X4kVrHeVWI/VS4HEllbx1I/AAAAAAAAF7w/RYTRgWOPjfA/w671-h905-no/IMG_20150410_154515.jpg)
We rushed back after forgetting that the car was parked and Greg had wild visions of wheels being locked. In the end, we grabbed a quick pretzel, hotdog and giant egg roll respectively for dinner and headed back to the first programming of the Convention.
First up was an Aquascaping workshop. 18 folks signed up and they had a Fluval All-In-One tank and unlimited scape materials. Takashi Amano even donated some ADA goods to each participant. Here are some of my Favs:
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(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WIX7YXOAWEI/VS4HErxSzUI/AAAAAAAAF8A/6RfLRV_G_eA/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_114622.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3SUCvoMNXIA/VS4HEqGekOI/AAAAAAAAF8A/FQxNaxR8kGY/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_114654.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fLmeFc2RHDw/VS4HEpb_JhI/AAAAAAAAF8A/T4CNA7ldf7o/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_114737.jpg)
Next up was an Aquascaping Duel between George Farmer and Mike Senske - was amazing to see it live. It was not a tutorial, not a demo but a glimpse into the thought process and 'rituals' before using what they had to come up with something completely impromptu and magical. George sat on the floor staring at the tank for a little while contemplating the possibilities before he actually touched the tank.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F-bOybs-ATc/VS4HElO5uHI/AAAAAAAAF8A/M5tI2Epf7-g/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150410_212417.jpg)
George Farmer from the UK - founder of UKAPS and contributor to Tropical Fish Hobbyist mag
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YBdMoGy3WFE/VS4HEsCwpgI/AAAAAAAAF8A/fDLnt_nyvn8/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150410_212428.jpg)
Mike Senke from the US - highest ranking US AGA Aquascaper, owns Aqua Design Group in the states
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A6WJ6O7zQeM/VS4HEpAQvfI/AAAAAAAAF8A/JPx1NGMiKRU/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150410_225240.jpg)
George's Iwagumi
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WbqXyHrTZ7c/VS4HElmKZ5I/AAAAAAAAF8A/NiMx6vbersE/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150410_230440.jpg)
Mike's 'Senske' - its funny all judges recognized it as a Senske signature scape
Of course there were the talks the next day and some familiar folks in the planted tank hobby. Some names include Diana Walstad, Karen Randall, Tom Barr, George Farmer, Rachel O'Leary aka MsJinkzd and Dustin from fishtankTV.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-JHOJ9k_eVDo/VS4HEqPQUxI/AAAAAAAAF8A/TRChXF7njjo/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_203910.jpg)
Tom Barr - the EI guy
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-EtrkIh9qXcA/VS4HEv6lIQI/AAAAAAAAF8A/Q8QNrddg-sk/w671-h905-no/IMG_20150412_000024.jpg)
Rachel O'Leary aka Msjinkzd - sells amazing nano fishes and contributor to AMAZONAS mag
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2SQLJd40bZU/VS4HEjoGX6I/AAAAAAAAF8A/hm-1wD_LD04/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_000550.jpg)
Dustin - the goofy dude from the youtubes
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-owhUUyN_RGk/VS4HEtfUXWI/AAAAAAAAF8A/GdNL1H9gx0k/w800-h600-no/IMG_20150411_175704.jpg)
George Farmer
It was a good weekend all in all - too bad couldn't bring plants across the border and we had to leave early Sunday, the day of the auction there. So we missed not only the OVAS auction but this one as well! Oh well - i got some of Tom Barr's Manzanita driftwood and some Ember Tetras from Msjinkzd cheap as well as samples of Nualgi (interesting product). Not too bad a convention!
Nice. 8)
That giant fish looks like an arapaima.
Wow! Looks like it was a great trip! Thanks for sharing - you made me envious.
Perhaps you could share some of that new found knowledge at one of our club meetings at some point!
Thanks for sharing Rah, even though it was painful for me ;)
Thanks for sharing Rah! Too bad exams started that weekend or else I would've loved to have attended as well!
Quote from: bettabreeder on April 16, 2015, 08:41:17 AM
Thanks for sharing Rah! Too bad exams started that weekend or else I would've loved to have attended as well!
Sucks man - there was a booth with a dude selling all kinds of shrimps for cheap from ShrimpUSA! Thought you woulda liked that! Always a next time!
Quote from: charlie on April 16, 2015, 07:47:20 AM
Thanks for sharing Rah, even though it was painful for me ;)
Haha - I know.. but I actually took these pics to share with you so you'd at least get a glimpse of it. You were missed!
Quote from: ajm1961 on April 16, 2015, 06:59:45 AM
Wow! Looks like it was a great trip! Thanks for sharing - you made me envious.
Perhaps you could share some of that new found knowledge at one of our club meetings at some point!
It was a great convention with tonnes of great speakers. Other than that, I think our first Aquamania did a lil better in terms of participants and Vendor rooms. Speaking of which, Jason Baliban was a familiar face there so we chatted a bit too!
I had an awesome time. I got a lot out of the presentations from Tom Barr, George Farmer and the build-my-LED guy. Thanks to their talks I actually came home and made a few minor tweaks to my tanks. There was also a little bit of everything from the scientific planted-tank point of view, to artistic aquascaping, and even a history lesson from our visit to the Smithsonian institute. I also met a few very knowledgeable and nice folks from all across the US in the planted tank hobby. All in all, it was a great trip. Hopefully you can join us next time Errol!
Quote from: ajm1961 on April 16, 2015, 06:59:45 AM
Wow! Looks like it was a great trip! Thanks for sharing - you made me envious.
Perhaps you could share some of that new found knowledge at one of our club meetings at some point!
I've ordered a DVD of the presentations. The plan is to show one or two at the next Plantaholics gathering. Several of these were superb for the plant people.
Looks like Dustin had posted a short vid of the nano workshop - you can see the vendor room in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX_rbbyMfdA
Saw this from Practical FishKeeping by George Farmer.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=6751&utm_source=PFK_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May_15_2015&utm_term=2015_Aquatic_Gardeners_Association_Convention_a_big_success&utm_content=html (http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=6751&utm_source=PFK_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May_15_2015&utm_term=2015_Aquatic_Gardeners_Association_Convention_a_big_success&utm_content=html)
The talks by Nick Klase (of BML) and Tom Barr were bar far the most technical & interesting for me. I believe Wolfiewill is getting the DVD and intends to show it at our next plantaholics.