The Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society (OVAS) will be hosting its Mini Livestock Auction on
Monday, November 24th 2025.
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Please do not confuse this with the Giant Auction which is scheduled for March 2026.
General Event Info:
This is a livestock only auction so items such as fish, plants, shrimps and live foods will be up for sale. There will be no dry goods in the mini livestock auction. Everyone is welcome! An OVAS club membership is not required to attend the auction as buyer and/or vendor and admission is free. However there are different rates of commissions for vendors. Please see below, under Handling Charges, for more details.
OVAS Membership:
The membership desk will be open for people seeking to become members in person before the mini livestock auction. You can also purchase a membership online. Memberships from the 2024/25 season expired on September 30 2025. Those of you still waiting for your membership card can pick them up as well before the mini livestock auction.
Volunteers:
We are looking for a few people to help out as runners, auctioneers and other stuff at the mini livestock auction. If you are interested and are able to help out, please reply here.
Forum Discussion:
There is an ongoing discussion in which you can ask questions and get the latest updates and it can be found here.
Location Info:
- Venue: J.A. Dulude Arena located at 941 Clyde Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario K2C 4B2
- Parking: There is free parking at the venue.
- Accessibility: There is an accessible entrance with a ramp at the front of the building.
Item Registration:
- Pre-Registration: Due to the mini livestock auction being a smaller event that takes place during one of our monthly meetings, there is no pre-registration and no online preview.
- In-Person Registration Only: Starts at 6:00 PM. No items will be accepted after 7:00 PM.
Auction Schedule:
- Viewing: Doors open at 6:00 PM for viewing and in-person registration.
- Start Time: The auction starts at 7:00 PM sharp.
- Closing: The mini livestock auction will close once the last item is auctioned off. The duration will depend on the number of items registered. In the past years we finished around 8:45 PM.
- Vendor Payout: Please allow 20 minutes for sales verification time and 15 minutes of processing time after closing which we will pay out the vendors.
General Auction Information:
- In-Person Registration Info:
- Vendors must provide a vendor form and label their items with tags. The vendor form and tags are available at this link and they are fillable from your computer.
- Blank printouts will be available before the start of the mini livestock auction if you do not have access to a printer.
- Please write neatly if hand-writing on these documents and provide accurate, helpful item descriptions as well as a distinctive lot number as described on the forms. The standard lot number includes the vendor’s initials and a number. Volunteers can assist vendors who do not arrive with complete vendor forms or item tags.
- The vendors will hand all labeled items to the volunteers to be placed on the proper table in the viewing area.
- The starting bid for each item is $2 unless a minimum starting bid is indicated on the label.
- Once an item is registered and placed in the auction it may not be removed.
- Table Assignment: All items will be assigned a random table number during registration. The tables are then auctioned off in random order, which we will draw at the beginning of the auction.
- Bidding and Payment: We encourage everyone to keep their arms raised if they intend to bid on an item in order to speed up the entire auction. The highest bidder will win the bid. Any won bid must be claimed and paid immediately by the bidder. We accept cash and card payments however there is no ATM onsite.
- Permitted Items: This is an all aquatic auction for fresh and saltwater livestock only. Items such as fish, plants, and invertebrates (corals, shrimp, mollusks) will be for sale. However the following live items are not permitted at the mini livestock auction and will be automatically removed from the auction list.
- Native fish, protected species, and illegal species
- The following invasive aquatic plants are not permitted at the auction. For more details, please refer to this link.
• Brazilian elodea, Egeria densa. Also known as anacharis
• Eurasian water-milfoil, Myriophyllum spicatum
• Hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata
• Flowering rush, Butomus umbellatus
• Floating primrose-willow, Ludwigia peploides (but not other varieties of Ludwigia)
• Fanwort, Cabomba caroliniana
• European water chestnut, Trapa natans
• European frogbit, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
• Oxygen weed, Lagarosiphon major
• Parrot feather, Myriophyllum aquaticum
• Water fern, genus Azolla
• Water soldier, Stratiotes aloides
• Watermoss, genus Salvinia
• Yellow Floating-heart, Nymphoides peltata (but not other Nymphoides)
- Donations: If desired, vendors can mark an item as a donation to OVAS, in which case all proceeds from the item are donated to the club.
- Item Limits: The maximum limit for identical items is three. Please group your items accordingly. You can register more than three identical items if you choose to donate these items to the club. Please indicate this during registration or we will automatically mark any item that exceeds the maximum limit as a donation. OVAS reserves the right to combine similar lots from the same vendor in the interest of time and getting items sold. Each single vendor is allowed to register a total maximum of 100 items.
- Handling Charges: There are two rates of commission.
- Vendors who are OVAS club members will be charged $1 per item.
- Vendors who are not OVAS club members will be charged $2 per item.
- Any unsold item must be claimed by the owner at the end of the auction. Unclaimed items become property of OVAS.
- Item Packaging: All live items must be packaged appropriately. Fish bags are preferred. Closed glass jars are accepted but should be avoided due to the risk of broken glass. Plastic buckets may be used for bigger live items. Any bag/container must be sized appropriately. Clearly diseased or deformed live items will not be accepted. OVAS reserves the right to refuse any live item that is not properly packaged. Please refer to the bagging instructions on our website.
- A bagging station will be available for emergencies at the cost of $1 per bag, paid toward the club.
Item Catalogue:
Due to the items only being accepted an hour before the start of the event, there will be no printed list of items and there will be no online preview.
Vendor Payout:
- Vendors will be paid out in cash at after the close of the auction as described in the above schedule.
- Vendors will be provided a receipt from the Auction Chair, vendor will confirm the amount by signing it and then take it to the Treasurer for pay out.
- If you are unable to stay to the end of the auction please contact the Auction Chair. You will be mailed a cheque within 14 days at a cost of $1.