eBulletin of the San Diego Tropical Fish Society

March 9, 2:00 a.m. Daylight savings time starts in the U.S. Set your clocks to spring ahead by one hour and don't be late for the meeting.

March 9, 2008 – Monthly meeting. As usual there will be an auction. Sellers should arrive at 6:00 p.m. The auction will start at 6:30 and the program will start at 7:00 p.m. Chris Turk will speak on Fish Nutrition. Chris Turk is President of H20 foods, a leading supplier of frozen food for tropical and marine fish.

This is the month for our bowl show to be Guppies and Old World Cichlids. Old World Cichlids will still be shown, but we are expanding the guppy show to many more than the normal number of entries and will have several classes. You can view a flyer with more information here

March 29, 2008 - (This is a Saturday) Field trip to the Borrego Desert visitors center to view pupfish in their ponds, and wildflowers. This should be just about the peak of the wildflower season and this is already an exceptional year for desert flowers.

We will meet at the Murray Drive Park and Ride for car pooling, which is on Murray Drive right next to the Red Lobster parking lot just off Hwy 8 at Grossmont Center. It is right next to the freeway and across Murray Drive from the Walmart. Meet there before 10:00 a.m. and we will leave there at 10:00 a.m. We will drive through Ramona and Julian and have a picnic at the Visitor's Center in Borrego Springs. Bring your own food and drink for the picnic. Nothing will be supplied. Be sure and bring sunglasses, hats and plenty of water.

April 13, 2008 - Spring Auction - Spring Auction of fish, plants and fish equipment. Sellers receive 75% with 25% going to SDTFS. You must be a member of SDTFS to either buy or sell at the auction. You can join at the time of the auction.

Our February 23, 2008 Field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium attracted 38 attendees. This was probably the largest attendance ever for an SDTFS event so far away. In the photos below you will see only about half of the group attending, as there were so many of us we had to divide into two groups with two tour guides. Both Mark and Arlene Ferguson previously worked at the aquarium, and they also divided so there would be one of them with each of the groups in addition to the two guides. This made the tours even better as they are both very knowledgeable about everything at the aquarium. But the pictures are almost all of people who were on the same half of the tour as the photographer.


These first two photos are from the drive on the way up Hwy 1. It was a rainy and off and on sunny day.	Sometimes getting there is a large part of the fun. The scenery was wonderful.

Above is Dee Pratt, Bill Peterson and Mark Ferguson. Dee was the driver of the trip, staying on top of everything and constantly reinforcing our efforts to make it happen through November, December and January. Mark was a Curator at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for many years, and our contact with the Aquarium. He made this a wonderful experience for all of us. Photos on the right are random shots made during our behind the scenes tour.

That's Heather Crellin on the left, Barbara Cobleigh behind her.	Mark speaks to Carolyn and Ben Ivy, Heather, Jim Cobleigh and Dee during the behind the scenes tour. it was fascinating to see these work areas, and to have Mark who had been there for so long telling us about not only what was there now, but what had happened during the early days of the aquarium.

Elizabeth and Bill Carpenter with Carolyn Ivy.	This tank was in a quarantine area for incoming fish.

Above and to the right just neat photos from around the aquarium. Below group members are observing in the control center, and the last photo on the right is from outside the aquarium looking out into the bay. This was a great experience, the work of several people and demonstrates the wonderful things our organization can made happen.

Here's the scoop! You pay $10 and are given a sack of 5 or 6 of these Barbs. You grow them up until November, and enter them in the November show. Everyone who enters gets their $10 back. The fish will be judged on size and condition. Winner gets a cash prize that depends on how many people enter the contest and how many people show them. And on other factors. I believe Jimmy and Barbara Cobleigh are donating $50 towards the prize. Its a good deal and an interesting thing to do. These fish are ordinarily $3 each at this size. By the way, thanks to Aquatic Warehouse for a discount price to the club on these fish. You will get 6 of these if 10 people enter the contest, 5 if twelve people enter. But you need to phone me at (619) 267-2236 and reserve your fish in advance so I will know how many to put in each bag, and please, please do it right away. I will be busy bagging them on Sunday, as well as lots of guppies to enter into the guppy show and need to know before Sunday if possible. Leave a message on my answering machine if you do not reach me.

Be sure and have a tank ready on Sunday to put them in. Good luck in the contest!