April 2012: Cyprinids of the World Part 1: Barbs

[mewickham]

[mewickham]

Posters are ready! Please help promote this program by downloading, printing, and distributing posters to your local shops, community bulletin boards, and so forth.

Cyprinids of the World, Part 1: Barbs Poster (8.5" x 11")

Cyprinids of the World, Part 1: Barbs Poster (5.5" x 8.5")

[mewickham]

And for those of you who don't already know the speaker, here's a biography of Gerald Griffin:

I first started keeping fish at the age of nine and by ten bred my first fish species Colisa lalia, followed shortly by Colisa chuna (sota), Colisa fasciata and labiosa. At the age of twelve I read All About Bettas by Walt Maurus and fell in love with wild Bettas, the only problem was that in the 1970s I could not find any living in Oklahoma. By the time I went to college I found articles on wild Bettas in the school library and joined the International Betta Congress and started corresponding with various fish keepers and found some wild Betta stocks and started collecting them and writing articles.

After a personal disaster (one of my college friends killing off my entire fish collection) I reduced the number of tanks I kept down to about half a dozen. I kept at that level as I started keeping herps, mainly bearded dragons, milk snakes and Native Oklahoma Herps that I used in snake shows.

Around the year 2000 I once again got hit with the Betta bug and started keeping domestics again and as soon as I did the wild Betta bug hit me again and I went crazy again collecting them. I currently run over 80 tanks dedicated to a number of different fish. As I became more involved in my local fish club the Oklahoma Aquarium Association I started keeping a variety of species and have since spawned various Barbs, African Cichlids, Killifish, Native American fish, American Cichlids, Livebearers, Tetras, Gobies, and a number of miscellaneous fishes and have diverged into salt water fishes (clownfish and seahorses) however wild Bettas will always be my first love and the primary fish I keep.

I am currently the chair of the Species Maintenance Program of the International Betta Congress and the President of the Tulsa Chapter of the Oklahoma Aquarium Association. Mark Denaro and I have also started the American Labyrinth Fish Association and are in the process of putting up a website and starting a publication. We are hoping in the next year or two to have an annual convention.

[Jackielee]

This sounds like a good meeting and topic. Trying to convince my spouse we need to go out of it own to Arkansas for a getaway. I know Gerald will be informative. Hope to see you there. Jack.

[pinkrblu]

My nephew is getting married Saturday. Looks like I am going to miss another one.

[etheonut]

Tell your nephew congratulations from all of us.

Kevin

[mewickham]

And buy him an aquarium for a wedding present!

[mewickham]

Dinner with Gerald Griffin!
Since we have an out-of-town speaker this month, we will be meeting up at Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet before the meeting (5:15 PM) to grab a bite. Everyone is welcome to join us and we hope that you will! (You will be responsible for your own meal check, which is around $10 for buffet and drink.) The restaurant is a new and very large Chinese/American buffet (largest in the area). They even have a Mongolian-style grill where you can pick your raw ingredients for cooking. There is also some good sushi!

The restaurant address is listed below, but for those familiar with the area, the restaurant is located right in front of Walmart #1 on Walnut St. (Rt. 12) in Rogers.

Restaurant location:
Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet
102 South 21st Street
Rogers, AR 72758-1120
(479) 636-8888

If you plan to attend the dinner, do us a favor and post an RSVP here. You don't need it to attend the dinner, but if we know there is going to be a large group, we will make reservations to be sure everyone can sit together.

[tbalan]

We will be there.

[mewickham]

Gerald gave a great talk last night! We'll have to have him back sometime.

[snakeskinner]

Gerald gave a great talk last night! We'll have to have him back sometime.

don't sugar coat it, let him know how you REALLY feel

[mewickham]

I uploaded a couple of pictures of Gerald's talk. Click on the photos to see a larger version.