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In case you haven't heard, FOTAS is having their convention hosted by the Oklahoma club over the Labor Day weekend. Gerald had talked to me about giving my Freak Show talk at the convention, and I just saw a comment about it on their website this morning. So I guess it's official now. Anyone else going? I've not been to a FOTAS convention, but I'm anticipating something similar to the MCA in KC last year. Now I have to go through the program and make all the corrections you all had to suffer through. Denny

I'm interested in going, but they still haven't posted a list of speakers/topics that I could find. So I reserve the right to change my mind.

Translate FOTAS for us please.

Kevin

FOTAS = Federation of Texas Aquarium Societies.

That sounds interesting, do you know the date?

As far as I know, the event starts Friday evening and runs through Sunday September 2-5th (Labor Day weekend). They usually have a show and speakers on Friday and Saturday with a banquet Saturday evening. Then an auction on Sunday. It's in Oklahoma City. Don't know how much registration is for the speakers or the banquet, but the auction is usually free to get in. Denny

Sorry we've been dragging our feet on getting the details hashed out. We're almost finished but here's a little snipit....

FOTAS is as stated, Federation Of Texas Aquarium Societies. They were kind enough to welcome us Okies into their organization due to the close proximity as well as some members that travel back and forth anyways. You can learn a little more here if interested: http://www.fotaswebsite.com/

Every year, one of the member clubs hosts a big convention and they have yet to be an event you want to miss, we hope to not disappoint with our first chance. This will be September 3rd, 4th and 5th (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) which is labor day weekend so we hope this will give people a better shot at a nice relaxing weekend without having to fly back home to go to work the next morning. We have Mark Denaro, Michi Tobler, Denny Rogers, Dean Hougen, David Stewart and Gerald Griffin for our talks. I don't know exactly what will be the topics however Mark is typically an anabantoid or planted tank speaker, Michi is doing a talk on "Cichlids and livebearers:
studying fish in their natural habitats". David Stewart is doing a planted tank talk, Gerald is probably going to do his Wild Betta discussion and Dean will likely be doing a South American Cichlid talk or something about General Cichlid keeping. Of course you already know Denny and he will be doing his "Freak Show" talk (I believe that is the correct name). We will have a show as well as some rental tanks to either store fish for auction or sell out of the tanks if you wish. Friday night will have a speaker, Saturday will be full of speakers and a banquet in the evening. The banquet will not be one to miss, we'll have a speaker as well as a couple mini-auctions with some rare stuff that act as fundraisers for a couple funds that FOTAS handles. Sunday will be an all-auction.

We don't have pre-registration setup yet, however you can go ahead and reserve hotel reservations at the Best Western Saddleback Inn in Oklahoma City for a special rate (I believe $69). It should either be under OKAA or FOTAS (I'm going to talk to the hotel this next Saturday so I'll know more after that).

I (or Gerald if he beats me) will be posting the entire details as soon as we have them worked out which should be very soon.... I've never been to MCA but this is a great event down here... Kyle

we're almost finished hashing out the details and getting a registration page up. here's a link to an blurb I'm going to try and keep updated. http://www.theokaa.org/vb40/content.php?44-FOTAS-2010

There's also quite a bit of different topics including lists of fish and rules about the auction and such on our forum so be sure and keep an eye on that. Monica and I just went to view the hotel today and I was very impressed with the facility. I must admit, I had not been very excited about having FOTAS at a Best Western but I was pleasantly suprised. This was the most decorated, cleaned and up-to-date Best Western I've seen. I stayed in a fancy one in Eureka Springs in March, one in Okmulgee, OK awhile back for some training and we had an event at a fancy one in Tulsa this spring and they were very poor. The first two I even had Jacuzzi suites and they were horrible. This one is great, I may even stay there myself eventhough I'm about half an hour from home......

Looks like the FOTAS event will be $25/person with 17 and under free. Banquet $25/person, 20 gallon rental tanks $10 and show entries $3 each.... I'm fairly certain those prices are concrete.. The Hotel has a special rate for us of 69.99 (a steal for this nice of a place in my opinion). Just FYI, our show-tanks are about 6 gallons. If you plan to bring a larger fish to show, you can bring a larger tank of your own if needed. Our stands will hold a standard 10 gallon (or basically any tank with the same front-to-back depth of a 10) If you require a larger tank than a 10, you are welcome to bring your own stand and whatever you feel necessary, we can supply the water and air supply for you. Rental tanks will be a limited number, if we get a large demand really fast, we may look into expanding this area or even allowing people to bring their own tanks. We should have an online registration available soon to get an idea. BTW, I have taken off work the entire week of August 30th thru the event. My plans are to build any additional stands we need (including the entire rental tank setup) that week and gather any other supplies we might need. Thursday morning I will be setting up the show area along with whatever help I can get. If you plan to come in early, feel free to give me a call and I can direct you where you want to go or maybe even join you if I have the time. My cell is 405-818-2826, home is 405-263-4769 and my email is snakeskinnerkyle@gmail.com look forward to seeing everyone and be sure to pass this onto anyone I may have forgotten.. Kyle

ok, I have most got everything spelled out on our site so go to www.theokaa.org and read the "article" on the homepage and then under the "meetings" forum, there are several posts about particular FOTAS subjects. The online registration "should" be finished by tomorrow I'm told. If you will be bringing anything for the show, need a rental tank, or plan to attend the banquet, please let me know asap at okaquariumassociation@gmail.com Once the online registration is up, that should take care of that but just in case, email me. Also, please review the information about the show and rental tanks on the website. I would prefer you pay via a check or in person at the event. Paypal will tie up any money sent in there for several months and we could use it for the weekend of the event so as long as you let me know your intentions, I can hold your spots and you can pay in person. Spread the word, I'm getting more and more people telling me they're coming and bringing fish. This should be an awesome event.. Kyle

ok guys, took longer than we thought to get the page setup, approved and tested but here's the online registration. Please fill out the registration so we know what to expect as far as attendance. You do not need to pay now, you can pay when you arrive. We just need to know how many people will be coming, how many show and rental tanks to setup and how many banquet plates to have reserved. thanks, KYle

http://www.theokaa.org/cgi-bin/FOTAS2010Registration.cgi

Yeeee-haw! The OKAA/FOTAS Aquarium Round Up is coming up fast! It will be THIS coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (September 3, 4, and 5). That is just five days away!

PLEASE NOTE: If you are planning to attend the awards banquet, you MUST pre-register by noon this Wednesday. That is the cutoff because the hotel needs time to order the food. You can register on site for the convention when you get here but NOT for banquet. Banquet features include:

* Mark Denaro's banquet talk "A Week on the Peruvian Amazon" that includes Peruvian nature of every kind and a visit to a tropical fish exporters at the end. This should be a great talk not only for fish lovers but also other family members as well.
* A fabulous buffet dinner with chicken and beef entrées, mashed potatoes, two vegetable selections, and dessert.
* A cash bar for drinks during your dinner.
* Awards presentations (of course, since this is the awards banquet!).
* A special mini auction.

Just fill out the online registration form at http://www.theokaa.org/cgi-bin/FOTAS2010Registration.cgi and pay when you get here.

Speaking of Mark Denaro, if you want to order fish from him for delivery to FOTAS, please contact him ASAP! His website is http://anubiasdesign.com/ and be sure to check out both his stock list and his special order list.

Mark will also give a talk on Friday evening on rare fish. He should know, since he runs Anubias Design whose motto is "where rare species are common."

The other speakers for the event are:

* Dr Michi Tobler on cichlids and livebearers in their natural environment.
* Gerald Griffin on wild bettas.
* David Stewart on planted tanks.
* Dean Hougen on cichlid reproduction.
* Denny Rogers on mutant fish.

Speaking of Denny Rogers, if you want to order fish or aquarium supplies from him for delivery to FOTAS, please contact him ASAP! His website is http://www.dennysfishroom.com/ and be sure to check out both his stock list and his supplies list.

Besides speakers, the convention will include an all species show. If you want to enter the show and have a chance at winning awards and prizes, please fill out the online registration form at http://www.theokaa.org/cgi-bin/FOTAS2010Registration.cgi ASAP! We've got 34 classes in 12 categories ranging from schooling fish through plants and invertebrates to artwork, photos, and crafts.

There will also be rental tanks available to those wishing to sell fish from the show room. We've already rented a good number of these, so we know there will be great sales from the show room.

Finally, don't forget the all day auction on Sunday!

See our website at http://www.theokaa.org/ for details.
You can also reply to this email or send email to fotas@theokaa.org for details or with questions.

Waaaa-hooo!


OKAA Webmaster

PS. Note that the $25 registration fee is waived for those 17 and under

Just got back from OKC. Had a really great time, and met a lot of really great people. Details to follow when I've had some sleep. Denny

Now that I'm rested, maybe I can give you a sense of the FOTAS convention. I met Mark Denaro (another of the show speakers and owner of Anubias Design), Earl B. who is another member of the ALA board (and who will be sending some of his fish for our next meeting), Charles Jones who is very active in FOTAS, and Alan Wood who will be our speaker next Saturday. There were many others as well who helped make this a very entertaining and informative weekend. Gerald and Kayla took me to my first experience with an Indian (Asian) restaurant and goat, and without Kyle and Monica working tirelessly, this event wouldn't have been nearly memorable. I sure hope some of you are able to attend some of these events in the future.

As far as the fish at the auction, some were good deals for the buyers, and some for the sellers. I was able to get some angels, mollies, a super Red Ruby male peacock, and a trio of killiefish that I was told was a real steal. I did take a few pictures that I'll try to post, but that was my weekend. Denny

Forgot to mention that they asked me to be one of the judges for the show while I was there. Talk about being out of my league. Mark and Charles were excellent though.

I just added some of my pictures from FOTAS. It was sort of hard because they were using the little plastic aquariums for the show. It did cause some distortion. Denny

Nice shots, Denny! It sounds like you had fun. Sorry I had to back out of the trip last minute.

Nice shots for sure. Lots of Peacocks for some reason. Not much in the was of SA/CA cichlids though.

There weren't that many SA/CA cichlids in the show, and most were pretty plain. I did get a few shots, but they were not good enough to post. I didn't see any of the livebearers you were looking for. I did leave about an hour and 1/2 before the end, but nothing had come through at that point. Denny