Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Doing it Amano Style

George Lo is well regarded throughout California as a leading voice for the promotion and advocacy of Nature Planted Aquariums fashioned after the style popularized by Takashi Amano, known worldwide as the Amano look. Perfecting this style since he was a teenager, George has since participated in the International Planted Aquarium Layout Contest and have ranked 20th place in the world. He has also received a Certificate of Achievement in the Nature Aquarium Seminar which required training with Mr. Amano himself in Niigata, Japan. From 2005, George has been the proprietor of Aqua Forest Aquarium in San Francisco which has garnered praise from both the Chronicle and the LA Times. Please join us for a fascinating look into creating this fantastic setup yourself with a hands-on live demonstration this coming Friday.

Please join us and bring a friend. Meetings are free and open to everyone.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Planted Aquariums for Dummies 101

Doug Pizzy does not hold a BS in Aquatic Biology, a MS in Botany or a PhD in Plant Sciences. In fact, he does not claim to be an expert at all when it comes to growing aquatic plants and yet he is a keeper of glossostigma, narrow leaf java ferns, blyxa japonica and a variety of crypts. Doug also has experience raising and spawning the difficult species Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis. Over the years Doug has learned that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to have a nice planted aquarium. All it takes is a little patience and the desire to experiment and learn from your mistakes.

Doug Pizzy has been a member of the SFAS since 1997 and owns a professional dog walking and pet sitting business who also enjoys photography, gardening, being a part-time musician and of course, maintaining beautiful planted aquariums. Doug will talk about the basics of growing aquatic plants including substrates, lighting, CO2, fertilizers and choosing the right plants and fish for your set up.

Please join us and bring a friend. Get ready to say good-bye to plastic plants and learn how to make the live ones thrive! Meetings are free and open to everyone.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

An event co-hosted by SFAS and the California Betta Society

Dr. Gene Lucas developed an interest in fish while growing up, and has kept aquaria almost continuously ever since. Pursuing his interests in graduate school, he studied the genetics and sex determination of Betta splendens. His work toward a Ph.D. in genetics led to a better understanding of the inheritance of most factors in domestic bettas. He also developed the symbolic system and nomenclature used by most betta breeders today. A true legend in the hobby, he has given countless presentations and has published around 400 articles on betta biology and genetics.
    Dr. Lucas's study of domestic bettas eventually expanded into the study of other betta species. He has taken a total of nine trips across the Pacific to find, collect and study wild bettas. We are honored to be able to host Dr. Lucas's presentation, "Southeast Asia; the homes of the Siamese Fighting Fish," at a joint California Betta Society and San Francisco Aquarium Society meeting. This will be a rare opportunity to hear Dr. Lucas speak about his fascinating travels.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Breeding Mono Sebaes and Peacock Bass

Mr. Bob Allen will be honoring us with three talks, touching on subjects ranging from raising Peacock Bass (South American cichlids) and Mono Sebaes to running a professional hatchery with 240 fish tanks. Bob has had success spawning some unusual fish such as Monodactylus sebae,  Bathybates minor,  Lampricthys tanganicanus and Enantiopus sp. “Kilesa”. His day job for 40 years was operating two camera stores in the Provo, Utah area - hence his deep knowledge in photographic matters as well. In addition to being an advanced aquarist and a highly sought-after lecturer who has spoken at numerous aquarium clubs across the USA and at the American Cichlid Association convention, Bob is also an accomplished author, having frequent articles published in Tropical Fish Hobbyist and Cichlid News magazines. The lectures will include professional quality slides and video. SFAS looks forward to having you join us this May.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

MEGA SWAP

Come join us this April 2nd for the Mega Swap - SFAS members will be cleaning out their garages and selling anything and everything. There will also be a raffle during the night, with a very nice final prize - see the pic below. We'll also have free fish food giveaways for all attendees regardless of membership status, courtesy of Hikari USA. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sellers: please print out and complete your auction form ahead of time. If questions arise on how to label your merchandise, here are some great tips from Dick Au to help you sell your stuff.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

The Art of Killifish Keeping

Besides being an avid hiker and mountain climber, Douglas Habersaat raises a mean Killifish. When he was in school, his parents let him keep any critter he wanted, as long as it did not attempt to eat their cat. He would go out in the woods and collect interesting insects, reptiles and amphibians. In 1990, he started keeping fish, and won first place in the 1993 San Francisco Aquarium Society annual show for Old World Killifish, Fundulopanchax, F. gardneri (Misaje). He is currently Vice President of the San Francisco Bay Area Killifish Association. Doug is also on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Coast Cichlid Association and currently masters Killifish and Cichlids. Please join us for a lively time this coming Friday when Doug will introduce us to more of his beauties.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Tom Barr and Aquatic Fauna

Please join us for a lively gathering when Thomas Barr will host an interesting speech on aquatic fauna for the freshwater aquarium. Tom has maintained aquariums as a business for about 15 years and has kept planted aquariums as a focus since 1989, initially introducing some plants into his tanks starting back in 1977. He also owns and writes for the www.BarrReport.com web site.

Additionally, Mr. Barr has had numerous articles published in over a dozen languages and is currently a columnist for FAMA magazine. And come later on this year, we'll all have to address him as Dr. Barr, as Tom is very close to finishing his Ph.D. in Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis. We look forward to seeing you at Fort Mason this coming Friday, February 5th.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Ron Harlan and his Venezuelan Killifish adventure

Dr. Ron Harlan can trace his interest in tropical fish to his childhood in Rangoon, Burma. He helped a family friend, U Cho, drag a seine through streams and collect tropical fish. He joined the AKA in 1965 and was a member of the BAKA during his high school years when he lived in a bedroom with 35 species of killies and dwarf cichlids. More recently he had been the resident Rivulus expert in the Southern California Killi Club and keeps a slightly more modest number of species. Professionally, Ron was a faculty member and department chairman at Glendale College for 28 years. Three years ago he became Dean of Instruction. He is the owner of Back to Nature Filtration since 1985 and still provides affordable reverse osmosis to the tropical fish and orchid hobbyist.

Ron has led 5 trips into the Peruvian Amazon as well as collecting in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Bolivia. This month's talk will be about his first to Venezuela in 1997. The trip featured outstanding food and lodging, great roads, diverse Venezuelan people, and outstanding collecting. This trip resulted in the reintroduction of several very desirable killis not seen in the hobby for over 10 years as well as the discovery of several possible new species of killi and cichlid.

View photos

Come join SFAS for our annual Holiday Celebration at the Steinhart Aquarium. Food and drinks will be served along with an opportunity for members to participate in the special behind-the-scenes tour of the facilities. The members-only tour begins PROMPTLY at 3 PM while festivities run from 4-6 PM on Sunday, December 6th - we assemble at the BACK Entrance of Cal Academy, not the front. See you all there.

Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Secret Lives of Seahorse

David Cripe is the Special Exhibits Coordinator at Monterey Bay Aquarium. He has worked for Monterey Bay Aquarium for 13 years, the first 8 and a half years was as an Aquarists, working with everything from corals to sharks and the last 5 years as the Special Exhibits Coordinator. In this position, David works on a core team that designs installs all temporary exhibits and remodels that take place at the Aquarium. He is responsible for all aspects of the live animal component, including Life Support Design, Tank and Rockwork design, and installation of all these components. As the special exhibits coordinator, he has had the opportunity to work with everything from freshwater planted exhibits, to coral exhibits, to river otters and penguins.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s most recent temporary exhibit is titled Secret Lives of Seahorse. David will talk about this newest exhibit and some of the amazing animals that are displayed in the exhibit. In addition, he will give a preview of the newest exhibit that is currently under construction at the Aquarium, titled Hot Pink Flamingos and Other Stories of Hope in a Changing Sea.