Re: COAST Fish Club

[Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>]

On Fri, 23 Aug 2002, Linda Sweet wrote:

> Hi Erik,
> I keep a lot of planted tanks, but nowhere near as beautiful as those seen
> in your contests. I am the editor of Showfish, the publication for COAST
> (California's Organization of Aquatic Show Tropicals -- we just call it
> COAST).
> 
> I was wondering if there anyone in your organization that might give a talk
> on planted aquariums to our membership? We are in the Southern California
> area, Orange County, just west of Los Angeles. Please let me know. I'll be
> traveling next week so if you don't hear from me, it's because I'm not here!

Hi Linda,

There are lots of folks who give talks on planted aquaria & related
subjects.  Some that I've heard in the last few years include Neil Frank
(North Carolina) speaking on both "basics" and advanced plant nutrition,
Karen Randall (Massachusetts) on a variety of topics, David Lass
(Massachusetts) on lighting, Paul Krombholz on nutrition and propagation,
myself on collecting in Brazil, "basics" (doing one in San Jose next month
acually), and photography & aquascaping...hmm.. who am I missing?  Oh yes,
Dorothy Reimer (London, Ontario) has been in the hobby longer than any of
us & gives a refreshing talk on how she's kept plants that is an eye
opener for those who've become just a bit to enamored with the current
technology.  There are others, but I haven't heard them speak yet!

Probably the best way to find out if someone can come give a talk is to
ask -- everyone has e-mail (and for that matter has been CC'd on this
reply!).  As there's no official AGA "speaker program," requirements for
reimbursal & accomodations vary from speaker to speaker, so you should ask 
them individually.

One other thing you may find useful, the AGA has videotapes of our two
recent conventions available for purchase, including some very interesting
presentations by Takashi Amano.  These might make interesting meeting
meeting presentations when you can't get a live speaker a particular
month.

Hope this is helpful,

  - Erik

-- 
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com