The third event held by the EACG was certainly the biggest and best so far. Not only did the two speakers give excellent presentations but they also donated rare fish for the auction, generating funds for the club. Rusty Wessel gave a talk on the Panuco Basin in Mexico and the many cichlid species found there. He focused on the Herichthys genus and gave a great insight into their natural behaviour in the wild. This was superbly illustrated by his many videos and his first hand experience of travelling to the region. His fish donation included many Herichthys species and livebearers from the region and there were some very exciting bidding wars over these fish! Willem Heijns gave the audience a choice of topics and a talk on his personal history and building his fish rooms was chosen. Willem's talk was both tragic and funny but I'm sure many of the audience could empathise with some of the problems he has faced with his hobby. The rest of us can only hope to learn from him!! Despite this his tanks and his cichlids are an awesome sight to behold. If you are interested in Cichlids and ever get the chance to see Rusty or Willem speak then I would recommend them very highly! After the talks and auction of donated fish we proceeded with an auction of cichlids, catfish and equipment. There were mainly rift valley and central american cichlids for sale and again several exciting bidding wars were witnessed. On the other hand, some really lovely fish went quite close to their reserves and were mere fractions of shop prices as a result. Highlights include the amazing pair of Wild Blue Acaras, the unidentified Asian catfish bought for £2 and some enormous examples of Thorithys ellioti. We concluded the day with our raffle. Juwel Aquariums donated three complete systems, Swallow Aquatics donated an external filter and we had other contibutions from PFK, JMC, Newmarket Aquatics and AquaTrax aquarium software who kindly funded the venue. So thanks to Willem, Rusty, Jim the auctioneer, our sponsors and organisers. An excellent day out for all keen Cichlid fans! |
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