For those who have only caught the edge of the story here, I moved a fair distance 3 years ago and found myself in a town with lots of aquarists, one half decent and another 3/4 decent fishstore, and no "scene". I called a meeting for a new aquarium club, since there was a Facebook group with hundreds of local members who didn't seem to have met face to face. A local store owner got involved, and we made it through 5 small meetings before it petered out.
This September, we tried again with a relaunch, and it has taken off this time. We had 8 new people last evening, on a night when rain was teeming down and roads were turning into streams. There are about 40 active members.
I got to listen in as a couple of Canadian planted tank people got into a technical conversation with a Ukraninian guy who had brought very nice plants to the auction. They seemed to do things slightly differently. In another corner, a couple who had never kept live plants and liked no substrate tanks were learning about Anubias and java ferns from the club president, and there was a lively discussion of what types of iron to use for red leaves at another table. There was Cichlid talk, killie talk, discussions of tetra breeding (some people have the idea of a breeding co-op to supply local stores as we are not centrally located for them to ship fish in). There were even people talking about (ewww) shrimp.
The big thing to me was the room was full of fishnerds who didn't really know each other talking about their hobby with people who cared. This is an introvert's hobby, but talking fishtanks is one of its many pleasures.
Starting a club isn't without challenges. We got a lot of help with structure from the Canadian Association of Aquarium Clubs website. We had to structure things quickly, and to try to weaken any in crowd tendencies before expanding out. We've gotten people from 3 small cities working together. We needed a stable place, and things to auction (a big draw). We needed and need speakers - people are shy about talking in front of others. We can solve some of that with zoom invites next year.
We started from scratch, and if anyone reading this knows a few people they can work with when surrounded by what looks like a large pool of aquarists, it's something to consider. "Fish club" has become a valuable thing to a bunch of local people, new parents bringing infants on a rare night out, mother and daughter combos, retired people, workers new in town, all kinds of ordinary extraordinary people. It's something to consider if you are in the sort of position I was in. Fish people do better in groups of 8 or more.
This September, we tried again with a relaunch, and it has taken off this time. We had 8 new people last evening, on a night when rain was teeming down and roads were turning into streams. There are about 40 active members.
I got to listen in as a couple of Canadian planted tank people got into a technical conversation with a Ukraninian guy who had brought very nice plants to the auction. They seemed to do things slightly differently. In another corner, a couple who had never kept live plants and liked no substrate tanks were learning about Anubias and java ferns from the club president, and there was a lively discussion of what types of iron to use for red leaves at another table. There was Cichlid talk, killie talk, discussions of tetra breeding (some people have the idea of a breeding co-op to supply local stores as we are not centrally located for them to ship fish in). There were even people talking about (ewww) shrimp.
The big thing to me was the room was full of fishnerds who didn't really know each other talking about their hobby with people who cared. This is an introvert's hobby, but talking fishtanks is one of its many pleasures.
Starting a club isn't without challenges. We got a lot of help with structure from the Canadian Association of Aquarium Clubs website. We had to structure things quickly, and to try to weaken any in crowd tendencies before expanding out. We've gotten people from 3 small cities working together. We needed a stable place, and things to auction (a big draw). We needed and need speakers - people are shy about talking in front of others. We can solve some of that with zoom invites next year.
We started from scratch, and if anyone reading this knows a few people they can work with when surrounded by what looks like a large pool of aquarists, it's something to consider. "Fish club" has become a valuable thing to a bunch of local people, new parents bringing infants on a rare night out, mother and daughter combos, retired people, workers new in town, all kinds of ordinary extraordinary people. It's something to consider if you are in the sort of position I was in. Fish people do better in groups of 8 or more.
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Have you all came up with a name for the club ?
