This years Catfish Study Group’s Annual Convention saw the Convention move to its third venue in as many years; and back to its usual convention base close to Wigan, Lancashire; UK. The hotel complex was situated just outside Standish in the countryside, and was close to two very good aquatic stores and CSG convention sponsors Pier Aquatic (Wigan) and Aqualife (Leyland).
The convention started on the Friday evening with an evening meal which was followed by a talk given by the group’s membership secretary where he told the story of his 40 years of fish keeping and his success at breeding all manner of tropical fish.
The Saturday morning saw the usual CSG market place with many purchases and information exchanges taking place. Amongst the many table stands, were companies like Aquarian & Tetra, hobbyist societies such as the British Live bearer Association and the British Cichlid Association. There was also the groups Breeders Award Programme (BAP) live display, where members who participate on the BAP showed off their spawning achievements. Catfish on display were Corydoras boesmani, Corydoras sp C132, Corydoras Carlae, Sterisoma panamense, Microglanis Iheringi, Aspidoras cf rochai, Aspidoras C125 Gold & Scleromystax sp C113; to name but a few. After lunch saw Dave Hulse from tetra products give an informative talk on fish nutrition. This was followed by a talk by Dr Michael Goulding (USA) on “How catfishes influence our perception of the Amazon”; where he explained in some depth as to how the Amazon river systems impact upon the population and lively hood of people living in South America. After a short interval for refreshments Dr Claudio Oliveira (Brazil), gave a talk on the biodiversity and threats of freshwater fishes in Brazil; explaining how in many area’s of the Amazon basin man and fish co-exist. The afternoon talks closed at around 6pm and many retired to their rooms to freshen up for the evening convention banquet. After the banquet the groups Chairman, Bill Hurst presented two CSG BAP Awards. The first award was presented to Mr Adrian Taylor (UK) for gaining the BAPs silver award (only the second silver award ever presented) which is a solid silver medal in the likeness of the African catfish Brachysynodontis batensoda. The second award that the Chairman presented was the Derek Lambourne memorial trophy for the best breeders article published in the group’s journal over the last 12 months. The winning article is selected by a panel of three members who are not directly involved in the BAP. This year the winner was Ian Fuller for his article on breeding the “soda pop cory” (Corydoras sp C65). This year as well as receiving the Derek Lambourne memorial trophy the winner received a JBL Artemio Set, donated by BAP sponsor JBL. After the presentations were made Dr Devon Graham (USA) treated everyone present with a humorous and light-hearted talk entitled “Misadventures in the Amazon”.
On the Sunday Hans Georg-Evers (Germany) started the all day lectures with a talk on Catfishes from Argentina. After a refreshment break Dr Ralf Britz (British Nat; hist, Museum) gave a very informative talk on the fish fauna of Myanmar. Lunch was taken and then the lectures continued with Dr Devon Graham (USA) talking on the various habitats of Amazonian catfishes, and this was followed by the final talk of the convention given by Dr Michael Goulding on the future of the Amazon as a home for catfishes.
Apart from the great talks over the weekend, those who stayed over at the hotel complex spent every evening discussing catfish until the early hours of the morning some not retiring until 3.30am; and they still seemed to look refreshed the following morning.
Some of you may be asking for a more comprehensive report on each of the lectures; however; as one of the organisers I have to say a fuller report will be published in the Catfish Study Group’s quarterly journal as reported by the group’s new secretary. The CSG although based in the UK has a world-wide membership, so it may well be worth while joining the CSG, (membership details can be found at http://www.catfishstudygroup.org/membership/). Each year we see more and more oversea’s members coming to the convention on a regular basis, members this year came from North America, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Norway and Finland. Even if you do not wish to join the CSG you can still attend the annual convention. Speakers for the 2012 convention have now been confirmed and will be held at the same hotel complex near Wigan, UK.
Already the CSG has received advance bookings for 2012.
Here are some images from the 2011 Catfish Convention organised by the Catfish Study Group.
Reading from the guy in the checked shirt and continuing in a clockwise direction:
Dr Martin Taylor & Marcos Alexandrou; Bangor Uni, UK. Steve Pritchard, UK.
Dr Claudio Oliveira; Botacatu, Brazil. Mike Kirkam, UK. Ian Fuller; Corydoras World, UK.
Julian ‘Jools’ Dignal & Mats Petersen;Planet Catfish,UK. Carsten Coll, Germany.
Reading from the guy in the bottom right corner and continuing in a clockwise direction:
Dave Page, Terry Cruikshank, Pat Lambourne, Ann Blundell, all UK. Devon Malcolm, USA. Mark Walters, UK.
Dr Mike Hardman, Helsinki, Finland. Julian 'Jools' Dignall, UK. Kim Maitheson, Denmark.
The 3 guys talking in the top right corner, reading from the guy holding a beer & moving in a clockwise direction are:
Dr Peter Burgess, UK. Dr David Price, Plymouth Uni, UK. & Peter Liptrot, Bolton Nat Hist Mus, UK.
The 2 Guys talking together in the bottom right are:
Hans Georg-Evers, Germany (facing) and Dr Michael Goulding, USA.
Reading in a clockwise direction from the guy in the brown shirt they are:
Peter Liptrot, Bolton Nat Hist Mus; UK. Ian Fuller; Corydoras world, UK. Peter's lady friend, UK.
Dr Ralf Britz, Britsh Nat Hist Museum London UK. & Myself.
Dr Ralf Britz presenting his lecture.
Dr Ralf Britz and myself, during the Saturday night Banquet.
CSG Chairman Bill Hurst (left) presents The CSG Breeders Award Programme, silver award to myself
CSG Chairman Bill Hurst (left) presents Ian Fuller, Corydoras World.
With the Catfish Study Group’s Derek Lambourne memorial trophy,
for the Breeders Award Programme, best spawning article
printed in the group’s Journal ‘Cat Chat’ over the last 12 months