Tales from the Crypts
We gathered at our Wooloowin house on Friday, 27th May, 2005. Having two months off from the meetings had a drastic downturn in attendance. There were only four of us present on the night (that included Alan and myself as well). The fish tanks had been neglected for some time due to Uni and teaching commitments so only the display tanks were on show for the night.
The meeting started off with discussion on Bruce's turtle woes and the expense they cost him. It was enlightening to find out how in the dark the public is on certain rules and regulations until they are faced with the authorities handing them a fine. Perhaps instead of handing out fines, the authorities could concentrate on educating the general public on rules and regulations as they come into existence.
Since all of us present had attended the 2005 ANGFA Convention in Melbourne we had a discussion on the fabulous weekend. The diverse range of speakers and topics kept everyone's attention. Of particular note was the partnership between the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Discovery Communications, "Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes" exhibit. It was of interest to me because it is local to where I grew up in the U.S. To find out more about this exhibit, you can visit http://www.aqua.org/news_pr_australiapartners.html. It started out as a project to address the need of housing prams and has grown to a 70 million dollar (U.S.) exhibit over the past four years of development. Once open, it will feature seven different fish habitats including a 65 foot tall waterfall, a representative selection of freshwater fish, reptile, birds, mammals and invertebrates and live full-size trees. The exhibit is a recreation of a tropical river gorge in the Northern Territory.
I also mentioned the project of Cryptocoryne sp. identification that is being undertaken by the aquatic plant groups in Australia. This project is attempting to keep Cryptocoryne sp. clearly labelled and identified with a personal ID number to help negate all of the misidentification and confusion amongst the Cryptocoryne Genus. To get further information on this project visit http://capg.spitfire.com.au and select the "Genus GRPs" link on the Canberra Aquatic Plant Group website.
I shared a book that I had purchased at the 2005 ANGFA Convention in Melbourne. Back to Nature Aquarium Guide by Kjell Fohrman. It is a general introduction to the aquarium hobby. I bought it because it has a nice little full-colour photo section at the back of the book on aquatic plants. There are also some nice fish photos as well.
Bruce also brought along a book on Echinodorus sp. that was available courtesy of Heiko Bleher at the convention:
He also had two other books:
- Aqua Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology - A New Revision of the Swordplant Genus Echinodorus Richard, 1848 (Alismataceae)
Bruce also mentioned Glenn Leipa's continuing studies... which included among other things identifying which duckweed in Queensland.
- Aquatic Plant Book by Christopher D.K. Cook
- Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes by Stephen Spotte
Ken recently visited Thompson's Crossing (near Bam Bam Springs) and found Bacopa sp. and Marsilea sp. (native Nardoo).
We ended the night with supper and some more conversation on the 2005 ANGFA Convention.
The Brisbane Plant Study Group (BPSG) meetings are held on the 4th Friday of every month and begin around 8PM. If you need directions or have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at bpsg2002@hotmail.com or via mobile on 0403 790 701. For the latest information, please visit our website at http://bpsg.frell.org
