Editorial View

Well here we are almost finished with the 2011/12 season.
Our attempt at a Monthly Electronic Email Newsletter, this email, seems to have had minor success in that we have grown the list by 27 people since it started in September. It’s hard to determine its readership as the stats that the program gives are based on a recipient downloading the images, so some “readers” may read the email without downloading the images or their email programs are blocking the tracking and the people that are not reading it but downloading the images are counted in the stats. Unfortunately there is only around 50% of the people that get it, download the images, in their email program, and that is actually and improvement as it started off with only around 40%. In any case it may not be hitting its intended market. It still is a one of a kind newsletter in the hobby, but with all of the other means to communicate with follow hobbyists, we will have to evaluate if it is still needed in the upcoming season. That said, the trend towards more “Social Media” within the hobby with sites like Facebook and Twitter appears to be increasing with us hobbyists. How many of your facebook friends are hobby related? Most of mine are. Social media will continue to be used by BAS to get in touch, and stay in touch with follow Hobbyists.

On a personal note, my son Daniel’s 8th Birthday is on May 8th . Happy Birthday Dan!

by Randy Austin 

Editorial View

We made it through March!  My presentation went off fairly well, the only problem was that I talked too long (this is not surprising if you know me). It appears that the Show and Auction did well and beside a slow start to the setup and some tight quarters, it went very well. Kudos to all of the people that made the event happen! April brings us some relief to our previously busy schedule but the Aquarium hobby in the rest Canada ramps up.  This month's BAS Meeting brings Ed Koerner, President of the Kitchener Club, down to talk about planted aquariums. From April 6 - 8, 2012 the Aquaria Expo & CAOAC Convention will be held in Winnipeg. On April 15th both the Durham Regional Aquarium Society and the Regina Aquarium Society hold events and to round it off on April 21, 2012 Sarnia Aquarium Society hold an auction.
In this E-news we will have the show results from the the Brant Spring Show and note about Brant's Home Show.

On a personal note, My daughter Catie entered the Brant Spring show and brought home Junior High Aggregate and Best Cichlid! Congratulations Catie. On Apr 18th she has a second achievement, she becomes a decade old.
 
Happy 10th Birthday Catie, I hope you have a great day!

by Randy Austin 

Editorial View 

We have finally made it to March. This is the busiest month of the year for me as I have to publish our normal E-Newsletter and our Monthly Newsletter as well as create a presentation for our March monthly meeting about my trip to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.

It’s not only busy for me but also the rest of the club as on the 25th we host our annual Auction and Show. This year’s show will be the only show in Ontario before the fall, so if you want your show fix you better bring your fish out to our  event. 

This years event takes place at the Best Western in Brantford, the same place as last years CAOAC convention.
Check out facebook, and our website for more info about the event.

It looks like it's also busy for a number of other CAOAC clubs in the West. Check out all of the upcoming event notes on the left. Speaking of CAOAC they are our online link this month. Most of the upcoming events listed in this email come from the CAOAC Calendar.
 
On a personal note, two of the Austin’s have a birthday in March, and on the same day, the 16th!.
 
Happy Birthday Kelly and Benjamin. I hope you have a great day!

by Randy Austin
 

Editorial View 

Well here we are already one month into 2012.
Things are starting to get busy here in Brantford as we start to get ready for the upcoming Show and Auction.
This years event takes place at a “new” location, the Best Western, Brant Park Inn, 19 Holiday Drive, Brantford. This is the same location as the 2011 CAOAC Convention was held.
The location is great for all of our out-of-town participates as it is located adjacent Hwy 403 and just meters from the Wayne Gretzky parkway exit. There is only one drawback, we can not sell food or beverages, but there is on site restaurants and dozens of off-site facilities that are minutes away. As always you can bring your own F&B.
Also in March is my first club presentation. The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.
During a work trip to the Shanghai area of China last November I was  able to get a few hours to go to the Aquarium. Despite the name Aquarium houses dozens of fresh water aquariums holding hundreds of freshwater fish from around the world. It also have the longest underwater tunnel is Asia. The tunnel runs through most of their saltwater display.
In February, former Brant President Tony Bernard will be doing the Monthly meeting Presentation.
I’m looking forward to all of the upcoming fishy events that take place in the next few months,
Hope to see you there.

by Randy Austin
 

Under the Sea radio show

will have several members of the Canadian Betta Club live online January 27th at 9pm CST. The discussion will be on the Canadian Betta club and information pertaining to the club. The show discussion time generally lasts between 1 to 2 hrs. The URL to the show on Blogtalkradio is:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wm-aquaculture

Ann Marie Towell and myself will be representing Betta Breeders Canada on the radio show. All are welcome to phone in and ask questions about the BBC and other Betta related issues.

Catherine Salmon

President

Betta Breeders Canada

Editorial View 

Happy New Year fellow hobbyists! All the best to you and yours!
Can you believe that it's already 2012.  We are finally over the mad rush of the holiday season and we now have a couple of months to focus on the fishroom. What are your plans for this year? Why don't you tells us on our Forum? If you are already a forum member, take a couple of minutes and create a post. If you aren't a forum member, it's easy to sign up.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
In the not to distant future the Brant Aquarium Society will host it's Spring Auction and Show. It's the largest tropical fish and supply auction in Brantford and Brant County. This year's event will take place at the Best Western In Brantford (the same place as the 2011 CAOAC Convention) on Sunday, March 25th. Mark it on your calendar!
It looks like 2012 will be a good year!

by Randy Austin

Editorial View 

Seasons Greetings fellow hobbyists! All the best to you and yours!
We have finally come to the end of the 2011 fall show, auction and convention season.  Hopefully you are all well stocked with all of the fishes and supplies that you need for the upcoming winter season.  We can now focus of the fishroom, at least for a couple of months.
The next several months are going to be an exciting time for Brant as a number of Brant Members will be  presenting topics at upcoming meeting for the first time as well as the “return” of some veterans. December’s meeting will have Terry Little’s Fish Quiz, January will have first time presenter Walter Murfin talking about the basics of a Salt water setup. In February Former Brant President Tony Bernard will present a topic to the club and in March I will present my first topic, a trip to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.
It looks like 2012 will be a good year!

by Randy Austin
 

Editorial Views

Well do you feel that you are back in the fish season groove yet?

Waking up at 5:30 on a Sunday morning though, isn’t something that I’ll ever get used to. We have had several shows and auctions under our belts now and we are almost done with the fall season, no doubt that we have all added some interesting items to our fish rooms.
Several excellent newsletters have crossed my computer’s desktop over the last couple of months. KWAS’ Fins and Tales, OVAS’ Currents, TFCEC’s Newsletter, DRAS’ Newsletter, LISAS’ Paradise Press and EIAA Fin Flap have all been exchanged with the Brant Aquatic Enquirer and I have to say that I have been really impressed by the quality and the information in all of the publication. Good Work Newsletter editors!
One of the things that I try to do with the Brant Newsletter is to have the newsletter “linked” to the internet. All of the Upcoming events link to the event holders website. Go ahead click on one of the underlined titles, you will be linked to the clubs website. I do this for two reasons the first is it shortens the amount of info in the newsletters to just the important info but also allows our readers to easily get more information. The second reason is that it reduces any informational errors caused by me.
November is a busy month for me as I will be in China for the first week of November and you will be receiving the Email and Traditional newsletters very remotely.
By Randy Austin

Editorial Views 

Well here we are at the start of a new season for the hobby.

2011/12 look like it will be an interesting year for the hobby as well as the Brant Aquarium Society.

A few years ago we stopped printing hardcopies of our newsletters. This was due to that fact that almost every member had email. We attempted to do a Monthly Electronic Email called E-News. It was the first of it kind in the local fish hobby. No one else was use the internet to deliver it news in that manner. Now it’s common that most clubs only publish electronically. For 2012, we want to continue with our previous innovations and add to them. We have noticed that there is a trend towards more “Social Media” within the hobby. Sites like Facebook and Twitter all now have a number of Tropical fish related branches that see us hobbyists spending our time on these sites.  We have also noticed that the “length of delivery” has shortened. We want to know the facts and get to the point quicker than we did in the past. To that end BAS has restarted a Monthly Email Newsletters that is meant to keep you up-to-date with the happenings within our hobby in quick an easy read. You will also see that we have integrated many “social media” sites into our Electronic communications. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Blogging, emailing and many other internet medias will be used by BAS to get in touch, and stay in touch with follow Hobbyists.

by Randy Austin 

Editorial View

Well we managed to stumble through our first edition of 2011 without too much harm. We now have two proof readers, 9-year-old Catie Austin and 7-year-old Daniel Austin, which should improve the quality of our newsletters quite a bit. Welcome aboard guys!

by Randy Austin