Lucas
Bretz
Background
Biography: Lucas Bretz is known for his natural & unique approach to keeping freshwater aquariums. He hosts Live Q&A sessions every Friday on his YouTube channel, LRB Aquatics - Aquarium Hoarder. He sells a wide variety of home bred fish, shrimp, and plants on his website LRBaquatics.com. Lucas enjoys being a speaker at clubs and expos, where he often appears as a shrimp judge as he holds 5 International Shrimp Contest Awards for a variety of his Neocaridina lines. He currently maintains 300 freshwater aquariums throughout his home, including outdoor breeding tubs and ponds that operate year-round in Indiana. Lucas enjoys testing new theories and experimenting beyond traditional methods. Check out his channel to see what he’s up to next!
Presentation
Keeping Aquariums Natural and Simple
Saturday, September 25 at 9 AM
Sponsored by Karen Haas
Eric Bodrock
Background
Forty+ Years of Catfish Breeding
Eric Bodrock is the Owner of All Oddball Aquatics, a tropical fish hatchery
and independent online retailer located near Pittsburgh PA. Along with his
fiancé, Regina Spotti, they currently maintain about 250 aquariums in their
home-based hatchery and are working with many species of fish. Eric has
been active in the aquarium hobby since age 10 and has worked in the
retail, wholesale/distribution, installation, and hatchery aspects of the
industry. In addition to his accomplishment of successfully spawning over
500 species of freshwater fish, including more than 130 species of catfish,
he has published articles, judged dozens of fish shows and has given
countless presentations. In addition to covering much of the United States, he has traveled to aquarium related events in Canada, Germany, Norway, Peru, and the United Kingdom. Eric has been an active member of the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society, which he has been a member since 1976! He considers himself as a “Lifer” in the hobby and continues to promote the aquarium hobby in every possible way…you’ll often hear him say: “There’s always room for one more tank!” Eric has successfully spawned more than 130 species of catfish ….and no, not all of them were Corys!
Presentation
Eric’s presentation is going to cover a wide range of species & topics on these various spawns. Hopefully the attendees will pick up some interesting ideas that will be beneficial & useful in their own spawning attempts at home. Some of the techniques and many of his thoughts will also prove to be invaluable with the successful spawning many other species of fish as well!
Saturday, September 25 at 10:30 AM
Sponsored by
Gary lange
Background
Gary has been keeping fish since he was 10 and has been associated with the organized hobby for the last 39 years. He is a member of the Missouri Aquarium Society (MASI) and has held various positions in the club. He is a grand master breeder in MASI, and has won "Best Fish In Show" on four different occasions, twice with rainbowfish.
In 2005, he took the rainbowfish collectors dream trip – collecting in West Papua. He’s now made a total of seven trips to West Papua. He brought back rainbowfish that have never been seen in the hobby including Chilatherina alleni and Melanotaenia vanheurni. With these trips, he’s collected and brought back at least 15 different undescribed species of rainbowfish. Along with his collecting partner, Johannes Graf, and now Wim Heemskerk, they are currently working on naming them. He is currently running over 90 aquariums (~2,500 gallons, 9,500 liters) and keeping over 65 species and locations of rainbowfish and blue-eyes.
Presentation
Gary will present a program on his latest trip to West Papua – “The Most Amazing Rainbowfish! “
In our pursuit of these amazing rainbowfish we used planes, a ferry boat (yes, a ferry boat), cars, taxis, motorcycles and a giant dump truck! Whatever it took to complete our mission! Oh…and then there was that 18 foot boat with twin 40 HP motors to head alongside the shoreline in 4 foot waves. Our 7th trip to West Papua was indeed lucky as we brought back four species that will almost for sure see commercial production. Move over praecox and boesemani!
Gary will also be providing some rare rainbowfish eggs to be auctioned immediately after his program on Saturday.
Presentation Saturday, September 25 at 3 PM
Special Rainbowfish egg auction Saturday, Sept 25 at 4:15 PM
Sponsored By
