I went to the latest IAA swap meet over the last weekend. Met alot of fish nuts and snagged up some nice fish. I ended up with a group (mostly males) of Labeotropheus Trewavasae which had one female. They are a powder blue color with red pelvics and a thin red dorsal. My first Labeos, and first OB fish. The female is OB.

I also snagged up a nice big female Kingsizei, and a small pair of Afra Lundo. I unloaded some of my fish as well. It was a fun day, and was nice getting to meet more of the members in our Iowa club. Met a few out of staters as well, and made a few "fish networking" connections. Already got some leads on getting some more Azureus Undu. Woohoo, I need a male for these females. Hopefully he will have success finding me more Sand Senga. :woo:

Anyone else goto fishy events in your area? The 2 1/2-3 hour drive was not very fun on a solo drive, but the event was worth it.

It sounds like you made some good pick ups and connections (which is always helpful)!!

Congrats!

I haven't had a chance to see if there is any fish "groups" in my state, I would think I would be driving a couple of hours to get there, because I pretty much live in the middle of no where! :lol:

*waits for pictures* :dunno:

I'm lucky to have a couple of good aquatics clubs here, one that I'm a member of has monthly meetings 15 minuites from my house; http://www.gwasoc.crosswinds.net/

Another is a 45 minuite drive; http://www.gcca.net/

They both have auctions & sales throughout the year.

Tolak

GCCA events are always a great turnout it seems. I don't make it to them a ton, but the 5 or so events I've been to were GREAT!

Actually the leads for my Azureus were from Mike Kincaid of the GCCA. I think the webmaster may have some of them as well Rick B.

Networking is great. :woo: I'm actually lucky to live in a area with a active cichlid hobby. There is around 6 or 7 hobbyists in my area, and two LFS that carry above average number and types of African cichlids.

I was doing a google search for fish clubs...and found out that there was a cichlid association like 45 mins from where I used to live! Talk about ironic.....

Found any near where you are LJ?

I have a 45min drive to my local club, but have found it great too. They have a quarterley auction & you can get some real bargains, I got a breeding pair of Julidochromis Dickfeldi for A$35 at the last one, retail A$40 each at the LFS. Was a happy boy. :woo:

So far, I am either 2 1/2 hours in one direction....:banghead: or 2 1/2 in the other...:banghead: I am right in the middle!!! :pft:

Hmmm....that figures!

Darn, that sucks! Maybe see if you can just get their newsletters for awhile, then you know when their auctions are & can plan a trip maybe? Altho 2 hours drive is a fair amount of fuel so may outweigh any savings on the fish. That's a real shame, it's a great way to score rare fish at decent prices & hanging out with a bunch of people that share the addiction is always a good thing! :)

Maybe you need to start a club in your area??? :?: :laugh:

I'm in the same boat as you... its either around 170 miles to Des Moines, IA or 174 to Chicago. There is one club that is abit closer in Cedar Rapids that is around a 90 mile drive.

Anybody know of clubs in Wisconsin. I would love to know when the Iowa auctions are or a link to their site. I get down there alot, since my folks live there. Might have to plan a visit around an auction..

There are some clubs in Wisconsin, but I don't know of the URL's offhand.

I would get ahold of Brent Milam if you are into the Africans, or just cichlids in general. His website is http://www.malatangcichlids.com

If you ask him, I am sure he will point you in the right direction on getting some connections for fish in your area. He is from Janesville, his buddy Hazard(Chris) is from Sun Prarie, or something like that.

I don't know when the next auction is here in Iowa, I would check out www.iowaaquaria.com or www.finflap.com