The Greater Akron Aquarium Society Show

In June of this year I got a request for fish show entries from Rich Serva of The Greater Akron Aquarium Society (GAAS ). Rich offered to receive and process the fish for the show if we’d send some. We often donate fish to clubs for their auctions, but earlier in the year had also sent fish to the American Livebearer Association’s (ALA) convention and show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I usually attend the ALA convention but couldn’t this year. I shipped fish for that show and for their auction to Rick Borstein, an ALA member. Rick picked the fish up at the Midway airport in Chicago on his way to the convention. That had been successful, so I took Rich up on his offer to receive and handle the fish for the show and auction.

I shipped a variety of livebearers to Rich, who selected what fish to show in what classes. One third of the fish were donated to the GAAS and the other two-thirds put in the auction (GAAS also kept a percentage of the sales prices). All in all it proved to be a win-win for us and the club. They got some entries for the show and the donated fish brought in money for the club. The fish we sold paid for the air freight plus.

Here’s how our fish did in the GAAS show:

Class 8. Swordtails – Common Finnage First Place

Class 8. Swordtails – Common Finnage Second Place

Class 11. Platies & Variatus – Fancy Finnage Second Place

Class 12. Mollies Second Place

Class 12. Mollies Third Place

Class 13. Goodeids Second Place

Class 14. All Other Livebearers First Place

Class 14. All Other Livebearers Second Place

Class 48. Pairs First Place

Class 48. Pairs Second Place

It was a good experience and we are open to doing something similar with other clubs. Our fish got exposure, the club got nice show entries, both the club and us made some money on the auction, and the auction attendees got to buy some fish they probably don’t often see.