The East Anglia Cichlid Group's March Auction attracted a very well travelled audience thanks to the draw of cichlid expert Spencer Jack, writes club member Simon Morgan.
His talks on travelling and collecting in Uruguay and "Confessions of a Cichlaholic" were at times hilariously funny and you didn't have to be a fish-nerd to enjoy the humour.
Spencer is a natural performer and in another life could have easily been a comedian. Thankfully for us, he is a cichlid-nut so the victims of his humour tended to be the people the rest of us are too polite to mock. Look out if you happen to line-breed guppies!
Coupled with his great canadian wit, is immaculate taste in cichlids. His talks were a treat to the eyes as well as to the funny-bone.
His pictures of Cichlids from Uruguay such as Gymnogeophagus, Crenicichla and Australoheros drove many of us to check the flight schedules to Montevideo as soon as we got home!
He also gave us a new found love for fish-tails (head-shots are so last year) and a new respect for the dedication and strong livers of American Cichlid Association members!
Spencer's talks were an inspiration to us all and we hope he will return to East Anglia in the not too distant future!
250 lot auction
The two presentations were followed by an auction with over 250 lots, Jim Dawson presiding over a very well balanced mix of Rift cichlids, Central and South Americans and a variety of catfish, dry-goods and books.
There were several exciting bidding wars, especially on the Tanganyikan shelldwellers and Tropheus. The greatest bargain however, had to be a breeding pair of Honduran red points for 50p!
Our next event is on 4th July 2010, Sunday - Juan Miguel Artigas Azas is coming to give us his presentation on "The Cichlids of Mexico" which is broken into two, one hour segments. It promises to be an Independance Day to remember!