Kirkcaldy Aquarist Society held its annual open day at its club rooms last weekend.
The Society, which is one of the country's most active with around 50 events every year, dates back to 1927 and celebrated the Golden Anniversary of first open show last year.
KAS President, Mike Dewar, told Practical Fishkeeping that the event was aimed at bringing the hobby of fishkeeping to everybody, especially to those who wanted to find out how fish clubs worked.
"It was a tremendous success with individuals, couples and family groups attending. In all, about 40 to 50 members of the public turned up. They were welcomed at the door and given a lucky door ticket and a free lucky bag containing information on the local shops in the Fife, Perth, Dundee and Edinburgh areas, as well as goodies, products and details on clubs and events".
The open day included various stands, as well as an open and table show, to give fishkeepers a taste of what life in a fishkeeping club was like. Mike told us that various stands were set up to show visitors everything from how killifish breed, and how their eggs can be transported around the world, to filtering your aquarium and producing the perfect show fish. The club members also produced printed information sheets for fishkeepers to take home with them.
"The various other stands included one on a community setup; setups for breeding Corydoras and barbs, showing different ways to use marbles; and sections on Rift Lake cichlids, aquatic plants and foods. There was also a glass cutting and tank building demonstration."
A number of shops, sales representatives and aquatic companies donated prizes for a raffle, with the proceeds going to the club's local charity, the Maggie's Centre in Kirkcaldy. The event raised around 200 for charity.
Mathew Wishart of Kirkcaldy was the lucky door ticket winner and won a year's subscription to Practical Fishkeeping and family membership to Kirkcaldy Aquarist Society.
Lucky winnersRena Aquarium 60 Tank Setup, Lorraine Craig, Kirkcaldy.
Rena Kid Maxi Light Tank Setup, Nancy McArthur, Glenrothes.
Freshwater Master Test Kit, Nancy McArthur, Glenrothes.
Aquarium Starter Kit, Leila Abbott, Dunfermline
Aquarium Starter Kit, Graham Peatie, Kirkcaldy.
Bottle of Bell's Whisky, Dave Summers, Kettle Bridge.
Treatments and Test Kits, Graham Peatie, Kirkcaldy.
Elite Air Pump, Jill Dewar, Glenrothes.
Sera Koi Bath Towel, Scott Boyd, Dunfermlie
Elite Pump, Dave Summers, Kettle Bridge.
Fish "R" Fun Tank, Colin Ewing, Auchtertool.
Tropical Marine DVD, Lorraine Craig, Kirkcaldy.
Thank youKirkcaldy Aquarist Society would like to thank all of the people who attended the open day for making the event such a success:
"It was great to meet Scott Boyd and Leila Abbott from Dunfermline. Scott introduced himself to everybody he could find and KAS hopes he had a good day.
"Thanks also to Nancy McArthur in the canteen for supplying everybody with much needed fluids on the day; Ken Young for the table show and open show stand; John Reid for the neotropical and killifish stand; Craig Dempsey for the Rift Valley cichlid setup; Joe Graham for the large filtration setup; Ernie Walters for the community setup; Eric Jones for the tank building and glass cutting demonstrations; Mike Dewar for the barb and Corydoras breeding setups; Gordon McLeod and Colin Ewing for the plant information stands; Jill Dewar for the very varied feeding stand; Jim McArthur for adding a smile at the door to everybody that came on the day; Iain, Evelyn, Sophie and mad Pamela for assisting and keeping everybody sane and to all of the shops and businesses that assisted with prizes and leaflet information.
"Special thanks must go to Practical Fishkeeping for their great donation of the year's subscription and the raffle prize, and to Ultimate Aquatics, Cupar, for their donations and last minute donation of magazine back issues which were handed out on the day."