National Aquarium Workshop coming up

The UK's public aquarium professionals are due to meet in Anglesey in November for the annual National Aquarium Workshop.

The event is due to take place on November 18-20 2005 at the Anglesey Sea Zoo in Brynsiencyn near the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (that's the UK's longest place name!) in Anglesey, North Wales.

Speakers include Dr Heather Koldewey of the Zoological Society of London (London Zoo) who is talking about the trade in live seahorses, Matt Slater of the Blue Reef Aquarium, Newquay, who is speaking on the husbandry of the Pink sea fan, and Rachel Jones of the Zoological Society of London who is talking about breeding corals in aquaria.

Since there is a strong marine bias in the UK's public aquaria, marine topics are likely to get most attention, but there will also be some coverage of freshwater fishes.

A number of other speakers are also lined up, with experts from the Marine Biological Association, The Deep, The Shark Trust, Chester Zoo and Bournemouth Oceanarium talking on a range of topics including: research; education and interpretation; water quality; husbandry; conservation; animal health and new projects and exhibit development.

John Rundle, Practical Fishkeeping's fish breeding guru, works at the Marine Biological Association is speaking on his specialist subject of rearing squid and octopus.

Matt Clarke (no, not me - just someone with the same name!) is speaking about breeding turtles.

Steve Leonard, TV vet and star of a number of BBC natural history programmes including Steve Leonard's Ultimate Killers and Steve Leonard's Extreme Animals, is a guest keynote speaker at the Workshop.

The Workshop is aimed at professional aquarists and curatorial staff working in the public aquarium sector.

Clare White, Assistant Curator at the Zoo told us that keen fishkeepers who are interested in learning more about advanced aquarium techniques are also welcome to attend.

There is a limit on the number of delegates who can attend the Workshop, so if you are interested in going you'll need to book fairly quickly. Tickets cost 60.

For more details on the event, and to apply for a place at the Workshop, please contact Clare White or Karen Tuson at Anglesey Sea Zoo on [email protected] or call 01248 431912.