Source: ANGFA Vic News, December 2003, page 3. Author: Kwai Chang Kum.  View original scan (PDF)

Friday evening

Pre AGM drinks and registration followed by the Annual General Meeting. Discussed at the meeting was the need to increase members. Any suggestions should be forwarded to the National Committee. Members decided to hold a bi-annual conference in March-April instead of the annual October conference. This will hopefully increase attendance and also make it easier to book in great guest speakers for all to enjoy. Derek Girkin was also re-elected as our National President. Well Done Derek.

Saturday

• The first speaker was a well-known identity in Bruce (the Doc) Hansen entitled “Getting your Feet Wet”. This was a great introduction to all the things that you should do when going on a field trip. ie: Plan the trip, different collecting techniques, bagging fish, and most importantly, writing up your experience for others to read about.

• The next speaker was Doug Collom with “A challenge to ANGFA Members”. Doug talked about the importance of collating any and all information possible of field trips. Doug would love for ANGFA to be leaders within the field in research of our freshwater habitats. Not only for us but also for our children and their children.

• Unfortunately Gerald Allen had work commitments and was unable to be at this convention, however he was able to provide a great PowerPoint presentation titled “Unexplored Island of New Guinea”. This presentation was absolutely amazing with the many great photos of habitats and new species of fish.

• Glenn Leiper then gave an informative presentation on the “Water plants of S.E Qld.” He had great slides on the common and uncommon, and even extremely rare plants. Many of which may become extinct within the next 20 years due to drainage of wetlands and also other weed species.

• Steve Baines prepared a nice talk on “10 Golden Rules to Prize Winning Aquariums”. We have his handouts if anyone is interested please contact me.

• Gary Lange and the “Hobby in the U.S.A.”. A great slide show of his fish room and the great variety of fish species that he keeps, including the (Millennium fish) and our namesake the (ANGFA fish). Great to meet Gary after reading a lot of his articles from the states.

• Bruce Sambell was next with “Catch Them and Breed Them”. Bruce is a great character and owns a huge fish farm, of some 200 acres and over 120 ponds. A great show of his great opportunity to go collecting Saratoga as brood stock for future breeding. Very entertaining.

• A great presentation from a world renowned photographer Gunther Schmida on “Not so Cuddly Creatures”. A show of fish that you don’t normally see, such as perches, grunters, scats and gobies. Just a taste of the many great fish we have in our very large back yard.

Saturday evening

After a nice dinner we went to find some bargains at the usual ANGFA Auction.

There were plenty of those to be had. Just for a taste here are some of the fish that were up for sale: Werneri for $16, Desert gobies for $21, Goyders for $32, Saratoga for $35, scats for $6 and plants at dirt cheep prices. Remember that at least half of the money raised at the auction goes directly to ANGFA, so at the next convention dig in deep and help us out.

Sunday

• Norbert Grunwald was also unavailable to present his talk so he prepared his from Germany. “A Weekend with ANGFA” was a nice show on a trip he did some years back with a few Qld members to Fraser Island.

• Greg Ure “Fish Tank Filters” was a great back to basics presentation of filters of the past to the present, small to huge. Well done Greg.

• Franz-Peter Mullenholz presented an extraordinary trip that he did with his lovely wife Ulli. This was one of the many trips around Australia he has done from his home in Germany and this was entitled “The Kimberley”. Lucky man!!

• Greg Ure showed us some of his slides from around Australia. His presentation was titled “ANGFA Does Not Equal Rainbow Fish”.

• “River Health” was a nice presentation from Chris Marshall. Talking about the indicators of a good river system. He insists that ANGFA has a great opportunity to see first hand the creeks and rivers and to report what we find in Fishes of Sahul.

• Toni Radcliffe from the Uni of Qld studied the effects of Gambusia and swordtails on the local rainbows.

• Gary Lange with another slide show of some beautiful aquatic creatures from fish to shrimps.

• Bruce Sambell with an overview of his roles in many Queensland fisheries departments, also a trip from Qld members to his farm to strip and milk his Yellowbelly.

• As far as I was concerned they left the best till last. Gunther Schmida presented “Cold Blooded Australians”. As most are aware I, like Andy Wattam from Canberra, love reptiles as well as fish. Gunther showed us just some of the 200 species of frogs, 300 plus fish and 800 plus reptiles. Some of these photos are remarkable especially one of a yellow monitor from the Mount Isa region.

Overall it was another great conference with a lot to learn and some amazing photos and a wealth of knowledge. It is a great opportunity to catch up and meet other crazy people with the same passions as us. We look forward to the next convention in Melbourne in March/April 2005.