Meeting June 2019: Jim Cumming speaks on "Keeping and Breeding Large South American Cichlids"

Jim Cumming speaks on "Keeping and Breeding Large South American Cichlids"

Jim Cumming hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and has been keeping tropical fish for over 65 years. Other than a fifteen year sojourn into the world of killifish (his online name is ‘notho2000’) he has kept and presently keeps Central and South American cichlids, and currently devotes about one third of his 40 aquarium fish room to Madagascan cichlids and the Etroplus genus from India. Jim has made presentations to over 30 cichlid and generalist aquarium societies throughout the US and Canada over the last three years and in the Spring of 2018, was invited to Berlin and Dresden, Germany where he presented on Madagascan and South American cichlids to the German Cichlid Association (DCG). Other speaking engagements included the International Cichlid Conference in Brisbane, Australia in November, 2018, the upcoming Nordic Cichlid Association in Uppsala, Sweden in March 2019, the East Anglia Cichlid Group in Newmarket, UK in April 2019 and the ACA Convention in Cromwell, Connecticut, in July 2019. Jim has never turned down an invitation to speak other than for a conflict of dates.
Over the last 10 years, Jim has become captivated by the magical cichlids from Madagascar. They have certainly ‘supercharged’ his passion for the cichlid keeping hobby. Jim has had extensive collecting experience in Mexico, Belize, Cuba, and Brazil as well as the Southern U.S. He maintains a very active YouTube channel with around 700 videos as of January, 2019, highlighting the fish he keeps or has kept. The emphasis is on maintenance and breeding, along with social interactions, both con- and heterospecific. Jim has been a moderator for several on-line forums and several Facebook aquatic interest groups and maintains a Facebook site solely devoted to fish and their conservation. Jim has had articles published in Amazonas, Cichlid News and the Swedish Ciklid Bladet magazines. He is also an American Cichlid Association Speaker, as well as a Madagascan cichlid Species Specialist and speaker for the CARES Preservation program. He also has been actively involved in the local Aquarium Society of Winnipeg, where he served for many years as Program Chair, Journal Editor, and President. He enthusiastically looks forward to spreading the word on Madagascar and its cichlids, as well as on variety of other hobby based topics wherever and whenever he can.

Guests are always welcome at our meetings, however after your third visit we do ask that you officially join the club.

Meeting Agenda

• Presidents commentary and business affairs - (~10 minutes)
• Discussion & overview of upcoming events ( ~5 minutes )
• Introduction of any new members (~2 minutes )
• Short Break (10 minutes)
• Speaker (~ 1 to 1.5 hours)
• BAP Auction (~15 minutes)
• Members Auction (Did you know you can auction your fish off any meeting for a fee of $2 per bag to the club, max three bags)
• Dry goods raffle (2 minutes)
• After meeting networking and questions (unlimited)
• Food / Dinner after meeting at Portillo's (30 minutes)

Meetings generally are at 6PM on the second Sunday of the month, unless otherwise noticed, so please check our Events Calendar.

Each meeting is attended by 25-50 people typically. The meeting starts with a welcome from our President and some business affairs may be discussed. We usually ask if there are guests present, raise your hand and tell us what kind of fish you keep!

Following business, there is a short break when you can meet other attendees, take a look at the fish that are available for sales, buy raffle tickets for aquarium goods and see the fish in our Bowl Show.

After the break, a speaker or other program is presented. We bring in speakers from all over the US and other countries. These speakers are usually an expert in cichlids or an aquarium-related topic. The talk usually lasts about an hour.

Following the talk, we announce the raffle winner and begin the auction of fish.

If you like fish or cichlids, you should come to the next meeting.

DELTA HOTELS BY MARRIOTT CHICAGO NORTH SHORE SUITES
1400 Milwaukee Avenue, Glenview, IL 60025
PHONE: (847) 803-9800