GCCA Meeting-April

Join us for an in-person meeting! 

Bailin Shaw will perform an "Aquascaping Demo"

About the Presentation

From the speaker:
I'll start out with a brief presentation that talks a bit about design principles and then transition to the demo where I can incorporate some of the ideas.

About the speaker

Bailin Shaw has had a love of fishkeeping from when he received his first aquarium for Christmas at the age of 5 and has had at least one aquarium running since that day. To relieve the stress of graduate school, back in 1997, he started learning about planted aquariums through the Aquatic Plant Digest listserve and has been an avid planted tank enthusiast since.

As a way to get other excited about planted tanks, he was involved in restarting the Oklahoma City Aquarium Association and served as the president of the organization for 2 years before moving for to Dallas for work. While in Dallas, he started the first aquarium club specifically for planted tanks and served as the president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club during his time there. The club eventually grew large enough to host the Aquatic Gardeners Association convention and is still running to this day.

His next move for work brought him to Connecticut where he started the New England Aquatic Plant Society and was president of the club for the two years before moving to Chicago. In Chicago, while working the Aquatic Gardeners Association’s booth at the Aquatic Experience, he collected names of people who were interested in starting a planted aquarium club in the area. As a result, the Chicago Aquatic Plant Society started in early 2016 in a meeting room at a local Panera Bread and has grown to be one of the largest and strongest planted aquarium clubs in the United States.

In addition to serving as the current president of the Chicago club, Bailin also serves as an executive board member for the Aquatic Gardeners Association and is the chairperson for the annual Aquatic Gardeners Association International Aquascaping Contest. When he’s not working on various club duties, Bailin runs 5-6 low maintenance and high-tech planted tanks and is passionate about educating hobbyists about the benefits of keeping a naturally planted aquariums.

Covid Note

Covid restrictions are lifted, but we ask that the unvaccinated and those that are at high risk / immune-compromised still wear a mask, and everyone else respect others personal boundaries.

GCCA Meeting Agenda

1. President Jason Libasci offers his opening remarks and business meeting (20 minutes)
2. Speaker (1 hour)
3. Raffle winners announced
4. Fish Auction

Guests are welcome!

All guests are welcome, but if you attend more than twice we ask that you Join or Renew Membership in our club.

Meeting Location

Chicago Hilton Northbrook
2855 Milwaukee Ave, Northbrook, IL 60062
Map and Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/jhan4BvCgttD64ms8