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Programs & Events

March Spring Fling

March 15, 2025 at 1:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Ryan Chan, Gary Lange, Jamie Smith

Speaker Lectures and Auction

We have 3 amazing speakers scheduled for the morning and our 1/2 day auction in the afternoon. This awesome event will be on March 15th from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm. We hope everyone can attend! Below are our speakers and topics they are speaking about: Ryan Chan - Breeding Amano Shrimp, Cardina multidentata, a scientific detailed walk through. Jamie Smith of Freshwater Aquatics - A Journey Downriver, a collecting tour of the amazon featuring plecostomus species. Gary Lange - The Most Amazing Rainbowfish. Gary will have select rainbow eggs available for auction directly after his talk. This special auction is available to anyone who is a paid lecture attendee. We will also be sending out information about getting ready for rainbowfish eggs and hatching rainbowfish eggs. So stay tuned for these updates. The fee to listen to the lectures is $15 for members and $25 for non members. We are offering pre-registration for this event. As always the auction after lunch is free for anyone to attend.

January Monthly Meeting

January 23, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8055 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Tony From 4Aquatics

Quality Guppies and Bettas In The Hobby

He will be presenting on his involvement in tropical fish, with speaking to us about his trips to Asia, and the contacts he has made there,,, also his progressive involvement with bringing in quality bloodlines of guppies and bettas to spread around the hobby. Tony graduated from VCU and has lived in Virginia for 15 years. He started out loving saltwater aquariums. Tony had a lot of fun keeping a reef tank, but then Covid happened. During that time, there was an explosion in the South East Asia area in show guppy and betta variations, Tony fell in love with them all over again. He has been keeping and breeding guppies, mollies, and bettas for over 2 years now.

November Monthly Meeting

November 21, 2024 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8055 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

JRAS Members

Feeding Quality foods to your fish

Our members will be spearheading this topic, with several live cultures, and several options to offset your feeding program to keep your fish healthy and happy. Blake and SJ will be hosting a talk on their setup and program for keeping "Blackworms" Jim will show us a new setup for culturing Vinegar Eels, that will make keeping these little worms very easy and simple to feed your young fish. Anyone that wants a starter of "Green Water", "Infusoria", or "Daphnia" please bring a small bottle (water bottle size container) to the meeting and he will supply you with your own starter for these above cultures. Dennis will show us his microworm culture techniques, and this simple plan enables us to have live foods for our micro fish and young fry. We will also talk about easy methods for raising baby brine shrimp - a true staple for raising young fish, and works well for adults too. David will walk us through making Repashy, a true tested gel food that is good for just about anything you have from shrimp to fish.. We will have an open discussion about other good quality foods to keep your fish fat and healthy.

September Monthly Meeting

September 25, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Gary Hater

Goldfish

Gary Hater is a former professional biologist with a bachelors and a master’s degree. His professional career was in the environmental field and centered around water quality, air quality, bioremediation, research and development, and waste water treatment. Gary started in the aquarium hobby in the mid 1960’s and moved almost exclusively into goldfish in the 1980’s after breeding livebearers, South American and African Cichlids. Over years he has bred over twenty varieties of goldfish and has maintained several rare lines for decades. These rare lines include Philadelphia Veiltails, English Veiltails, Bristol Shubunkins, and Broadtail Moors. His hobby is best described as very large with 70 - 90 indoors tanks and tubs, and numerous outdoor ponds and seasonal tubs. Gary has brought Steamed Eggs into the mainstream for feeding juvenile and adult fish. He was the first President and founding member of The Goldfish Council, a 501(c)3 a non-profit charity. Gary was a co-chairman of the Goldfish Society of America, (GFSA), and a member of the American Goldfish Association, (AGA). Gary was born and still lives in Cincinnati, Ohio where he continues to be a member of the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS). He has been a club member for over 30 years. Other interests include fishing, Chestnut farming, bee keeping, gardening and koi keeping. Gary has been retired since 2015 and married for almost 50 years.

July Monthly Meeting

July 24, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Shane R Lindner

Collecting Uganda: The Pearl of Africa

Catfish expert and naturalist Shane Linder is the “Shane” behind Planetcatfish.com‘s Shane World. Shane’s World houses well over 150 articles by various catfish experts making it the largest such resource known to exist. Shane is also a frequent contributor to several US and international aquarium periodicals and has been a guest speaker at numerous fish conventions in the US and Europe. From 2000-2020 Shane lived and collected fishes extensively in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Uganda, and Nigeria. He has made additional collecting expeditions into Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.

May Monthly Meeting

May 22, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

David Snell

Exploring the Rio Tapiche - The Trip That Was Not Supposed To Happen

David Snell has been a tropical fish hobbyist since 1993. Since then he has spawned and raised numerous killifish, as well as various tetras, corydoras, a few cichlids and the occasional Loricariid (L-333) He has been active in the tropical fish hobby in the Washington DC area serving in former PVAS positions to include: Treasurer & Board Member, 3 terms as President, and 1 term as VP. He’s currently serving on the BOD as the club’s registered agent. He’s also been an avid auctioneer since the 90s. In addition to PVAS, he is a member of the American Killifish Association (AKA) since 1996, lifetime AKA member since 2006, as well as a member of the Mid Atlantic Killifish Organization. David is an avid photographer. He has had articles and photographs published in FAMA, Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Journal of the American Killifish Association, ACA’s Buntbarshe Bulletin, and NANFA’s American Currents. He has collected fishes in Venezuela in 2002, Peru in 2007, 2013, 2017 and most recently in October 2023 collecting on the Rio Tapiche. The presentation is a travelogue of pictures, short videos and drone images: Exploring the Rio Tapiche: Collecting, Community & Clinics (the trip that was not supposed to happen).

March Special Event

March 18, 2024 at 1:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Jebriel Houdroj
Greg Sage

Annual Spring Fling

Annual Spring Fling. There will be presentations in the morning and an auction in the afternoon.

January Monthly Meeting

January 25, 2024 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Esteemed Panel

Over 100 years of expertise in fish keeping. Who needs Google?

Rice fish are some of the most exciting fish in the hobby! Blake and SJ keep several varieties are looking forward to sharing their expertise.

November Monthly Meeting

November 16, 2023 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Gerry Hoffman

Breed Em and Feed Em - Adventures in breeding Corydoras and Loricaria....

Anyone who wants to join other members for dinner at the Mexico Restaurant before the meeting can show up at the Restaurant at 5:30

September Monthly Meeting

September 27, 2023 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Barbara Day

BETTAS - Betta Fish Varieties Over Time, from Veiltails to Avatars

Barbara is a passionate hobbyist who has been surrounded by fish and nature throughout her life. Her uncle started the addiction with a few fish tanks in Mexico City that still stand today 30+ years later. Growing up in Cancun provided great opportunities to be close to nature, thus becoming an avid scuba diver and working at an ecological park with several exotic animals. The obsession continued once in the US by working at pet stores for several years and keeping several fresh and saltwater tanks. She currently keeps several planted tanks with nano fish and enjoys experimenting with different methods and techniques

July Monthly Meeting

July 22, 2023 at 9:00:00 PM

Lee and Christi Shadbolt's house.

Pond party and BBQ

There will be a mini auction.

Picnic at Shadbolt's

May Monthly Meeting

May 24, 2023 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Brian Skidmore

A Guide to Collecting, Identification and Aquarium Maintenance of Florida’s Non-Game Fishes

Native fish

February Monthly Meeting

February 27, 2025 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8055 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Jacob Waters

My Journey into Freshwater Shrimp

I have had a long history with aquarium keeping dating back to my child hood when my father had a 110gal tall tank with wild caught discus back in the early 90’s. around 2005 I got into saltwater and dove head first into breeding rare clownfish types but in 2014 got out of the hobby when I met my wife. Fast forward to 2018 my oldest son who was 3 at the time wanted a Betta and of course my brother bought it for him and that started my descent back in to the aquarium hobby. We went to our first pvas club meeting that same year right after the CatCon and it was so much fun and I met Frank Cowherd and was able to get my first bag of cherry shrimp. I fell in love with these little creatures and quickly setup their very own 2.5 gallon tank and quickly went from 10 to 100 in a matter of a several months. So I had to get another tank and look for other types. I truly enjoy research and found my passion in the harder to keep Caridina shrimp species and have gone from 1 dedicated shrimp tank to over 60 and 24 different fresh water shrimp variants. I focus on the genetics of shrimp keeping and have met some of the best breeders in the world and have had the pleasure of talking at many clubs up and down the east coast. I also compete in shrimp contest all over the US and have judged a few contests as well.

JRAS HOLIDAY PARTY

December 7, 2024 at 10:00:00 PM

Romas, Staples Mill Road

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JRAS CHRISTMAS PARTY

More information will be provided later. Time to be confirmed.

October Annual Auction

October 19, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8055 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

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2024 Fall Auction

This is our large fall auction of tropical fish, aquariums, supplies, and plants. Besides finding all kinds of fish and plants it is an opportunity to meet and socialize with many people in the hobby both from Richmond and in surrounding areas. This is a good time to share fish/plants and obtain new ones.

August Picnic

August 24, 2024 at 3:00:00 PM

Rappahannock River House

This will be at Rick Parsley's home

Club Picnic

Address will be given to attendees, car pooling is available.

June Monthly Meeting

June 26, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Cameron Laufman

Loaches and Botias

Cameron Laufman has known from a young age that tropical fish keeping was the hobby for him. Starting at age 8 with a 75-gallon aquarium housing Piranha, Cameron quickly learned the joys (and pains) of the aquarium hobby. A native Midwesterner, Cameron was born and raised in West Lafayette, Indiana where he attended Purdue University, earning a degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Science. After several years of aquarium store retail, Cameron packed up and moved to the West Coast, where he resides today with his wife and their son, to manage The Wet Spot Tropical Fish, where he continues in an executive role. While Cameron’s passion is catfish, he ardently keeps fish of all varieties and is partial to any benthic species and their care, in addition to conservation.

April Monthly Meeting

April 17, 2024 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Joshua Weigert

Carnivorous Plants

Our April meeting will host Joshua Wiegert, our friend from up north. Most of you know Josh. He has been a speaker here at JRAS over the years. He is a well-respected source of knowledge in the aquarium world and a well known board member of the Mid Atlantic Carnivorous Plant Society. Josh's lecture will be focused on Aquatic Carnivorous plants and working them into our outdoor water gardens and ponds.

February Monthly Meeting

February 29, 2024 at 12:00:00 AM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Blake Jimenez-Calhoun

The Wonderful World of Medaka - A Breeders look into raising Ricefish

Blake and SJ Jimenez-Calhoun are a married couple from Barboursville, VA with a dual love of freshwater fish keeping. SJ has kept fish off and on for more than 20 years, most recently re-entering the hobby in 2018. Blake had one goldfish as a child unsuccessfully. After moving in together in 2019 Blake grew fond of aquascaping, and later breeding fish. The couple expanded from one tank to more than 100 tanks over the last 5 years. By day Blake and SJ spend their time advising students at the University of Virginia. By night they pick spawning mops, feed off brine shrimp, and talk fish. There will be a special dinner to celebrate Marty Verdery’s many contributions to the JRAS over the years. Please join us for pizza and cake at Logo Advantage at 6:00 pm to wish her well, as she departs for her new home in North Carolina

JRAS Holiday Party

December 2, 2023 at 10:30:00 PM

Roma Ristorante Italiano, 8330 Staples Mill Rd, Henrico, VA 23228

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Join us for a fun Holiday Party. Good Italian food, a white elephant gift exchange and more.

There will be a special dinner to celebrate Marty Verdery’s many contributions to the JRAS over the years. Please join us for pizza and cake at Logo Advantage at 6:00 pm to wish her well, as she departs for her new home in North Carolina

October Event

October 21, 2023 at 2:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Seventh Annual Fall All-Day Auction

Anyone who wants to join other members for dinner at the Mexico Restaurant before the meeting can show up at the Restaurant at 5:30

August Monthly Meeting

August 23, 2023 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Lee Shadbolt

Angelfish Breeding and Genetics

Lee Shadbolt is a lifetime aquarist and has maintained fish from a very early age. He began by working for his father, who was a full time angel fish breeder. Starting at age 12, he worked several years for his grandfather’s tropical fish wholesale store. Lee served as president of the James River Aquarium Society for 8 years and is currently the past- president. He is the president of Commonwealth Architects. Lee will give a presentation on “Angelfish Breeding and Genetics” that will provide a brief history of the development of angelfish in the hobby, some background on breeding and an overview of the genetics and current angelfish strains.

June Monthly Meeting

June 28, 2023 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Bowl Show

Consider bringing at least 1 fish to show. It will be fun, as well as a learning experience. You must be a paid-up member of JRAS in good standing to participate.

Bowl show

April Monthly Meeting

April 26, 2023 at 11:00:00 PM

Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Riva Riley

The Evolution of Behavior in Fish

Fish Behavior
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