What a Day!
Hi Guys,
All the planning and organising was definitely worth it because yesterday went really well. With roughly 200 people coming along, there was lots of happy faces leaving with bags of goodies for their fishtanks. With 11 tables packed with everything from the smallest of live foods to fishtanks and everything in between anyone that came along was sure to find something they wanted. I personally picked up some cracking plants from Michal Kwil along with a nice group of Betta edithae from Alex Carslaw. I even managed to get something for my Daughter too. I just couldn't resist getting one of the Plush Corydoras from Craig Hamiltons table. Ive been after one for my daughter Ava for a while so when I seen them I grabbed one straight away. I also took home some nice little snails from Liam Gilmour including a freshwater clam! I now just need to wait until my hand is better is I can get the new plants in place that I picked up from Michal Kwil. For now I will be trying all the food samples I picked up from Dennerle and Fish Science. Dave Pool has also provided us with some tubs of food that we can use as prizes via our Facebook group in the coming weeks...
Sundays event was aimed at providing you all with some information on breeding fish, fish diet and to introduce you to new products. Judging by the amount of food samples that were taken away I think we achieved that pretty well. With so many products out there it is easy to miss things and sometimes go without the perfect product. It was great to see everyone taking to Dave Pool from Fish Science and learning all about the great foods he is producing. Also seeing people leave with brochures from Seachem, Hugo Kamishi and ALF was a good sign that many fishkeepers christmas lists are about to get a lot longer. Finding out whats out there will only improve our hobby.
The most popular thing about a Lothian Fishkeeper event is definitely the table sales. Bringing together a mixture of private breeders and hobbyists creates the perfect place for fishkeepers of all backgrounds to buy and sell anything aquarium related. On one table you will see very specialised fish like wild caught betta and on the next table you come across home made filters and live foods. A true treasure trove of aquatics.
This time round we had an extra special main prize for our raffle. Interpet provided us with a Tri-Spec LED light unit + Bluetooth App controller to fit one lucky winners aquarium. The lucky winner of this awesome light was Alan Forsyth. He was over the moon when his name was called out and I've been told the light will be going on his sons fishtank!
Interpet also provided a selection of water treatment which was won by Kevin Wilson. Having prizes like this is a great way for me to give back to the members of the group that make Lothian Fishkeeper the group it is today.
Dennerle was also supporting us this time round and they provided some samples of foods along with a selection of aquatic plants for prizes. These were displayed all day and received a lot of attention form visitors interested in aquascaping.
We had lots of questions about what was in those little tubs and people were definitely impressed with the idea of no snails or unwanted hitch hikers making their way into their fish tanks. I will be giving more of these plants away very soon so keep an eye out on our Facebook page for details.
It was the foods that most people were interested in however. The sucker mouth catfish pellets went first with everyone delighted to be handed packets try out on their fish when the got home. The Discus food was also grabbing people attention.
With the event mainly focussing on Cichlids and aiming to provide information on products relating to the care of these fish, We were able to get some brochures from two leading brands that have excellent products which are very popular with cichlid keepers. Hugo Kamishi & Seachem. Both companies were able to offer us a 20% discount o[n there products which were brought to the event by Riverside Aquatics. All but a handful of the catalogues and pens were left behind which means lots of you are finding out about some great products. Both these brands are made available to the UK shops by the wholesaler ALF who also provided their book to hand out. Their book is crammed full of every single aquatics product you can imagine. If you see something you like in there, chances are you local fish store can order it in for you.
Along side the private breeders and local shop owners on Sunday stood Dave Poole. Dave is the man behind one of our favourite fish food companies Fish Science. We invited Dave up for this event because for the last four months, Lothian Fishkeepers have been raving about the Fish Science foods and We thought it would be a great idea for us to meet the man responsible for so many happy fish. Dave brought with him a full range of foods and spent the whole day speaking to you all. We were also lucky to get the opportunity to listen to Dave give a great talk on fish nutrition and all its benefits.
With Fish Science being our official group sponsor, we will have the opportunity to sample these food regularly starting with a competition next week.
One final mention goes to the catering team. This event we used Nimmos Snacks from Whitburn and they have agreed to do all our future events too. With our next event being in July, they will be bringing there full snack van to the venue so we can all enjoy some outdoor snacks in the sunshine (weather permitting)
All in all, I think Sunday was a great day for all that came along. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that made this possible from the tablesale guys to the visitor coming through the doors all day. without your support I would not be able to do these events.
Thanks and see you all next time.
All the planning and organising was definitely worth it because yesterday went really well. With roughly 200 people coming along, there was lots of happy faces leaving with bags of goodies for their fishtanks. With 11 tables packed with everything from the smallest of live foods to fishtanks and everything in between anyone that came along was sure to find something they wanted. I personally picked up some cracking plants from Michal Kwil along with a nice group of Betta edithae from Alex Carslaw. I even managed to get something for my Daughter too. I just couldn't resist getting one of the Plush Corydoras from Craig Hamiltons table. Ive been after one for my daughter Ava for a while so when I seen them I grabbed one straight away. I also took home some nice little snails from Liam Gilmour including a freshwater clam! I now just need to wait until my hand is better is I can get the new plants in place that I picked up from Michal Kwil. For now I will be trying all the food samples I picked up from Dennerle and Fish Science. Dave Pool has also provided us with some tubs of food that we can use as prizes via our Facebook group in the coming weeks...
The most popular thing about a Lothian Fishkeeper event is definitely the table sales. Bringing together a mixture of private breeders and hobbyists creates the perfect place for fishkeepers of all backgrounds to buy and sell anything aquarium related. On one table you will see very specialised fish like wild caught betta and on the next table you come across home made filters and live foods. A true treasure trove of aquatics.
This time round we had an extra special main prize for our raffle. Interpet provided us with a Tri-Spec LED light unit + Bluetooth App controller to fit one lucky winners aquarium. The lucky winner of this awesome light was Alan Forsyth. He was over the moon when his name was called out and I've been told the light will be going on his sons fishtank! Interpet also provided a selection of water treatment which was won by Kevin Wilson. Having prizes like this is a great way for me to give back to the members of the group that make Lothian Fishkeeper the group it is today.
We had lots of questions about what was in those little tubs and people were definitely impressed with the idea of no snails or unwanted hitch hikers making their way into their fish tanks. I will be giving more of these plants away very soon so keep an eye out on our Facebook page for details.
It was the foods that most people were interested in however. The sucker mouth catfish pellets went first with everyone delighted to be handed packets try out on their fish when the got home. The Discus food was also grabbing people attention.
With the event mainly focussing on Cichlids and aiming to provide information on products relating to the care of these fish, We were able to get some brochures from two leading brands that have excellent products which are very popular with cichlid keepers. Hugo Kamishi & Seachem. Both companies were able to offer us a 20% discount o[n there products which were brought to the event by Riverside Aquatics. All but a handful of the catalogues and pens were left behind which means lots of you are finding out about some great products. Both these brands are made available to the UK shops by the wholesaler ALF who also provided their book to hand out. Their book is crammed full of every single aquatics product you can imagine. If you see something you like in there, chances are you local fish store can order it in for you. 
Along side the private breeders and local shop owners on Sunday stood Dave Poole. Dave is the man behind one of our favourite fish food companies Fish Science. We invited Dave up for this event because for the last four months, Lothian Fishkeepers have been raving about the Fish Science foods and We thought it would be a great idea for us to meet the man responsible for so many happy fish. Dave brought with him a full range of foods and spent the whole day speaking to you all. We were also lucky to get the opportunity to listen to Dave give a great talk on fish nutrition and all its benefits. With Fish Science being our official group sponsor, we will have the opportunity to sample these food regularly starting with a competition next week.
One final mention goes to the catering team. This event we used Nimmos Snacks from Whitburn and they have agreed to do all our future events too. With our next event being in July, they will be bringing there full snack van to the venue so we can all enjoy some outdoor snacks in the sunshine (weather permitting)
All in all, I think Sunday was a great day for all that came along. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that made this possible from the tablesale guys to the visitor coming through the doors all day. without your support I would not be able to do these events.
Thanks and see you all next time.
