tjudy

The registration for the American Cichlid Association 2010 convention is now open at www.aca2010.com. The website has everything you need to register for the convnetion, join the ACA, buy show entries, official gear, vendor information and how to be a sponsor. The ACA convention is the largest freshwater hobbyist show in America. Great speakers. Great fish. Great Event.

July 22-25, Milwaukee Wisconsin

Hope to see you all there!

Lucy

Welcome to FishLore
Sounds great! I hope some of our members can attend!

MissMTS

Ahhh I wish I could go! It should be a great convention. I hope that anyone who goes can post some pics for us to enjoy

speed0factory

i hope that i can attend it, but i'll need to save up the money to buy the air ticket to go there. Which is so expensive here

But still hope to see some pictures from people here.

tjudy

Options for a youth registration and the ACA junior membership have been added for teens between 14 - 18 who want to attend the convention on their own. Children under 14 are welcome with their parent/guardian without a registration.

tjudy

Do you have an angelfish to enter into the show? ACA 2010 is happy to announce that The Angelfish Society will be holding their first sanctioned show in conjunction with the ACA show this summer. You can enter your angel in both and have a chance at winning more awards. For more information take a look at http://www.aca2010.com/show/the-ange...anctioned-show.

tjudy

Here are some links to two down-loadable documents that can help promote the convention. The single-page flier can be used as a quick handout at a club event or as an advertisement printed in a club journal. The pamphlet is a trifold pamphlet that includes paper registration forms and information. Feel free to use them at your club events or to distribute them to people who may want them... with our sincere thanks for doing so!

single-page flyer: http://www.aca2010.com/pdf/club_print_ad.pdf

tri-fold pamphlet: http://www.aca2010.com/pdf/pamphlet.pdf

Butterfly

Thanks for the hand outs
Carol

tjudy

The speaker schedule is now published. See the following link:

http://www.aca2010.com/pdf/SChedule_April_27.pdf

The due dates for show entries and rental tank reservations is fast approaching. If you are planning to show or sell fish the time to register is now.

The hotel is filling up fast, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. We do have an overflow hotel available if you register late and miss out on getting into the show hotel. I will have a confirmation number for the overflow hotel once the need for it kicks in.

For all your registrations, convention purchases and information needs, please go to www.aca2010.com.

Lucy

Thanks for the update

NMfishman

Hey, I am going out to Milwaukee on the 25th, too bad I still won't be able to go. So close yet so far away
But I will still have a good time, I am going to the big airshow in Oshkosh WI.

tjudy

Come out a day or two early! July 25 is the auction day. All the other events are over by then anyway.

NMfishman

I think everyone forgot to Welcome tjudy to Fishlore, so Welcome to Fishlore tjudy

Yeah I am going to look into doing that! It would be great if I could go.

NMfishman

Update:
Okay it looks like I will be able to go to the convention on the 24th! tjudy, do you know what is going on that day? This is something for people not entering fish or anything to go to right? Just trying to figure out what exactly I will be seeing.

Chris123

I wish i could go

those that go take pictures!

Slug

Anyone can go and look at all the show fish and talk to folks. You must register (pay) to gain access to all of the speakers and discussions/workshops as well as the Banquet/Dinner. I want to say the 25th Auction is free of charge as well.

The 24th speakers consist of:

NMfishman

Thanks Slug for that info! I don't think I will register, but I will take lots of pics and video!
Is there anyone else going?

blkdeath75

I live just outside Milwaukee and would love to go to this. I am starting an mbuna tank soon but I don't think I will show them just yet. May go to buy though

NMfishman

Yeah I wish I could buy fish there, but I don't think they would do well being in a hotel for a week than going on a long airplane ride

tjudy

Two ACA 2010 announcements today:

Registration for show entries and rental tanks has been extended to July 1. For more information about showing fish or renting tanks, see the following links:

Fish Show: http://www.aca2010.com/show

Rental Tanks: http://www.aca2010.com/rental-room-tanks

A Saturday-only vendor table option has been added. If you would like to come to the convention for one day to sell items in the vendor room, go to:

http://www.aca2010.com/vendor

mosin360

So, I can't tell if its free to come browse the floor? I know you have to pay if you want to sell anything or watch a speaker.

I'm about 220 miles south but if I can get a car load of people then I'd go on the Saturday. Going to ask a couple friends and if anyone around Bloomington, IL thinking of going, send me a PM and we'll see what we can come up with.

Also, I don't see the hours the show is going on for each day. Is this still being worked out? Be good if you posted this info either way on the site.

Slug

When I went in 2008 to the one in Atlanta, visitors could walk the showrooms and look at the fish, as well as the area where some vendors were for free. As far as purchasing from those vendors, I don't see why you couldn't....but i'm not sure how its setup this year.

Here is the schedule http://www.aca2010.com/pdf/SChedule_April_27.pdf The show room is generally open all day, and the vendors will be around pretty much all day from my experience, though they do take breaks and walk around a bit.

mosin360

Thanks for the link. Would appear they'll be open around 8-9am on the Saturday and stay open till the late evening.

I think it might be hard to get a car full of people. The distance is a bit much for most people. I got time to work on them.

tjudy

Here is a link to the new writable PDF show entry form. Thank you Rick Borstein for creating this very useful form. Show entries are due July 1, 2010. Entries are purchased with convention registration at www.aca2010.com, and this entry form is mailed separately. You can also send it with your registration if you are mailing it all in with a check. Do not forget that for every five entries you can enter a sixth fish at no extra charge.

http://www.aca2010.com/wp-content/im...ry_Form_RE.pdf


To answer your questions... On Saturday the show and vendor rooms will open at 8:00. Show room will close at 6:00 so that ribbons can be placed on the show winners, and will reopen after the banquet (about 9:00). You do not have to pay anything to just walk through to see and buy things.

See you in Milwaukee!!!

TedsTank

Welcome Tjudy, and glad to have you here!!!!!!
I also belong to the apistoforum...you will be a great addition to the Fishlore knowledge bank!!!

tjudy

Thanks Ted!

It is time to sign up for the Aquarium Beautiful competition. If you are coming to the convention and would like to represent your local aquarium club in a fun contest for a trophy and bragging rights.... Read on!

This contest will team an aquarium club with a commercial fish farmer to set up, decorate and stock a display aquarium using the labor of the team, and aquarium display donated by United Pet Group and the fish from a commercial fish farmer.

Entry Fee: $50 (paid by the aquarium club) & livestock for the display (donated to the convention by the fish farmer)

General Rules:

* Each team will be provided an aquarium set up.
* Convention sponsors will provide a large pile of aquarium substrates, decorations and backgrounds.
* The event starts on Thursday evening, when all of the teams gather at their aquariums and are given the signal to start setting up their display.
* The contest winners will be chosen by attendee voting using raffle tickets. All of the tanks with decorations (not livestock) will be raffled. 'Voters' are casting a vote when they enter a ticket into the raffle for a specific display. There is no limit to the number of tickets a person can use towards a display.

Awards:

* The aquarium with the most votes (raffles tickets) wins. Both the aquarium club and the fish farm will receive a trophy.

How to Enter:

* Any aquarium club that wants to participate needs to send an email to chairman@aca2010.com expressing a desire to enter.
* When we have a sufficient number of entries (clubs and farms to pair together), we will call for the payment of the entry fee.
* The teams will be drawn randomly. The teams will be notified who they are teamed with so a plan of action can be made.

Have Fun with This Contest!!!

* Promote your team! Talk it up! We will announce on this website who the teams are. Talk a little trash!
* Make t-shirts for your team.
* Sit together at the banquet.

A forum-based team is most definitely welcome in the competition.

tjudy

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors we are waiving the fee for clubs to enter the Club/Farm Aquarium Beautiful competition. Entries are limited to 10, and we already have two. The next eight clubs to email me are in. Here is what I need:

* the name of your club
* the name and email of the person coming to the convention who will be contact person for the team

Send the email to chairman@aca2010.com Here is a link to the contest description: http://www.aca2010.com/show/clubfarm...ul-competition

The Olympia Resort and Spa still has rooms available for Friday and Saturday night... but they are filling up fast! Make your reservations before all the room are sold out and you have to go to the overflow hotel across the street. http://www.aca2010.com/hotel

The tours for Thursday and Friday are filling up as well. When the seats on the bus are all gone no more tickets will be sold.
http://www.aca2010.com/tours

Do not forget that the last day to submit show entries and reserve rental tanks is July 1. That date is RAPIDLY approaching.

Six weeks until the ACA 2010 convention!!!

See you in Milwaukee!

tjudy

We have set up ground transportation with Go Airport Connection. The more people you ride with in the shuttle the less expensive the ride becomes. Use this forum to coordinate with other people coming into the airport, and everyone saves money. Even if you do not team up with someone, if you just happen to share the ride your fee is decreased automatically.

Click here to book your ground transportation

http://goairportconnection.hudsonltd...assoc&LOGON=GO

tjudy

Rooms are almost sold out for Friday and Saturday. If you call for a reservation and are told the rooms are sold out, ask to be put on the waiting list. We fully expect rooms to open up. There are people who reserved rooms months ago and are not going to be able to attend.

The July 1 due date for show entries, rental tank reservations and tee-shirt orders is only a few days away. Do not miss out! You can still register for the convention, tours and meals, and you can reserve used equipment right up until the show.

We have added a new speaker to the Thursday evening lineup: Laif DeMason will kick off the convention with his talk on What's new East Africa.

We still have opening for the Club Aquarium Beautiful contest. We just need a couple people from FishLore who will be there Thursday to represent your club and put together a display tank.

See you ALL in Milwaukee!

tjudy

20 days to go!

Pre-registration, ACA memberships and banquet, brat dinner and tour tickets are still available for purchase on the www.aca2010.com website until the week before the convention. Shirt, show entry and rental tank sales have been stopped. All vendor options (except rental tanks) are still available.

The Greater Chicago Cichlid Association has set up a section in their Classifieds for ACA 2010. You do not need to refister to see fish that sellers can bring for delivery at the convention, but you do need to register to post an ad for fish that you can bring for sale. Here are the links:

http://www.gcca.net/classifieds
http://www.gcca.net/classifieds_faq.html

Sellers are also posting fish for convention delivery on the ACA Trading Post forum: http://www.cichlid.org/forums/index.php?

See you in Milwaukee!