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Ocean
Reef
Latest News
Our next club meeting is always a favorite: SWFMAS's Annual Tour of aquariums! This year, we will be touring the North Cape Coral to Port Charlotte area club member's reef setups. We will also be participating in a poker run and all this ends with a big BBQ and raffle which you must attend as our club cook is in charge of the grill. Maps and schedule will be posted as soon as the tour locations are confirmed. This meeting will be held on Saturday May 18th. For more information as it becomes available, click HERE. This event is open to everyone. You can become a member on-site or sign up on our website here. See you there!
We have recently added a new series of great introductory articles titled Saltwater Aquariums 101, written by Ron Lindensmith. Find them HERE in our articles section.
SWFMAS Scholarship Information
In 2012, SWFMAS started offering a scholarship to 1 exemplary FGCU student studying Marine Biology and maintaining a 3.0 GPA. For this year the scholarship winner will be awarded $250 and a 1 year individual club membership.We will announce the scholarship winner here, and we will also list any donations from SWFMAS members and sponsors here!
For additional information, click here.
| SWFMAS Scholarship Winner: | Scholarship Donors: |
|
2012 - Aaron Sipos 2013 - To be announced in October |
2012 - Gulf Coast Aquariums $50 2012 - Anonymous Club member $50 ---------- 2013 - Anonymous Club Member $50 |
Southwest Florida Marine Aquarium Society
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SWFMAS is a non-profit organization of aquarists dedicated to the care and conservation of marine life kept in reef aquariums. Our primary objective is to educate other area reef keepers on the requirements of caring for reef inverts, fish and coral propagation. SWFMAS believes that in order for this hobby to continue and flourish, dedicated hobbyists must take a more active roll in their community to educate new aquarists on the less destructive methods of cycling tanks, fish cohabitation, beginner and advanced coral requirements. With many different methods of reef setup and care available from books, Internet, and local fish stores it can create even more frustration for the hobbyist looking for answers. We believe we can help the new hobbyist and advanced aquarist in new methods of caring for these delicate and beautiful creatures. As saltwater aquariums have gained in popularity, so has research into how equipment used can best emulate natural reef settings, provide better quality water, and give the hobbyist more control over every aspect of their tank. This has resulted in a large niche market of equipment. Deciding on which to purchase can sometimes overwhelm newer hobbyists. This is an area where our advanced hobbyist members will be able to provide advice.
• Education of reef aquarist
• Promote better standards for LFS
• Explain how to care for and propagate coral
• Disseminate information from books, Internet
• Provide a network of knowledgeable reef keepers
• Supply a source of propagated corals for other members
President's Message
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Welcome to the website and forums of Southwest Florida Marine Aquarium Society!
In 2012 we saw our membership grow to just under 150 members (a phenomenal community for our 5 year old club), which led to some fantastic turnouts at our meetings and events. This year we are looking to continue our club's growth and bring even more fun activities and invite more world renowned guest speakers to our meetings. We strive to offer activities suited to hobbyists at every level and keep engaged discussions going about all aquarium, fish and reefing topics on our forums.
Special events to mark on your calendar for this year are our 6th Annual SWFMAS Reef Conference on April 20th 2013 (please note that the location of this event has changed, (more information) and our Fall Frag Auction on Sunday October 20th 2013 (more info to come).
Also we will be within driving distance of the annual "must go" event held by FMAS: MACNA 2013 (more info) which is the largest salt water aquarist Conference on this half of the country and which I highly recommend attending! Welcome to all our new club members and remember to let us know what you think and how we are doing in the forums.
Our monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday of the month, and are informal events! These are a great place to check us out, join the club (find more information about joining SWFMAS here), and meet new people that share the same passion for our hobby as you do!
Also, feel free to browse and post in our forums. These are open to all (registration is free), and are the heart and soul of the club, from here you will find out when our meetings are taking place, who is trading or selling equipment and livestock, and a whole lot of answers to questions you didn't know you had! These are a great learning and sharing resource, so don't be afraid to ask questions!
Thank you,
Matt Egna,
SWFMAS 2013 President.