Cost is $60 per ticket which includes:

• Dinner

• Presentation by Tim McCaskie

• Presentation by Gary Lange

• Toronto Zoo Fish Room “Behind the scenes” Tour

• Gary Lange’s Rainbowfish Egg Kit Auction

Location: Toronto Zoo Administration Building Atrium - 361A Old Finch Ave Scarborough, ON M1B 5K7

Speakers

Gary Lange

Gary has been keeping fish since he was 10 and has been associated with the organized hobby for the last 40 years. He is a member of the Missouri Aquarium Society (MASI) and has held various positions in the club. He is a grand master breeder in MASI, and has won "Best Fish In Show" on four different occasions, twice with rainbowfish. 

In 2005 he took the rainbowfish collectors dream trip – collecting in West Papua. He’s now made a total of eight trips to West Papua. He brought back rainbowfish that have never been seen in the hobby including Chilatherina alleni and Melanotaenia vanheurni. With these trips he’s collected and brought back at least 17 different undescribed species of rainbowfish.

 He is currently running over 90 aquariums (~2,500 gallons, 9,500 liters) and keeping over 65 species and locations of rainbowfish and blue-eyes. 

Tim McCaskie

Tim has kept fish for 38 years, and started his first fish room in college 25 years ago while he worked in a local fish store. His fish room now has 45 tanks totaling over 2,200 gallons, and it has seen the breeding of a vast variety of different species of fish.

After finishing college, he started working at the Toronto Zoo on conservation projects in 1998, which soon lead to his participation in the Madagascar Freshwater Fishes project. Tim has subsequently bred several species of Malagasy fishes and sent them to many other zoological institutions. He has participated in five expeditions to Madagascar (discovering several species of fish that have not been described, including species of Bedotia and Rheocles), an expedition to Costa Rica, and most recently to Papua New Guinea alongside Gary Lange.

Gary Lange’s Traditional Rainbowfish Egg Auction

One of the reasons Gary Lange is among the most accomplished aquarists in North America is because he intentionally distributes eggs of the species that he discovers and that he keeps. This ensures both the continuation of the species being available, and allows aquarists the opportunity to raise these species from eggs, subsequently breed those species, which in turn allows additional availability within their local regional aquarium hobby.

Gary will be bringing vials of eggs from species that he keeps, and these vials will be available via an auction at the end of the evening. Do you bemoan the fact that you can’t find rare species in local aquarium stores? Do you ever find species in local stores that you aren’t sure of their origins? Here is the opportunity for you to acquire one or more species that are pure strains of carefully curated bloodlines.

Gary’s egg kits come with a vial of eggs and instructions on the best way to hatch the eggs and rear the fish.

The auction is cash only. (Historically, each vial has sold for no less than $20, with extremely rare or desirable species having sold for $100 or more.)

Toronto Zoo Fish Room Tour

One of the benefits of hosting our event at the zoo is the opportunity for aquarium hobbyists to participate in a behind–the–scenes tour of the Toronto Zoo’s fish room facility. See what institutional fish keepers do to maintain and breed species, how they set up tanks and associated infrastructure, what they feed, and hear about the reasons why.

Note: In order to participate in the behind–the–scenes tour of the Toronto Zoo’s fish room facility, attendees must be at the zoo for 3:00 PM.

Dinner Menu

(Catering provided by Sweet Beginnings Catering)

Starters

Berry Spring Mix Salad

Caesar Salad with Homemade Seasoned Croutons

Cream of Potato and Bacon Soup

Main

Prime Rib Roast with au jus

Grilled Seasoned Chicken Breast with Dijon Mustard and Garlic Cream Sauce

Vegetable Lasagna

Sides

Lemon and Herb Roasted Potatoes

Garlic, Parmesan, and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

Oven Roasted Herb and Parsley Buttered Seasonal Vegetable Medley

Desert

Cheese Cake (choice of 2 toppings)

Cash Bar

Note: The Durham Region Aquarium Society recognizes and will accommodate any dietary restrictions or preferences. Should your dietary needs or preferences not be encompassed within the above menu options, please contract DRAS and we will strive to accommodate.

Dinner Tickets $60 per person, etransfer payment to dras4payments@gmail.com