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GVAC Spring Auction - April 2006

By Phillip Wurm

March - April 2006  Issue 35

The Grand Valley Aquarium Club held its 2006 Spring auction on April 1st, at the Home School Building, 5625 Burlingame, Wyoming.  The building

is just north of the intersection of 54th Street/Gezon Parkway and Burlingame.  Even though the room was a bit cramped, ample parking is available,

and the kitchen is available for lunch, staffed by Home School personnel, which saves everyone having to leave and hunt down lunch or a snack

elsewhere.

A summary concludes a success.  The numbers of sellers, buyers and number of items sold all increased, as I believe the average price per item sold.

I did not record the exact numbers relayed to us at our normal club’s meeting held the following Saturday, but I was impressed by the fact that our

club’s profit from this auction exceeded that from our last two.  That alone is great news!  For a non-profit club, the main sources of funds are auction

revenues and club dues.  A larger profit from the auctions means that we as a club can do more for the membership, perhaps more keynote speakers,

field trips, and who knows what else.  Financially, things are better than before, for sure.

The rented room was a bit cramped, no doubt, but served the purpose and was functional.  Several ideas were kicked around at our regular monthly

meeting, post auction, including using stacked tables, different table placement, and more efficient use of the back room that was used for dry goods.

I believe we had 72 chairs set up for bidders this time and most participants agreed with requests and kept their styros and such off the seats and on

the floor.  Thank you to all who did so, and making the experience more enjoyable for the rest!

For those of you who missed our regular meeting on April 8, GVAC’s own Harry Rogalla gave an excellent talk with demonstrations as how to properly

bag fish and plants.  Double bagging was stressed, as it will be again and again - simply invert the first into the second.  Some use rubber bands to tie off

the bags, some tie knots; as long as it works, go for it.  Harry’s preference is for just enough water to cover the fish in a bag when the bag is sitting vertical,

 and just a bit of water in a bag with plants to keep things moist.  He also stated the sensible idea of using a “stress reducer” whether it be the common

blue “bag buddy” or one of the many liquid “stress coat” products.

I would like to add to Harry’s good advise that I use an air pump with a regular airline to pump up the bags before I tie them off with rubber bands.

Some folks are good enough that they can grab the bags just so, and then tie them.  Others have to blow into them manually themselves, but I would

recommend the use of a pump.  Personally I use the bag buddies, usually one half of a tablet per bag.  I like to use about a 40% water content in my fish

bags, because they often get laid down, allowing the occupants to still be covered.

I would  like to make several observations and recommendation as to other bagging procedures.  When selling breeding pairs or groups of aggressive

 types, such as cichlids, please remember to bag each fish separately and then tie or tape all the bags within the group together.  This will increase the

chances that your group will make it through the experience, and you should thus get a better price.    The buyer will also get a healthier group to enjoy.

 When bagging plants, please do not use “zip lock” bags.  Use regular fish bags, with a bit of water  and inflate them using one of the above mentioned

methods.  Using “zip locks” results in a flattened and usually mangled plant, costing the seller his profit, and leaving the buyer with a purchase of

doubtful quality.  Help us all out, bag everything properly!

Some ideas we may see at the next or future auctions include the use of stacked tables, a different room layout and a return of the multiple color priority

system.  We would still have a priority table but other colors would signify the order of selling.  This would ensure a fair and equitable way of each seller’s

 items to be auctioned in turn, and still kept in their respective “fish group areas”.  This would help make it more efficient for the buyers to look for and

find the fish they are interested in.  In past auctions, a system was used that ensured items were moved and sold equitably, but were mixed by type on

the table, and made things more difficult for buyers to find the bags in which they were interested.

For those of you who attended our Spring event, thank you for coming.  As a member of GVAC since 1998 , I still see something new and different at

every big auction.  I enjoy seeing new and familiar faces, and sometimes chuckle to myself over the strategies some use in bidding.  You never know

what you will find or see at a fish auction!

    The End