So, as we close out the 2nd year of UTMAS we thought we would start something new for us.

The Annual UTMAS Marine Aquarium Swap Meet!

Thursday, December 15 @ 7PM (6:30 if you want to sell – table space is first come-first served and limited to the first 20)

Come to buy – Come to sell.  Livestock, dry-goods, equipment, you name it you can bring it down and to sell or trade with others. Clear out that fish closet! Thin out that frag tank! Pick up some great deals!

The best part of this event is it is 100% free for everyone!

But wait, there’s more!

We will also have a nice spread of the great finger foods just like last year…how about some insane meatballs or a sweet nachos bar!

But wait, there’s still more!

Bring two dozen Christmas Cookies and participate in our 2nd annual UTMAS Cookie Exchange

And yet, still more…

There will be great raffle at the end of the night.

Come join us for a great evening of buying and selling – fun and food!

Oh, and did I mention…

The best part of this event is it is 100% free for everyone!

We keep saying that UTMAS Membership has it’s privileges! And here comes the biggest of the year! Come join us for a members-only, big pig out BBQ complete with Steaks, Snacks, Sodas, Sweets, and everything in-between.

Also at this event will be the biggest raffle yet in UTMAS history. Some of the items to be raffled will be a complete 65-gallon tank/stand (see it at ReefOn in Midvale), Neptune Apex Lite, a Skimmer, lights, pumps, livestock, and much more!

And, we are not leaving out the little ones. We will have fun activities for the kids as well…stay tuned…

Q. When is it?
A. August 27th @ 12PM

Q. Where is it?
A. At a park in the South Salt Lake Valley – To be determined soon!

Q. So, who is invited?
A. All UTMAS members as of 8/1/2011, their significant other, and their immediate family. Due to the costs of this event, please respect this request.

Q. What do you have to do to attend? 
A. Nothing, just show up! No jello to bring, no admission fee, nothing! 100% Free for members!

Stay tuned to www.utmas.com for more details as we get closer to this awesome event. See you there!

If you ever wanted to get expert insight on marine wrasses, this week is a must attend meeting. On Thursday we will be doing a live, sit-down interview with SLC’s reefkeeping legend and wrasse expert, Brad “The Wrasse-Man” Syphus. Brad has been maintaining one of the most gorgeous reefs in SLC for years.

Brad continues to astonish all of us not only with the maturity of some of his corals, but also the variety of fish in his aquarium – especially the wrasses. Additionally, he has maintained a gorgeous tank for years with what would seem to most as an impossible bio-load.

So, come out to the meeting on this Thursday, 7/21 @ 7PM at the Living Planet Aquarium and listen to me try and pry out of Brad how he is so successful.

As always, everyone is welcome and the meetings are 100% free. There will be refreshments as well as a nice raffle for corals and other goodies.

See you there!

Thursday 5/19 @ 7PM!

Ever wonder what happens BEHIND the penguin exhibit!? Ever want to peer down into the Shark Tank!? Ever wanted to see the state’s largest skimmer? (OK, that last one’s for the true fish nerds)

Well come down to the next monthly meeting of the Utah Marine Aquarium Society (www.utmas.com) – Thursday 5/19 @ 7PM and get an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Living Planet Aquarium.

This is an unique opportunity to not only see what UTMAS is all about, but also to get a look at what happens behind the scenes.

This event is 100% FREE and open to everyone who has an interest in the saltwater aquarium hobby!

So come on down to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy at 7PM sharp on 5/19

What an incredible meeting we had last Thursday. The Spring Fragtacular was attended by nearly 100 people! The craziness began shortly after hearing the rules – members had a 2:00 minute mad-dash head start to the frag room. We had lights on hand so people could inspect corals under the light and see how they looked. All frags were $5 and $10 for members and let me tell you there were a lot of happy campers leaving the meeting on Thursday. Also, we added another dimension to the Fragtacular experience, Frag Pong! I think it also was a big hit. In addition to the nearly selling out every single coral, UTMAS signed up almost 20 new members! So, let’s all give them a warm UTMAS welcome!

Be sure set your calendars for next month, May 19th, as it will be yet another great UTMAS meeting as Andy Allison and his staff give us a treat of a behind the scenes tour of the Living Planet Aquarium including their new exhibit, “Animal Superheroes”.

Paul Locke (builderofdreams)

On behalf of UTMAS members, I wanted to thank the members and presidency of the Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society for letting us both attend as well as participate in this really cool event yesterday. At least three UTMAS members participated in the event and together combined showed off our tanks to over 100 people! From the time Mark Peterson came to our meeting with an outstretched hand to invite our club members, I knew that this would be great for the hobby and all hobbyists to bring both clubs together. Once again, thank you WMAS!

Click below to see some additional photos.

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OK everyone, the time is almost here for the Spring Fragtacular. What is the Fragtacular? Well, it is a special UTMAS meeting where everyone is invited to stock up on some great frags at incredible prices. Our Fall Fragtacular was a huge success – that’s not me saying that – thats what people told us at the last meeting. So, we decided to bring it back for Spring - with a twist…

The Spring Fragtacular will have all corals priced at $10 or below for all members! And, these are not going to be tiny 2-polyp zoanthids or a bag of xenia – no way, these are going to be large frags with lots of cool stuff – zoanthids, palythoas, acroporas, yumas, and much more! Even better, we will be placing some Easter Eggs out there that will be labeled as $5 but are really corals worth $40 or more! In the pics below you see we have lots of stuff fragged up already, but there is still more to do…

So, save your pennies now, start making spots in your tank, get ready for SPRING FRAGTACULAR!

April 21 @ 7PM – The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy.
(Remember, just like last time, everyone is welcome, but all members get a head start on the frag room. So come at 6:30 if you need to get a UTMAS membership – this month the pro-rated UTMAS membership is just $22.50)

Click here to see the some of the frags and colonies yet to be fragged LIVE in the UTMAS frag tank!

Have you ever wondered if you could breed saltwater fish like you did as a kid with your guppies?

Do your clown fish lay eggs but you have no idea how to get the little guys to survive?

Do you want to own more demanding species that require live foods like baby brine, pods, and rotifers but don’t want to pay for the food and would like to “grow your own”?

Well, now you can answer all those questions because this month Suzy’s Reef is coming to the UTMAS meeting to talk to us about breeding fish, and growing live food for the larvae.

Suzy Applegarth is an accomplished aquarist who has had many aquariums through out her time in the saltwater hobby. She has successfully raised sea horses in her home, and is involved with The Living Planet Aquarium.

Suzy has also raised many live foods for the fish she has breed and raised, and is coming to share the knowledge with us at the next meeting.

So come on down and join us for this awesome and informative meeting with one of our local gurus! This meeting will also have a raffle that includes products from Brine Shrimp Direct (BSD) in Ogden, and we always have a great raffle with tons of corals (Marine Aquatics, aka HighEndCorals).

In addition to this great talk we have boutique coral vendors (Like ReefKingdom) on site with lots of unique corals for sale.

So, if you had to name one person who has seen more LED designs over the last few years, who would it be?

Well I know who first came to my mind…The senior editor of ReefBuilders.com, Jake Adams!

Well, guess what? UTMAS is bringing Jake to SLC so you can see and hear his brand new presentation on LED aquarium lighting based on all his years of examining and testing various LED systems. Jake says this is not going to be any lightweight fluffy presentation and that you should come with beverage in hand and find a comfortable seat…it is going to be one of the best presentations of the year for sure!

So, where and when can you come hear this great presentation? Well at the next UTMAS meeting of course! It’s being held February 17th at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy at 7PM. I suggest you come a little early as this will be a crowded meeting for sure!

And if that is not enough, this presentation is open and free to everyone, young or old, member and non-member alike.

So, mark your calendar, and come down for a great presentation!

Jake Adams is a professional, practicing aquarist who has been an active participant in the national marine aquarium community for about 15 years. Jake has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marine Science and he is the senior editor of ReefBuilders.com.

Well, we told you that 2011 was going to be an awesome new year for UTMAS with more fun, learning, and opportunities to grow in the hobby…and here is the first example.

This photo was taken while I was doing research on living echinoids and crinoids in Palau (Jan 2010). The animal in my hand is the crinoid (feather star) Oxycomanthus bennetti

At our meeting on January 20, 2011 we will be featuring an awesome talk from none other than the starfish and urchin expert himself, Forest Gahn.

Forest is an invertebrate paleontologist that specializes in the evolutionary ecology of marine life, especially echinoderms. After completing his PhD at the University of Michigan and a post-doc in the Smithsonian’s Department of Paleobiology, he joined the geology faculty at Brigham Young University—Idaho (2006). While at BYUI, he was asked to oversee the installation of a 125-gallon reef aquarium, which provided his introduction to the “hobby.” Forest has integrated his newfound passion for reef aquaria with his research interests, and has successfully kept all five classes of living echinoderms. Moreover, he has an active research program involving captive echinoids and crinoids (sea urchins and feather stars). His work has been published in Integrative and Comparative Biology, Paleobiology, PNAS, Science, and featured in National Geographic, MSNBC, Science News, and Smithsonian magazine.

Forest will be addressing the general biology of echinoderms and his experience with the captive care of all five echinoderm classes, including feather stars, sea stars, cucumbers, and urchins. In addition to general physiology, he will discuss feeding, reproduction, and the pros and cons of keeping various echinoderms in aquaria.

So, make sure not to miss this meeting, it is going to be awesome!

(click here for more meeting details)