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About Catfish Cataclysm 2021

2021 will mark the 4th Catfish Cataclysm!

For this round we are going back to our original rare fish auction format –  with auctions being held between speakers on Saturday. New this year, we are having a Wisconsin-style cookout instead of a banquet on Saturday night and it will be included in the price of registration – if you register by Sept 17.

We also have a new and much better venue for 2021 – the Madison Marriott West in Middleton, WI. Newly renovated in the summer of 2019, it is gorgeous! The room rates will remain the same as previous years – $119 per night. Book your group rate for Cataclysm 2021

Jeremy Basch lives in Columbus, OH but is originally from Westlake, Cleveland, OH. He started keeping fish over 25 years ago after his father took him to a pet shop. At around 16, Jeremy started working at one of the largest fish stores in the Midwest and was hooked! During his 12 years working at the local fish store, he learned about many fish species and met many lifelong friends.

Jeremy has kept numerous aquarium setups and finally in 2004, setup his first fishroom. Currently he is on his fourth modified fishroom design which now contains over 125 aquariums ranging in size from 2 ½ gallons to 150 gallons. Over the years, Jeremy has bred various species of fish including many cichlids, catfish, rainbowfish, killifish, live-bearers and invertebrates. Jeremy’s focus is on the catfish of South America including the families of Auchenipteridae – the Wood Cats, Callichthyidae – Cory Cats and Loricariidae – Plecos, Whiptails and other related species. Jeremy is probably best known for the first documented captive spawning event of the Jaguar Catfish, Liosomadoras oncinus. More recently, he has also raised the first juveniles of Balroglanis schultzi, Duringlanis altae and Tatia gyrina.

A member and former chairman of the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFÉ) in Columbus, OH, Jeremy also belongs other fish associations including: the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society, the Ohio Cichlid Association, the Greater Akron Aquarium Society and the Catfish Study Group. He can regularly be seen attending auctions and conventions throughout the Midwest and beyond. Jeremy has written a few articles which have appeared in the Buntbarsche Bulletin, his hometown club, the CAFE Menu and even Amazonas magazine. The latter sharing his first successful breeding of Liosomadoras oncinus, the Jaguar Catfish, the first successful breeding of Balroglanis schultzi and the breeding of Tatia strigata. Jeremy has also contributed material to the well-known website, PlanetCatfish.com. He hopes to continue writing for various publications sharing his knowledge.

While many people dream of the beach, Jeremy dreams of collecting fish in South America. He first traveled to South America in 2010. He now travels, when possible, to the captivating country of Colombia, where he has seen both common and rare species in their natural habitat. He loves to share his knowledge and often shares it with clubs around the country and beyond. He hopes to inspire the next generation to not only keep fish but to also understand the complex and rich ecosystems from which they come from. The goal to help with the survival of the fish species we love so much!

Jacqueline was born in the Netherlands in a small town called Ede. Its beautiful heather known for “Operation Market Garden” during  WWII, situated in Hollands greenest part known as “The Veluwe”. She and her husband live in a small house right beside the woods and the heather together with their two dogs. When she is not working at the Zoo or taking care of her fish, she loves to go out on long walks spotting wildlife and taking pictures.

Her first tank was a 600L (158.5 gallon) Discus tank. She added some Corydoras to it and that was the beginning of her fascination with catfish. She soon fell in love with these little cats and added some more which she kept in separate breeding setups. It didn’t take long before she was breeding different species of Corydoras.

She swapped her 600L tank for a 2200L (581.17 gallon) tank with larger Cichlids, a nice group of Brochis and some larger species of Loricariids. She still keeps her Baryancistrus sp. L142 “Snowball” to this day, making them the longest kept species in her fish house today at 15 years. This group is one of her long term breeding projects.

Now, she keeps many other different breeding projects, as she has a strong desire to learn more about other species and even genera. She first started off with keeping and breeding many species of Hypancistrus but moved on to much more interesting and challenging genera such as Ancistrus, Parancistrus, Spectracanthicus, Scobinancistrus, Panaqolus, Pseudancistrus, Sturisoma, Centromochlus and Tatia. Almost breeding all of them with great success. As a sidetrack she likes to keep some livebearers just to have some  fish actually swimming in the tanks.

One of her lifelong dreams would be to go out to see the habitat where many of her fish live in the wild and learn about all there is to see out there. She feels one should always have a dream!

She really love conventions as it is the best way to meet up with so many other different and like minded people in our wonderful hobby. She might be a little shy and overwhelmed but please come up and say hello!

Eric Thomas started keeping fish in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when he was about 8 years old.  With his older brother Bill, Eric kept and bred mouth-brooding cichlids (Geophagus and several Lake Malawi mbuna species), along with Steatocraneus casuarius… and convicts (who doesn’t start with convicts?). Eric and Bill were members of the now-defunct Tri-City Aquarium Society of Southern California. In college, Eric studied captive husbandry of vertebrates; with his mentor Professor Rudolfo Ruibal at UC Riverside, in 1978 Eric was the first person to breed the Budgett’s frog Lepidobatrachus laevis in captivity.  In Dr. Ruibal’s lab, Eric learned about and began studying skin glands and their function. Eric went on to earn a Ph.D. under Dr. Paul Licht at UC Berkeley, studying reproductive endocrinology and the influence of sex hormones on frog skin glands. Currently, Eric is an associate professor of Biology, co-chair and director of graduate studies for the Biological Sciences Department at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Eric’s research is split between reproductive pheromone production Hymenochirus frogs and self-poisoning in Corydoras catfishes.

At home, Eric’s interests are keeping and breeding catfish, primarily Corydoras, Loricariids, and most recently Microglanis.  Between home and work, Eric runs up to 27 aquaria and currently has over 40 species of catfish.  Socially, Eric operates a YouTube Channel (Bekateen) and FaceBook page (Bekateen’s FishRoom) for sharing his knowledge and experiences with fellow fish keepers; he is also the program coordinator for the Sacramento Aquarium Society and a moderator on PlanetCatfish.com.

Believed to have been hatched from the permafrost of the barren Canadian Tundra hails the man know simply as Biggs. He is a devoted father of four, and court jester to his ever tolerant wife, Dayna. A life-long aquarist, his father thrust him into the hobby at a very young age with a small tank they kept in their family den and he has never looked back. He is a founding member of the Aquarium Society of Winnipeg, the Canadian Cichlid Association, as well as the Dead Fish Order. He achieved in short order the level of Grand Master for both fish breeding and horticulture. He is a classically trained Botanist, passionate naturalist and avid gardener. Chris has traveled extensively, collecting, studying fishes, plants, reptiles and invertebrates in their natural habitats, as well as attending workshops and conventions the world over. He shares his vast knowledge, adventures and experience through his lectures as well as his You Tube Channel “The Mad Aquarist.” His frank bravado and charm, as well as his experience make him a much sought after speaker, judge and auctioneer at events everywhere. Eager to share and educate, he is a welcome presence nationally and internationally.