I'm looking for any club or group that hosts frag swaps or knows of upcoming expos to South Florida.
Thanks
Eli

Florida Marina Aquarium Society does have them but they just had it in March, I am trying to put something together myself but it is at the bottom of my list with my time management.

Tag.

I'm interested too.

ditto

same

Maybe if enough people respond, and we can agree on a meeting place somewhere where it is a fair distance for all of us to travel, we can do one ourselves. We'd have to do it like next month in order to give people time to arrange schedules, travel time, etc. What do you guys think?

If this is okay with everyone, then why dont we start by posting our exact locations?

I for one am in Vero Beach, FL.

I'm in Ft. Lauderdale and would try to attend.

Delray Beach

st pete

That is what I proposed, a while back, I figured we could post on here and RC as well as with pbmas & fmas and get a pretty good turn out.

From doing some research finding a place to host it will be our biggest hurdle.

Next week I will make some phone calls and see if we can get a venue lined up.

Anyone friends with a superintendent of a school district? (FMAS holds their swaps at a middle school)

Where does everyone think a good location would be? We have people from martin all the way to dade county that are interested. We might have to break it down to a south and north region.

Let me know what you guys think and I will try to put something together.

Thanks!

I'm in Pembroke Pines and I would be down!

there should be one in tampa.. theres a bunch of us near there.

I'm in West Palm I would be interested!!! Let me know too PLEASE!

Im in Jupiter, Fl

avaneaton2000 - I am a teacher in Vero Beach. I will speak to my principal on Monday and see what we can do to maybe host it at our school, or at the very least get the procedured for doing something like that. Vero is a 2 hour drive from Miami, about an hour from Palm Beach County and maybe 2-2.5 hrs. from Tampa. My husband teaches in Fort Pierce. I can also find out about having it hosted there. Finally, I was a teacher in Miami till last year. I can ask my old principal but I think the answer to that question would be a "No" because of the hassles it would entail her having to go through.

I'm in Miami, and I have a very good relationship with the principal in my children's school. I'll find out what it would take to host something like this. Also, I have never been to a frag meet, do people pay to attend? Maybe a contribution to the PTA or school programs make it more interesting for the school?

There is usually a fee, for the FMAS on it is $20 and you are then a member of their club. A donation to the PTA or the school should be doable if they provided a space for "free".

Somewhere in Palm Beach County sounds like reasonable half-way point for all of us. I know when I lived up in Jersey many of the church's in the area had small halls that could be rented out for next to nothing. Does anyone know of anything like this in PBC?

I don't know if I will have anything to swap, but if it is not too far from Hollywood, FL I would love to come and buy some things.

What do we think, lake worth boytnon area? How does that sound to everyone?

My child's school is in Fort Pierce, which is in St. Lucie County, not too far from Palm Beach and a good midway point for people coming from Tampa (as opposed to Miami, 4 hrs. away). My daughter goes to a church school. I was thinking of asking the director if we could use their hall, which is pretty big. Would this be an option for you guys?

I think fort pierce might be a bit far for anyone outside of palm beach county, I know that no one from dade will come and maybe some from broward will come.

If we can hold it in central to northern palm beach county we should have a much greater turn out because of the central location.

I wouldn't really expect to see anyone from tampa but I could be completely wrong.

Glad this is starting to come together.

Boynton/Lake Worth is exactly what I was thinking. Should be doable for most of us. Also, I think it needs to be held in the evening, many of us work during the day on weekends. If we find the right location, we could bring some bbq's and have food. Make a night of it.

I'd be game for that. I would most certainly go, but I can't help with securing a location there. I only offered those places (Ft. Pierce or Vero) because that is where I know of people who could help us out in hosting it. I do understand that is kind of far for some.

I'm in Deerfield Beach, and I'mIn as well.

I'm in miami, and id be interested to go as well.

have any of you miami guys been to 'aquarium' in town and country. they had some really nice frags! and a cute girl works there.

I'm way up here in Pensacola,but would love to attend.

Hi douglam! Not sure about you, but I'm willing to make the trek! I'm in the Clearwater area too so it looks far but it really isn't.

Sounds like most people are on the west coast, so I'm willing to travel, hopefully to the central part of the east coast or maybe even Orlando?

Thanks,
Polly

I am in the palm beach county area and would love to be there. i am a member of pbmas i can see if any of them are interested and if they have any ideas for places.

Got an update for you guys, I called around to a few schools in Palm Beach County, this is going to take a bit more effort to have it at a school than I thought.

1) I have to start a 503-C(Non-profit org) that will cut the costs by 50%
2) There has to be an insurance policy for $1MM with the school as one of the insured (Per event held at the school).

So I have to figure the costs to start a nonprofit and find out the liability insurance costs.

Two steps forward one step back but that is ok. Also once things come together we need to get some LFS on board as sponsors to help fund this a bit.

Let me know if anyone has any ideas, comments, or questions.

Thanks,

Adam

You might check with SPerry. He did the W TN frag swap. I forget who did the one in Nashville. Community Centers or places like that work. People will travel for a frag swap. There is quite a bit of work. You need to be sure the places are equipped to handle the current. At the last swap, the breakers kept blowing-very hard on lights not to mention keeping polyps opened for people to see the coloration.

Companies will donate stuff for give-aways. You can even check with your LFS or those covered by those who will attend for donations to promote their businesses. The more cool stuff to win, the more people you attract. You might have to have a reef club to do that. HTH

as far as i know forest hill high school is the only marine magnet school in the county, palm beach, you could give them a call about it. if you do give them a call plz pm me as my brother works there and he could maybe work something out. i hope that helps

come to tampa, i dont have frags (yet) but, ill come and buy.

ill bring pizza though

Check out the thread on PBMAS. There are a few people interested and some ideas floating around.

http://www.pbmas.org/board/index.php?showtopic=2479

I'm in..I live in Loxahatchee..which is Palm Beach County..also a member of PBMAS

What do you guys think of PBMAS? i was thinking about becoming a member.

hey guys and girls im in brickell and im trying to get rid of some christmas favia frags asap and also the mother colony i dont have room for it and my mushroom is turning touching it and killing heads..

i also have a rainbow acan , monti frag , neon green favia frag like 4-5 heads super bright , like 3 zoo frags they all need to go very soon !


old pic..

anyone my mushroom killing the nice favia u see on the left ... someone.

I can trade you some zoas and / or xenia. I have a few different colors of zoas.

<tag>

I'm in. I do not have anything yet except for some copepods that showed up 3 days ago, and some algae.. Anybody want that?

I'll love to go - just to learn and to meet everybody & hopefully next time I'll have a cooler full of stuff...

sounds good.. every day the msuhrrom extends it hits the favia and turns it white.. the favia grows very fast tho so its not a huge deal but its sad. let me know when and if.

favia frags anyone?

I have a newbie question... What all goes on in a frag shop? Does everybody have a table? Is it just an open space? How many frags do you bring, and how do you transport? Is it an even swap? Is it like the game of "PIT?'... (Two.. Two.. I got Two)... Any info would be great..
Thanks-
Dave A.

Weetie & I cut egg crate to fit a large styro box & put frags in it to travel. We covered it with water & put the lid on quickly to hold the temp.




When we got the the motel for the night, we unloaded the boxes & water for the tanks. We put heaters & air stones in the boxes overnight.



The next morning, everything went back in the car for transport to the swap. We also pre-heated the water to go in the tanks in the bath tub filled with very hot water.



By the time we loaded everything & got the tanks set up at the swap, it only took 15 mi. or so for the water to be at the right temp to set up our frags in the tank.



Take bags & rubber bands, a turkey baster to put water in the bags as you sell stuff. Have extra water to add to the tank to replace what you remove.


When you get ready to go home, just reverse the steps! HTH

Great post Sue. I'm sure it helped out quite a few members.

Wow oh wow! That was great! Thank you very much. Loved the photos!! It answered all my question but 1. Basically I could just show up w/o any frags and go home a very happy camper.. love it.. are the prices average to LFS/Online or since everybody knows each other, its less money and more handshakes and hugs?
I think I've asked all the questions
(no hijack, promise) just a quick note - new parent of 2 turbos, 2 bumblebee, 2 sexy shrimp and a funny looking pom pom crab.... I'll pass out the cigars at the swap..
Have a good weekend everybody!
Dave A.

It definitely helped me! Thanks for the post Sue!

Polly

Figured id give this a BUMP!

I just did a tank merge so I have LOTS of stuff to trade

Hey Pishyaly, your not going to be going into SPS are you?