 June meeting
Are there plans for a June meeting yet? I remember someone saying they had ponds and a bunch of tanks they wanted to show?
On a side note, I'm planning a collecting trip down to south Texas, probably the South Llano River near Junction again. There are many kinds of tetras and Texas Cichlids spawning now, along with larger fish. Many cool, tank sized fish are there for the taking, completely legally, when you pay the fee to fish at the state park. The fee to fish is $3, along with standard daily park fees, and there is a fee for collecting plants that we might apply for beforehand. I'm not sure of that cost, but for fishing last time I was there it was $8 for fishing and park fees. Camping is about $15, I believe, however there are other places to camp that are much less. Canoes are very cheap as well.
The plants are varying, many are aqueous, some are seasonally submersible, some are boggy/muddy types. I have no idea of the types of plants that there are, but I just went there and it is a good collecting place, with some possible species that haven't been introduced into the hobby yet. There are wildflowers and excellent bird watching as well.
There are smaller frogs appx 1 inch adult sized, lots of shiny looking herbivorous water bugs that might be an interesting addition to your tanks for the adventurous types. The water is in limestone and probably 7.2 pH or slightly higher, obviously hard, and well suited to be mimicked by tap water. The frogs are pretty cool, if you could figure out how to feed them I'm sure they would be a good addition to a paludarium. I captured some smaller fish, and they have easily adapted to a more acidic pH, so that shouldn't be a problem for anything you get. A cast net is a good idea if you want the tetras. There are also some gorgeous sun perch that are easily caught. The best bait for all fish here, are live worms on a hook.
A day side tour could take us back toward New Braunfels. If you look online for Texas Cichlid locations you could find other detours for us that will have clear, spring-fed waters, and aqueous plants suited to hard water. You might also want to purchase a fishing license if you want to go somewhere nearby.
Anybody interested just post on this thread and we will see about a date... | 
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