MACO is back! Two courses available - check in here.

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The Fish Husbandry course will start June 2! Register now!

Jim McDavid is once again offering his well received course on Fish Husbandry. This course was offered in 2008 and was a major success. If you are fairly new to the hobby of marine reef aquaculture, this is a wonderful course that introduces you to the basics of fish biology and maintenance.

The course will begin May 2, 2010 (Sunday) and last for 6 consecutive weeks. Registration provides:
*Weekly live chat (and potentially voice).
*Access to the instructor via the website and 24/7 forums.
*Full and permanent access to your course on this website including lessons, chat transcripts, and more.

For full details, head over to Marine Aquarist Courses Online: http://www.aquaristcourses.org/ (or click this link: Fish Husbandry 2010

Jim McDavid is an avid reefkeeper and marine aquarist with over 24 year of experience at all levels of the hobby. He currently has several articles published in RDO's Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine directly relating to marine fish husbandry.

I have been a freshwater and marine aquarist for 24 years, and while I’ve kept reef tanks extensively during that time, it’s the fish that have always been my focus and passion. In 1988 while a senior in high school, with enough credits to graduate and a spare period on my hands, I put together a special project Aquaculture class for myself. Under the guidance of my mentor, I designed and built a 400-gallon tank complete with a DIY biowheel filter to study the growth rate of aquacultured Channel Catfish under various conditions. While I’ve kept and bred a large number of old and new world freshwater cichlid species, I’ve always made room for marine fish. Although I’ve always kept them, over the years marine fish became my primary focus. I’ve been a member of the “Crew” on Wet Web Media, and recently published several articles on various marine species which can be found at Advanced Aquarist Online. Several articles are also forthcoming in Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine.

As I stated, I started keeping marine fish back in high school, when under gravel filters were the accepted norm, tank decor consisted of dead coral skeletons, and live rock was unheard of. I also spent time working in the industry itself back in the 80’s, both at the wholesale and retail level, which was an eye opening experience in more than one way – including the incredible mortality rate that most never see. Over the years I’ve kept hundreds of species of fish from many different families, and the only thing in the hobby that brings me as much pleasure as keeping fish, is educating other aquarists about them.

There are many possible pitfalls when starting out in the marine hobby, misinformation abounds, both in print and online. The purpose of this class is to enable you, the beginning or intermediate marine aquarist, navigate those pitfalls, and be as successful as possible with a minimum of frustration, as well as a minimum of wasted time or cash. I'll enable you to make an educated decision about that fish you just saw in the magazine or in your local store, and if bringing him home is really a good idea.

See you in class!

To register, again click the link to the course on the left or follow this link - http://www.aquaristcourses.org/FishHusb ... sbregister

 

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Aquarium Photography 2010 is now available for registration!

The course starts June 13th and live chat sessions run Sunday's 4:30-6:30 PST (7:30-9:30 EST). The cost for the course is $100 for 6 weeks and includes access to course-only forums, full access to the MACO course section for life, as well as constant access to your instructor and fellow students.

The Aquarium Photography course is now available! Registration is on the website: http://www.aquaristcourses.org and is $100 for a full 6 weeks of instruction.

As most aquarists and photographers have experienced, picking up a camera and taking high quality, visually stunning photographs of aquariums and their inhabitants can be quite a challenging task. There are a multitude of difficulties that a would-be aquarium photographer might encounter, including low light levels, cloudy water and reflections on the glass, not to mention the fast moving and unpredictable subject matter.
The visual appeal of a well-tended aquascape can lend itself to some truly compelling images that illustrate the dynamic nature, fantastic colours and individual personalities of the different fish and other aquatic animals.

In the Aquarium Photography course, we'll take a look at numerous aspects of successfully photographing aquariums. We'll look at; things you can do to prepare an aquarium for photography, techniques for photographing entire aquariums, composing your images, and specific methods of photographing fish and other subjects, as well as digital imaging (post-processing). We’ll also delve into some of the more technical aspects of the aquarium photography process, including: lighting a tank, color balance, exposure and focusing issues.

Early in the course we will learn about cameras and other photographic equipment that is applicable to aquarium photography. For the most part, the equipment you'll need for aquarium photography is straightforward. Most well-equipped amateur photographers would likely already own much of the gear that they would need for basic aquarium photography.

This course begins June 13, 2010 and live chat sessions are 7:30-9:30 EST (4:30-6:30 PST) Sundays. The cost is $100 for full access to the website, weekly live chat sessions with the instructor, 24/7 access to a forum just for this course, as well as constant access to your instructor and fellow students. Registration in the course provides lifetime access to the forums and the course materials.

For more information on MACO, specific courses, or exactly how MACO functions, see the website http://www.aquaristcourses.org or email [email protected] if you have questions. Registration information is available on the website through Paypal.