Advice: Looking to start a club in SF

[Matt V]

Ok, so I want to look into starting a cichlid club in San Francisco/Oakland.

There is the Pacific Coast Cichlid Club, they meet 50 miles away in San Jose. There is also the San Francisco Aquarium Society, but they're more into live bearers, marine tanks and planted tanks. There is almost no discussion about cichlids in their online discussion group and when I bring them up, I'm met with resounding silence most of the time.

I don't like the drive to San Jose and I'm sure that hobbyists in San Francisco, Marin County, Oakland and northern San Mateo County are as unfond of the drive to SJ with auctions ending late at night with a drive back home.

My thought is to create a club that alternates its meetings between San Francisco and Oakland, someplace that's MUNI/BART friendly on both sides of the Bay.

So I have the idea, even a couple names - either San Francisco Cichlid Association (SFCA) or Transbay Cichlid Club or something like that. What I don't have is any idea how to actualize the idea.

I know people in Tulsa have recently started their own local club.

Suggestions please! What works? What doesn't? How do you finde a place?

Thanks!

[jonah]

How about Bay Area Cichlid Association? BACA has a nice ring to it. You might find some interest on the craigslist.

It means luggage rack or carrier in Spanish. Might be able to use that somewhere down the road.

Just throwing out some ideas.

j

[Hayward-Fro/Pea]

i understand what you mean, its a pretty far drive. the only thing is i wouldnt want another local group taking away from it. If you do decide to go through with it, it should meet on different days and nights or even midday weekend events. i live in the east bay so would be interested in what occurs. Im exclusively rift lake cichlids and a few west african, but all those other fish i just dont care about. if you would like to set up a smaller focused group i would definitley be the first to join. let me know

[Hayward-Fro/Pea]

i like TCU (Transbay Cichlid Union) or Bay Area Cichlid Organization (BACO) or Northbay Cichlid League (NCG)

[jonah]

Hmmm! Bacos!:dance:

[Seedy]

Matt...the KEY is going to be getting a shop or three involved. The more the better....Most LFS are willing to host club meetings as it brings in potential customers...and is great advertising bang for their buck!

Also, most zoo's, aquariums etc all ready have group/club rates/tours available, so find out what your local resources are....

We have "ins" with both the Tulsa Zoo and the Jenks "Oklahoma" Aquarium.

Another thing to think about is "what goals you have for the club"....ie. do you just want to be a bunch of enthusiasts who get together to talk fish, have a little food and drink....or something more structured? We are looking at doing things like group orders from wholesalers, presentations on various Cichlids, getting in some high profile speakers, auctions and fish room open houses....

[Seedy]

PS. You should probably also talk to Josh_Shilling....he has been really instumental in getting our's going....

[Matt V]

Thanks Colby.

Good points. I'm going to give this more thought after the new year.

I would be going for something more structured. I'll definitely talk to josh. i already have a shop pegged that i would like to bother.

I'm not terribly worried about taking anything away from the club in San Jose. There are like 6 million people in the bay area, plently of room for 2 cichlid clubs!

[Hayward-Fro/Pea]

i know 4 LFS on the east bay side that i frequent that i know i could get to join. Good quality stores that sell High Quality African Cichlids. Most of the local breeders are PCCA though. Also, i thought having frequent Auctions maybe 2-3 times a month rather than once a month like other clubs do would help, Thats the main reason a lot of people show up outside the diehard enthusiast (like myself)

[Rinko]

I know with the 2 clubs that I've help start, an online presence is a huge step in getting things going. If you can build & grow interest via the web while you're still in the planning stages, then you can get things going very well at your first get-together.

Try posting on Craigslist or any other local community web boards. Hang flyers in all the LFS that will let you. We've had a great relationship with many of the stores here, but a few are reluctant because they view it as competition. You just need to findout which are the willing ones.

When it looks like things are going very slow & maybe you should just give it up, just remember the passion that you have for the hobby & that there are many more out there just like you. Maybe they just haven't heard about your group or ideas yet.

Good luck & great success with your new club!