Boston Aquarium Society

Breeders Award Program

Revised August 15, 2022

Purpose

The Breeders Award Program (“BAP”) encourages the propagation of aquarium fish and recognizes achievements in breeding techniques. It is also designed to encourage the distribution of aquarium fish between club members.

Participants accumulate points for different species they are able to successfully spawn, as well as for successfully breeding multiple generations of a given line of fish. The point system is based on the difficulty of breeding and raising fry of a given species, as well as the rareness/conservation status of the species.

BAP Coordinator

The BAP coordinator is appointed by the Boston Aquarium Society president. The coordinator is responsible for awarding points to qualifying members, maintaining records of species spawned by club members, and distributing annual awards. The BAP coordinator may alter any of the program regulations or classifications in order to maintain the quality of the program, or to resolve unforeseen problems.

Eligibility

All members of the BAS in good standing are eligible to participate in the BAP. To participate, bring a bag (or bags) of fry to auction at the monthly club meeting. To be auctioned (and therefore eligible to earn points), the fry must be:

  1. Spawned personally by the individual submitting them
  2. At least 30 days old
  3. Free of illness and deformity
  4. A “reproductive unit,” which is defined as either:
  1. At least a male/female breeding pair or trio (if sexable)
  2. At least six fry (if unsexable) [the BAP coordinator may make exceptions for species that are known have very small spawns]

All species within the tropical fish trade may be submitted to the BAP with the following exceptions:

It is the responsibility of the breeder to check in with the BAP coordinator (or designee) at the club meeting, who will enter fry into the BAP auction. This is required for points to be assigned.

Points System

Points earned for a given spawn are calculated by multiplying “base points” (determined by how many times a breeder has submitted a given species to the BAP) by a difficulty factor.

Base Points

Difficulty Factor

The difficulty factor is assigned using the following approach:

A mapping of species to difficulty class is found at the end of this document. If a club member breeds a species not listed, the BAP coordinator or the BAS Board of Directors will make a determination about which difficulty class should be assigned.

Species may be moved between classes from time to time, which will go into effect immediately. When species are reclassified, points for previous spawns will not be recalculated.

Breeding Reports

Breeding reports (submitted via this form) are required to earn points for a Class 4 species. These fish are typically harder to spawn, and the existence of local breeding reports can help other BAS members breed the species more effectively in the future. To be eligible for points, the report must be submitted no later than 7 days following the meeting where the spawn submitted for points (to ensure the timely collection of spawn data).

Examples

Extra Points

These bonuses are worth:

Awards

Points accumulate over the breeder’s lifetime. Recognition is given for accomplishment at the following point totals:

  1. Novice                50 points
  2. Intermediate        100 points
  3. Advanced        200 points
  4. Expert                300 points
  5. Master                500 points (at least one species from each class)
  6. Master II        700 points (and so on for each additional 200 points)

Additionally, there is a “Breeder of the Year” award given to the breeder who earns the greatest number of points between September - August.

Points start accumulating in 2022

The BAP was previously inactive, so all breeders will begin with a point total of 0 in August 2022

Species Listing

Anabantoids

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Catfish

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Characins

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

  • Alestes
  • Hemigrammus
  • Alestopeteruis
  • Inpanichthys kerri
  • Apareodon
  • Metynnis
  • Aphyocharax
  • Moehkhausia
  • Arnoldichthys
  • Nannobrycon
  • Astyanax
  • Nannostomus
  • Axelrodi
  • Pettella georigae
  • Boehlkea
  • Pristella
  • Bryconamericus
  • Pyrrhulina
  • Bryconella
  • Roeboides
  • Copella
  • Thayeria
  • Gymocorymbus
  • Triportheus

Class 4

  • All species not listed elsewhere
  • Hemiodus
  • Abramites
  • Hemiodopsis
  • Anostomus
  • Hoplias
  • Apareiodon
  • Hydrolycus
  • Boulengerella
  • Hyphessobrycon
  • Brycon
  • Leporinus
  • Carnegiella
  • Micralestes
  • Catoprion
  • Mimagoniates
  • Corynopoma riisei
  • Myleus
  • Chalceus
  • Nannocharax
  • Characidium
  • Neolebias
  • Charax
  • Paracheirodon
  • Citharinus
  • Phenacogrammus
  • Colossoma
  • Poeciliocharax
  • Crenuchus spilurus
  • Prochilodus
  • Ctenolucius
  • Semaprochilodus
  • Distichodus
  • Serrasalmus
  • Exodon paradoxus
  • Thoracocharax
  • Gastropelecus

Cichlids, New World

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Cichlids, Old World, Non Rift Lake

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Cichlids, Rift Lake

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Cyprinids

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Killifish

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Livebearers

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Rainbows

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

All Other Fish

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Invertebrates

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4