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Hartlepool Aquarist Society
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Logo: Datnoides sp. (Chinese's Perch)





Formed: 1951
Disbanded: No, Ronnie Atherton keeps the club registered with the FBAS
Specialties: Information needed (email webmaster) 
Meetings: Information needed    
Open Show: Inaugural Open Show 1959, later show held at Longscar Hall, Hartlepool
Open Show Award Cards: 1st Place, Class E
Auctions: Information needed    
Members: K. Alder, Ron Atherton, Billy Cowlam, J. Garthwaite, S. Hay, T. Hope, P. Redman, E. Williamson. 
Additional Information:
Hartlepool AS took part in TTAA activities from the start, here is their stand at the First festival, held at Lambton Castle. Ron Atherton, an A class Judge and founder member, won the BAF Champion of Champions twice. Ron was the sole member of the club for many years after its decline.
Ron Atherton - Highlights  of Showing Career
Scatophagus argus. This fish grew from a 1” (2.5cm) specimen to 10” (25.4cm) in a 36”x18”x18 (92x46x46cm) aquarium having 30% water changed daily. It won every ‘Best in Show’ in the North East between 1965 and 67 and was only beaten into second place once, and that was in the first ever ‘Champion of Champions’ class at the British Aquarist Festival (BAF) in 1967.
Barbus duraphani . Ron raised two of these Lemon-fin Barbs to a length of 10 inches and then sold them because he didn't like the small head shape, not knowing they belonged to a sub-species of this fish. One of these barbs, at a length of 13” (33cm), went on to win ‘Champion of Champions’ at BAF in 1975.
Labeotropheus fuelleborni fish 1 (male) In the ‘70s this fish and its mate dominated the first prize awards in Rift Valley Cichlids class. This fish also won several ‘Best in Shows’, and it died at 9 years of age.
Labeotropheus fuelleborni fish 2 (male). In 1979, when the fish was 12 years old, it was second in the BAF ‘Champion of Champions’ to Ron’s Distichodus Sexfasciatus.
Distichodus sexfasciatus At BAF in 1979, it won ‘Champion of Champions’ with a score of 92 points. This fish was 12” (30.5cm) long, not including its tail and could consume a large. jam-jar full of earthworms in one sitting.



'Hartlepool Aquarist Society was one of the oldest aquatic societies in the North East; its 18th show was held in 1976, and the final one was the early 80s. they used a great venue on the coast called Longscar Hall. The society's name is registered to this day by Ronnie Atherton'. RK

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