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Breeders Award Program

The NJAS Breeders Award Program recognizes members who spawn and raise fish, with five goals in mind:

To recognize the achievements of NJAS breeders.
To promote NJAS member involvement in breeding fishes and other aquatic organisms.
To gather and disseminate information on breeding.
To make fish available to NJAS members.
To improve availability of selected species from time to time by providing incentives to members.

📖 Read the full BAP Handbook (PDF) →

The Basic Program

Levels

Points accumulate across every species you breed — never awarded twice for the same species.

1Breeder75 pts

2Advanced Breeder150 pts

3Expert Breeder300 pts

4Master Breeder500 pts

5Rosario La Corte Award1000 pts

6Dean Majorino Award1500 pts

For Breeder level, at least 50 of the 75 points must come from 5- or 10-point fish.

Key rules

How points are earned

Spawn and raise at least 6 fry to 60 days of age (60 days after hatching for egg layers), witnessed by the BAP Chairman or a Board member at a general meeting or annual function.
A BAP data sheet must be filled out and submitted. At least 6 of the 60-day-old fish must go into the auction — donated outright, or the breeder may take 50% of the auction price.
No points are awarded unless the fish are put up for auction.
For 15/20/25-point fish, breeders receive 5 points less until they write an article on the spawning for The Reporter (no deadline), or make an oral/slide presentation at a meeting or club function instead.
Points are awarded only once per species. Hybrids are not allowed.
It's the breeder's own responsibility to confirm their points were properly recorded.
The NJAS BAP program does not accept points or credit earned from participation in another club's BAP program.

The Specialty Program

Specialty categories

16 categories, based on number of species bred and number of spawns within a category, not points. The same auction/article requirements from the Basic Program still apply to each spawn.

Category	# Species	# Spawns	Notes
Anabantids	7	14	—
Cichlids — old world	10	20	2 species must be non-Rift-Lake; max 6 mouthbrooders
Cichlids — new world	10	20	—
Characins	8	16	—
Catfish	6	12	1 species must be non-Corydoras/Brochis
Livebearers	8	16	2 species must be non-Poeciliids
Cyprinids	8	16	—
Goldfish or Koi	2	6	—
Killifish	8	16	At least 2 species must be soil spawners
Marine	3	6	True marine varieties only
N. American Native	4	8	North of the Rio Grande; max 1 killie
Botias, Loaches & Eels	2	4	—
Invertebrates	6	12	2 species must be non-snails
Odd Balls	2	4	Gobies, Gudgeons, Tongues, Cartilages
Rainbow Fish	5	10	1 species must be non-Melanotaenia
Amphibians	2	4	—

Certification titles: Advanced Specialist (3 categories) → Senior Specialist (5) → Expert Specialist (7) → Master Specialist (9) → Grand Master Specialist (11).

A killifish continuous-spawner's eggs/fry from one 10-day window count as a single spawn (max 3 spawns per species counted this way), per the handbook.

Point Classification of Fishes Spawned

Look up your species

Type a genus, a species, or just a family name — matches are ranked most-specific first.

Searches 287 rules transcribed from the official BAP handbook's point table.

Can't find your species, or think a match is wrong? Email the BAP contact → — this especially matters for anything marked first breeding, since those points only apply if no NJAS member has bred it before, and that live status isn't tracked here.

Thinking about breeding something new?

Find a breeder

See who in the club has already bred a species — good people to ask before you start.

Not seeing anyone, or want to ask directly? Email the board → or browse member profiles on AquaristSpecies.net — someone may be keeping or working on it even if they haven't submitted for BAP points yet.

Live standings

Where everyone stands

Computed automatically from logged spawns — nothing here is hand-totaled. (Names and numbers below are illustrative until real BAP records are loaded in.)

See a number that looks wrong, or don't see yourself listed? Email the BAP contact →