Silicon Valley Aquarium Society (SVAS) is exactly as it sounds. It is the all-purpose, broad-spectrum aquarium club in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area of California.
SVAS was founded in 2002 when members of the closely-affiliated Pacific Coast Cichlid Association, spun off to form a group to meet the needs of hobbyists that were not interested in the very specific focus on the family cichlidae the PCCA has. (There is, unsuprisingly, a large overlap in membership to this day.)
SVAS meets the first Saturday of every month at the Round Table Pizza on 4400 Stevens Creek, San Jose, CA. Meetings start at 7:30 pm. Every meeting has a speaker, followed by an auction and raffle, except for October, which is the annual mega auction. Octobers have no speaker, just hours and hours of auction. The club's website is found at http://www.siliconvalleyaquariumsociety.com
Previous speakers have included Dick Au, Chuck Rambo, Ted Judy, Oliver Lucanis, Ad Konings, Paul Loiselle, Bob Fenner, and many other big names in the fish hobby. Although the club focuses on freshwater fish, talks on saltwater and brackish animals are also common, as are talks on planted tanks.
"Sister" clubs in the area include the PCCA, San Francisco Aquarium Society, Sacramento Aquuarium Society, and the San Francisco Bay Area Aquatic Plant Society.