Re: Chirs can do it

[Chris Browning <fisher25000 at yahoo_com>]

Ok, I'll do that. I am just having a problem with my male Blue Panchax, atleast, I think it's the male. He doesn't do anything, he just sits there, doesn't eat or swim around or anything. The females seems right at home, eating brine shrimp, swimming around and the like. He just sits in the spawning mop, sand, java moss, or peat. He actually lays on them is the thing, he's not just in them, he's like actually laying on the bottom of the tank, or laying in the spawning mop. At first I thought he was fertilizing an egg because I ofcourse don't know what he would do should the opportunity arise, I just assumed this was what he does, sit there. But he didn't move for a long time, about 2 hours later, he had moved to the java moss, and was doing the same, then a couple hours later onto the peat, then the mop, now this morning he was in the other mop, and right now hes in the, :(, nevermind, I know why he wasn't moving around much, he was dying. i just went up to my room to see wh!
ere he was and he had stuffed himself in the mop again and he was dead. He was alive not 2 hours ago, and now he's gone. The femlae is fine though, looks just as she always does, swimming around the tank and such again.See? I am doomed. I don't know how I can manage to kill a fully grown fish that was in perfect health when I got him. Im doomed. And unfortunately, so are my fish... 
 William Vannerson wrote:>>>I can't even get my Blue Panchax to breed

Success will come with patience and knowledge. I strongly recommend that you save up and join the AKA. In addition to the regular benifits, already described in other messages, new members receive a Beginners Guide, an easy to read booklet that you'll find invaluable. You'll find an exceprt on the AKA site (http://www.aka.org/AKA/beginner/begin.htm).

I also recommend Ed Warner's book, Success with Killifish. It's a very pragmatic approach to keeping killies. You can purchase this book through Ruth Warner for $10. That's a bargain!(http://www.geocities.com/killiesbyruth/index.html) BTW, she also sells fish for far less than $60/pair.

The AKA also sold an inexpensive book with the collective tips from several expert breeders. But I can't remember the exact name right now and I can't find it in the AKA store. Does anyone know if it's still available? 

Lastly, as you stay with the hoby, you tend to want to learn more and more. There are not as many killie books as there are cichlid books, but there are some great one out there, some are fairly expensive. Scoyy Davis once replied to a "book" question on the list with a comprehensive review of some of his favorite books. I saved it (because I love reading Scott's prose!) so I'll paste it in this reply below.

Good luck and don't get discouraged.

======================================================================
Good Afternoon,

Since Bill is teasing, and since I finally got up, I'll send this
little ditty off. I haven't posted a copy of it since 1:30 this AM.
Oleg's is more comprehensive and Richard is working on an expanded list
for the killinet. However this gives a quick intro to killie lit.
(Killie Literature 101)

No I don't have the numbers for them. :( However if you are looking
for these in a library or bookseller, they should have a copy of a big
huge volume called Books In Print. (I wonder if there is something like
it on the internet.) I have no immediate idea how libraries operate in
your country. However I would guess that like here, they are expanding
their interlibrary loan programs. I would use that as a first source. If
you like the book beyond taking a few notes, then buy it.

Steffen Hellner's book from Barron's by the way is a great book. I give
it away or sell copies to newbies (and oldies) fairly frequently. It was
originally written in Germany and while translated very effectively,
reflects the hobby there a bit more than in the US. For example, he
talks about killies common in German stores - I would kill for those
same fishes here! I found the book refreshing because it put a fresh
spin on some things were do with killies here.

I notice that you are e-mailing from Eudora. I'm looking for a second
e-mail address (I'm a teacher - this is why I can stay up late on the
net during summer vacation - and that second e-mail would be handy for
communications from students and parents). If it is not too much
trouble, how do you find that service? Principally, how does it handle
attachments? This last year I coached some kids through projects by
e-mail and actually began collecting an assignment or two from prodigals
who were profoundly late in getting things in. (Thankfully they received
credit, unfortunately minus a tardy fee, but they passed!)

Here t'is:
I recently ran the following bibliographic essay on the killinet to
another inquirer and would rather not run it there again. Maybe it will
be of some use to you though. You might be surprised by how much comes
up on the public library's computer or that of a local college,
especially if they have some sort of cooperative lending agreement with
other libraries. Using the yellow pages to ask pet shops if they have
the books listed below will help. The TFH, Tetra and Barrons books can
be ordered through local shops too. If one of those big books stores has
moved into you area (the monsters that encourage brousing and sell
exotic coffees) they may carry or be able to order some too.

Over the years there have been a number of useful killie books.
Anything by Sterba is worth a look by the way. A quick list would
include:

Hellner, Steffen. Killifish, "A Complete Pet Owner's Manual" Barron's
Ed. Series. Inc. 1990. (I like this one a lot and give it to newbies
locally. Inexpensive, it is still in print and available from pet shops
(wholesalers actually carry it!) and the mail order people. Well
translated, there are some interesting "Germanisms" in their killie care
and in the killies he suggests are commonly found in shops!

Ostrow, Marshall. "Breeding Killifishes". TFH, 1981. While Marshall was
fellow traveling with TFH he made this contribution to a series of
theirs. Uneven photography, good material.

Radda, A.C. & E.Purzl. "Colour Atlas of Cyprinodonts of the Rainforests
of Tropical Africa." O Hoffmann-Verlag. 1987. Dry statistical format,
wonderful pictures. A lot of the fish in the photos are from the type
localities - many of them being among the specimens Radda used to
describe them. I hadn't realized how many African killies Radda has
helped describe! (Sort of like Allen & rainbows.) The book is awfully
expensive considering its size and very cheap binding. Still I'm
thrilled to have it.

Reihl, Rudiger and Hans Baensch. Baensch Aquarium Atlas vol 1, 2, 3 etc.
Baensch Press (marketed by Tetra) 1987 on... Widely available and
usually discounted not too long after first issue. Great resources. Also
easily available through interlibrary loan (even the Library Journal
reviewer liked them.) There is a vol. 4 yet to be translated from the
German. The German Baensch Atlas series also has a volume on water
gardens, one on fossil fishes and a bunch on marine fishes and inverts.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a vol 5. come out. Buy, beg, borrow or
steal them.

Scheel, Jorgan J. "Atlas of Killifishes of the Old World" TFH. 1990. A
combination of an updating of Scheel's ROTOW (see below) and TFH's
coffee table picture books, it seems to have been delayed in publication
a couple of years until just after Scheel's death. A very useful
resource, but I wish that the photo editor and read and understood the
text better before captioning the pictures. Often available for less
than the $100.00 list.

Scheel, Jorgan J. "Rivulins of The Old World" TFH. 1968. Also known as
ROTOW, this became the Bible of the killie hobby when it came out. Like
the Bible there is stuff in there I still don't understand, but it is a
book one grows with. Out of print and selling for a lot more than its
original $17.00 (1968 money), copies float around. I was surprised to
see it on the local library's area computer listing. Except for Pet
Library's remarkable 1960ish pamplet by John Pafenyk and Bruce Turner
(now Dr., then a teenager)"Know Your Killifish", it was the first
systematic treatise available to most hobbyists on killies.

Terciera, Anthony. "Killifish, Their Care And Breeding." Pisces Press.
1974. Tony's then state of the art work is out of print, but found in
the libraries of a lot of the old aquarium clubs. (I wish I could
remember who I last lent my copy to...) It would be fun if Tony would
issue a second edition. (Somebody offer to publish it for him.)

Warner, Edward. "Success With Killifish." Palmetto Press. 1977. Ed
published this himself and it is available through a couple of
booksellers, some AKA affiliates and from Ed himself via the AKA fish &
egg listing. A very reasonably priced little book. Another one I like to
give to newbies. The late George Maier observed that if he had written
such a book, he too would have followed Ed's FAQ approach.

There is also an intriguing killie issue from 25 years ago of the old
Aquarium Digest International. The AKA publishes a great beginner's
guide (updated by Roger Langton) which finally incorporates another old
AKA pamplet on mailing killies. (Another good reason to join the AKA.)
Ken Lazara's KMI (Killie Master Index vol. 3) is a keeper. It's
bibliography alone is worth the money. Issued in the mid '80s, a fourth
edition is long overdue. The AKA has issued a series of "indexes" which
collectively is a useful resource, although each index by itself is
pretty lean. The whole series was an improved adaptation of the TFH
general series on fishes and plants which used to appear in the TFH
magazines and was finally put in bound volumes. The TFH series is much
less reliable. There is also a very useful, but hard to get BKA
beginner's guide.

I would also get the Wildekamp series from the AKA. It is good on (Brian
Watters') maps, habitat observations and taxonomic history. I was
disappointed by its aquaristic advise. Since university libraries are
holding off buying the series until it is completed, I would not be
surprised if the AKA reissued the earlier volumes when vol 5 (or 6?)
and a possible (?) undate volume come out. That last is all my
speculation since it has been some years since I was on the board that
originally allocated the $ for the series.

Much of the above can be purchased through Jim Forshey's "The Aquatic
Bookshop" in California. He is an AKA member. His business is also on
the net at .

Happy book hunting!
Scott Davis
UncleScott at prodigy_net

Bill Vannerson
McHenry, IL
http://vannerson.home.att.net/


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