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organizational history (Aaron Dvoskin)

Hi Scott,

         If you want to learn more about Aaron Dvoskin, you should talk to 
AKA members Alan Fletcher, Rosario LaCorte and Bill Harsell. Alan was the 
editor of THE AQUARIUM after W.T.INNES and published Aaron's articles. 
Rosario and Bill were good friends with him. He is also mentioned in Ross 
Socoloff 's autobiography CONFESSIONS OF A TROPICAL FISH ADDICT. Aaron passed 
on a number of years ago.
       What I know of Aaron is as follows. He owned a wholesale/retail 
business in New Jersey in the 50's/early 60's called Suburban Tropicals. He 
specialized in importing and selling rare tropicals. Socoloff says he lost 
his business because his love of fish led him to approach it as a hobby and 
not a profitable business. You can find ads for his business in old issues of 
THE AQUARIUM and maybe THE AQUARIUM JOURNAL. He focused on African fish and 
brought over alot of stuff from the great old German hatchery/import house -- 
Aquarium Hamburg. Aaron was the first to import kribensis and "Roloffia" 
petersi in the early 50's from Aquarium Hamburg. 
      His first big claim to fame was the importation of Congo fish from 
Pierre Brichard. Aaron, Rosario and Bill Harsell were contacted by Brichard 
to see if they would be interested in African fish. This was in the early 
50's when Brichard was just starting out in Kinshasa and looking to export 
Stanley Pool fish  --  long before the career as a Rift Lake cichlid god. 
Aaron, Rosario and Bill contracted for a large shipment and it arrived in 
great shape. THE AQUARIUM and THE AQUARIUM JOURNAL ran multi-month features 
on the shipment and the new species of fish.
    Aaron has some wonderful articles in the old magazines -- particularly a 
fine piece on "Roloffia" petersi. He raised 1000's off his first pairs and he 
details his methods. The F. A. I. stands for a Fellow of Aquarists 
International. The late great hobbyist, breeder, photographer and author -- 
Gene Wolfsheimer -- started Aquarist International with Robert Andrews of 
London. Gene carried on an extentive correspondence worldwide -- he pioneered 
the shipping of killifish eggs using those of Rivulus harti (I believe) and 
sending them to Andrews in Great Britain. He also pioneered shipping fish 
airmail with Dr. Cliff Emmens in Sydney. Anyway, Gene got the idea of an 
international tropical fish correspondence club and announced its formation 
in THE AQUARIUM in an article and Innes devoted one of his famous editorials 
to it. It was an elite group. They exchanged letters among themselves 
detailing their fish experience -- much like this discussion group. Rosario 
LaCorte, Rodney Jonklas, Jorgen Scheel (The famous Scheel "Killie Letters" of 
the late 50's were a part of or an outgrowth of A. I. and the AKA should 
really publish the full collection of these wonderful letters as a founding 
historical document!!!!) and many others. The wonderful old magazine AQUATIC 
LIFE published monthly selections from the A. I. correspondence. In my 
copies, I have Wolfsheimer talking about his famous albino betta, how to grow 
red rotifers and why they are better for fry than baby brine shrimp and his 
work with Dicrossus maculata when it first became available in the 50's. 
Fascinating stuff. Aaron Dvoskin was a member and friend of Gene's. I have 
been researching Wolfsheimer for a number of years and Rosario once told me 
that he threw all his A . I . correspondence out when he moved in the 80's. I 
wanted to ring his neck!!! He said, years ago, Gene warned him not to as it 
was full of real fish knowledge. Gene Wolfsheimer died in 1974. (If anyone 
knew Gene, please contact me. I would like to do a major article on Gene. I 
wish someone would name a fish for him.)
     Alan Fletcher, the late great Franz Werner and I guess Dvoskin were 
behind the American Panchax Asso. Al Klee, the AKA's founding member, told me 
that the APA did not get off the ground because it could not find a way to 
function nationally. There was interest but no plan. A few years later, when 
Bob Criger got the idea for the AKA, it was Klee who came up with the 
seemingly obvious idea of conducting all association business by mail (The 
old Aquarist International maybe?). This became the formula for all the 
national tropical fish associations that were developed after the AKA and 
based on its (Klee's) model. Al Klee is still very much alive and as 
brilliant as ever. It is high time -- before it is too late -- that the AKA 
honor its founding member and great man of the tropical fish hobby.
    I hope this helps. Talk to the guys I mentioned -- they were there. I was 
not.

My Best,
Robert Ellermann
     
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