[Killietalk] RE: Chicken or egg or is that fish or egg?

["Koran, David HQ02" <David_Koran at hq02.usace.army.mil>]

The problem of interacting with the "newbie" is sometimes not the fault of
the old fart but their involvement.  As one stays around this hobby they tend
to stay involved and sometimes get more involved.  Most killie people don't
just burn out, they are sort of like a super nova (and not a souped up Chevy
either!).  When the new person attends a meeting (or Convention) the old
timer is usually involved in carrying out some activity and doesn't always
have the free time available and before long the meeting or event is over.
Time flew for the old timer while the "newbie" felt ignored.  I don't know a
simple answer except that one has to make their presence known.

Because talk is cheap and opinions are everywhere, one can always engage in
conversation and our "experts" are seemingly always ready to offer advice.  I
don't think most have found that to be the problem.  Maybe the root of all of
the discontent is that "newbies" find it difficult to get the fish they want.
I got news for you, most of us find it difficult to get the fish we want.
There is a short list of fish that one can get most anytime.  Just about
everything else is in short supply and demand usually outstrips supply.  I
may be wrong but the issue comes when a breeder is distributing fish where
demand is high.  Here when deciding who gets what, the choice is most often
made with the thought that the person selected has demonstrated an ability to
produce killies in the first place and most likely if they reproduce and sell
or distribute them themselves.  Even though the breeder may be selling
his/her fish, if the recipient is known to produce killies then the breeder
"assumes" it is likely they will be able to procure fish from that individual
at some future time.  I know that sounds like a stretch but I am sure most of
us would agree that we pursue that logic.

Finally, I once again want to relate the story of the late Art Titus of
Detroit.  Art got royally hacked when he got the same treatment (back then we
only had the BNL F&E Listing)--money returned and fish sold out was the
standard answer.  Art got what he could, even if it was only slightly
uncommon, bred it and then listed it for sale in the F&E Listing.  Once Art
listed killies for sale, he began to move to the "front of the line".  It
took a couple of year before Art could "shake the killie tree" but his
investment paid off.  

So my advice is, as painful as it sounds and unless you have tons of money to
outbid the world, don't show me the money but rather show me you produce
killies.  Unfortunately you need to build a reputation to get what you want,
build a network of killifish friends but most of all be patient.  In this era
of instant gratification the killifish hobby doesn't easily compute.

Dave Koran


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