[Killietalk] Another view on show participation

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

After reading Peter Tirbak's Chairman's Message in the July BNL I have to say
that Peter missed the boat in his argument about foreign shows versus the AKA
show.  One should read carefully a post by Hubert Wischmann on the subject
back in the June archive.  While it is true that you can get pretty much
anything you might want at an AKA Convention, it is the categories these fish
are in that says a world about the AKA and if you think hard enough might be
a reason we lament about getting and then keeping new members.  I also don't
want to slight many folks out there who are very willing to give out new fish
to help out beginners either.  When we planned for this year's Convention we
assumed that the number of entries received for the 2004 show was just a
small deviation because of location but actually ended up following a trend
of lower and lower entries the last several years.  I was reading a note in
JAKA from Dan Nielsen expressing concern over the numbers of Nothobranchius
entries in the last several years but couldn't help but notice the
accompanying data on numbers of show entries.  It appeared that 2002 (our
40th anniversary show) was an aberration on the high side.  I have trouble
remembering many fish in the last 7-8 years that were entered by AKA members
that generated tremendous interest in the auction.  A pair of Ep. calipteron
this year did generate $160 but they were entered by our Swiss speaker.
Unfortunately I would say the spectrum of killies we are willing to show in
the Convention is basically, pedestrian.  I think it reflects two possible
paths, neither of which is particularly cheery.

The spectrum of killies we are willing to part with and donate to the AKA is
a reflection of what we are also selling through our F&E Listing.  Both lists
occasionally have some attractive fish but in most cases these are standard
stock and many cases are the bread and butter fish of some standard breeders.
Yes, there are week's spawns of many annual or semi-annual species but even
to many or the so-called more advanced killifolk these are a pig-in-a-poke.
Is the F&E Listing a dumping ground?  Is it irrelevant?  N&RSC mines for
unusual killies and yes they do show up at the Convention thanks to our
dedicated N&RSC chairs over the years.  A functioning N&RSC also provides the
membership with unusual killies over the year but the price is higher and at
auction this price is still higher.  We also have the Fish Sale at the
Convention which is huge box sale where if you have an early registration and
a low number you get a choice for something you may have been looking for a
long time.  You might even get a second shot later that day but the message
here is needing a little vigilance and more luck gets you some fish, a fatter
wallet gets you more.  If you have stayed in the AKA for more than 5 years
you know this and have come to maybe even accept it.  Yes, we do tend to
gather for fellowship and knowledge but also we pretty much come to buy.  Its
not a vacation and its not a learning experience, it's a trip to the killie
mall.  You shouldn't have to rely on AquaBid to get your killies.

So what does this say to beginners?  Yeah, you can get all of the gardneri
and other killies we can produce by the truckload but you will have trouble
finding most of those beautiful killies you see in the pictures unless you
can track down the right breeder or sit on a fat wallet.  If I am a new
member do I get turned off by this?  Probably.  Do I give up and let my
membership lapse?  Probably the most likely route.  This is maybe what we
need to address to keep members for the long haul.  We know the fish sell
themselves but is our aftercare network sustaining the newbie?

So this gets us to "WE have the met the enemy, and he is US".  Are we not
breeding enough of these less common fish that really are out there?  Not
enough to sustain the species in our tanks or not enough to distribute to
some network we can entrust to help us maintain this or that species
(conservation programs or specialty groups)?  Do we have a magic number of
fish we keep and everything else has a dollar sign on it?  If you can't spare
a pair or two of these "next level" killies to donate to the AKA's events,
entrust to other's breeding skills in the hope they fall on fertile ground
and get reproduced and distributed so you really have backup in the hobby
then you have no right to complain that AKA is not providing you
opportunities for new or rare fish.  You then are part of the problem.  And
if you are not making the AKA attractive to yourself, making it a source of
fish then how can you expect it to be keeping and developing new members.

So I repeat a little of what I said in an earlier post, they aren't breeding
killies in castles or on huge fish farms.  Space in Europe is just as
precious as in our urban areas here and maybe even moreso.  Maybe there is
one national show and not a lot of regional shows but second and third and
even higher tier killies in the realm of rarity are at these shows and are
donated with no return to the exhibitor.  They are placed in circulation,
cast unto the market in hopes the dedicated breeder buys them, reproduces
them and in turn makes them available to other members.  People come to the
those shows and often don't even stay for the auction.  Winning an award
means a great deal.  People renew old acquittances and trade information.
They trade fish, they sell fish; the events aren't any less social than an
AKA Convention.   And the beer is pretty darn good, too!


OK, sorry to sound like Ryan Sandberg, take your shots...

Dave Koran

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