Re: [Killietalk] Another view on show participation

["J. C." <hillbillynursery at yahoo_com>]

   Hi All,
 
     I am going to try and make one responce to several of these comments.
 
    First off is you can make money money with killies. I do not think you can make enough to truely pay you for your time unless you set up to make money. I used to raise livebearers for proffit. I have already used an outdoor pool to grow off some of the A lineatus golden wonders. All I did was hatch the fry inside and give them a few microworms for a few days and then placed them out in the pool. I then went back and caught a few and I am working on getting them to take flake food easily. Most are ready to go to a general hobbiest as they are eating the flake food well. Growing fish outdoor also gives you so much more color. With killies I found the proffit is in selling eggs not fish. My fish are already making money by selling their eggs on aquabid. Who is going to tell me that it cost $130 a month to feed 5 fish? I actually think this last month income from killies would feed the fish all year long and the rest is proffit. Am I money motivated no I do not think I am. I!
  have
 given away live food starter cultures and even fish eggs(as I have just resently got fish old enough to have fish available). I used the money from this last months sales to join the AKA and to purchase more fish and a few more 10 gallon tanks. Since I am disabled I am going to try and make a side income from fish but I am including other types like cichlids and livebearers.
 
   Again we are seeing alot of talk about the actual show and points. I have showed alot of caged animals. I have showed rabbits, chickens, and ducks. The largest amount of these were shown in county fairs around here. I also have a limited experience with showing livebearer fish. I have to say the fish show gave the least credit to the exibitor. With the county fairs you fill out a 3 part tag that has preforations(spelling) for ripping it apart. The first part of the tag only had a number and a place to write the class number in. The second part of the tag had your name and if you wished contact info along with the tag number and the space for the class number. The third part was just the tag number and a short discription if available of identifiable info about the entrant(like a colored numbered leg band on a chicken) which was used to help make sure you got your animal back out of 50 of the same breed. This part was given to the person entering the animal which was to be!
  brought
 back for pick up of the said animal or your animals were held to the next day(to make sure all bird were accounted for). This last part would not be needed for a donation show and auction. As soon as the judging was done we(I was a volunteer for a couple of these fairs) would go through matching tag numbers and hanging the name and info tags. I have yet to see an AKA convention with me being a brand new member. I sure hope I can make next years in Florida. I know you have to have an entry number for tracking some how attached to the fish(the ones I have been to used sticker on the bowl/tank). How hard and what more cost would it be to make 2 stickers one with the name and a short contact info like email or phone number with the same entry number that as soon as the judging was over you matched the numbers?
 
     This is sort of attached to the part above about the show fish. I see a few other have the same problem I do. What are these fish supose to look like as I am brand new and only have the pairs or the fry from one batch of peat? With all other animals that I have shown there is atleast a basic given idea of what the fish/animal should look like. Another point along this same line has been stated by another that I feel strongly about and that is simplely that you are not getting the best fish showing up at the convention because they are staying home and being breeders. Part of this that I did not think of before it was strongly pointed out is that our loved killies are short lived with the Nothos and other annuals being very old in their live cycle by the time they are show ready. And that means they will not adjust well to changing water conditions as readily as young not very showy fish. I still do not know how you can judge potential as like said in the other thread th!
 ere are
 to many changes as fish age. I selected the best look 10 or so male guppies at the I was pulling them to take to the LFSs for potential breeders. As with the early maturing nothos some guppies early mature then quit growing. So out of these 10 I might find 2 good breeders. So how can you really say a young fish showing little color should be placed over an older fish with much color just because of his age. Every thing I have showed before wants fully mature animals as they are already showing their potential with the current grower/trainer(like dogs and horses).

   I agree only the members can change the current attitude. If I can not make the show this next year I hope to atleast send some fish. The bread and butter fish that was mentioned earlier are what in your opionions? I have the aquarium strain A. lineatus golden wonders which most people can get by talking to their local LFS. These will not be gotten rid of as I will always grow some outdoors every year and over winter some indoors. I have gardneri clauseni Akure but I think that all the gardneri species are plain and doubt I will keep these fish if space runs short unless they take to the outdoor growing as well. I am the type person a fish must make money or be something I love. I have aquired 2 more species that are colorful and if I can maintain them I doubt I will ever find a reason to displace them. These species are A. australe ornge and A. bivittatum F1s(forgot the location but it is writen down). I have my second try at nothos on the way but this time I am getting !
 fish and
 not eggs. So if I can maintain even the simplest notho with their bright colors they may find more room in my tanks. So if my ornge australe is a bread and butter strain so be it. I love their color and according to everyone they are very easy to breed. But the gardneri I have are not that showy so must pay for their up keep or be slowly phased out.
 
                                        Later,
                                            John Cox

		
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