[Killietalk] "Setting the hook"

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

After reading a few posts about killies and LFS's I was wondering how people
today get caught in the web of killies (no pun intended).  Also (chicken and
egg -like) where (if at all) did the AKA come into this and how did the
addiction get hammered home (AKA F&E Listing, Aqua-Bid, LFS, local fish
auction, etc.).

Back in the "Bronze Age" (you know, when you had your news delivered on stone
tablets)(~1969) I obtained my first tank and a general aquarium book that
covered lots of different fish.  It had a 4 page section with some photos but
most color renderings of killies where the British author said the fish were
indeed beautiful but extremely difficult to breed and raise and said that few
people kept these unusual fish.  It was just the challenge my twisted logic
needed and I started to look for these fish in the stores in my neighborhood.
I had a very good LFS a few streets up from my northern Chicago apartment and
about a month after getting the book some killies appeared in their tanks and
I quickly snatched up a pair of chocolate australes.  The store had a 3 day
guarantee and like most of us know, the male quickly killed the female in my
crowded tank and the shop replaced the female since at the time I thought she
simply died.  Rewind the tape and bingo, female #2 gone also.  When I got
back to the store they no longer had anymore australe but suggested I visit
this old German guy in Lincoln Park whose pet shop specialized in killies.

About a week later I made the pilgrimage that probably changed my life (we
won't get into that now) and George Maier (for those of you too new to the
hobby, George was the AKA's "Mr. Killifish" and wrote a regular column in the
AKA's regular publications, "The Beginner's Page" until his death and was
responsible for so many people getting into killies) gave me the hour plus
intro to killies and I left the store with a pair of killies, a wealth of new
knowledge and an application to join the AKA).

About 6 months later I moved to Cincinnati, moved a few tanks of fish, lost
my killies and didn't join the AKA just yet.  Almost 2 years later it took
seeing killies again in our new "favorite" LFS to rekindle the interest.
This time the breeder who supplied the shop with fish was from Louisville and
dropped off fish only when he visited relatives in the Cincinnati area. Since
I quickly found out there was no bottomless supply of the fish and it was
then that I sent in the application George had supplied me a couple of years
before.

So it took a book that mentioned killies in a challenging way to spark an
interest, a chance encounter at my local LFS to find killies as well as a
second encounter to establish an appetite for killies and some helpful store
personnel in that initial LFS not worried about their bottom line to send me
to a specialist (Mr. Maier) to make the connection to the AKA.  What is
flabbergasting about all of this is that in the next 30 years I have found
few if any LFS's that might have operated this way or knowledgeable LFS staff
to explain killie care or even willing to handle killies in the first place.
So back to my question, if you are new to killies in the last 5-8 years, how
did we snag you?

Dave Koran

Join the AKA at http://aka.org/modules/tinycontent0/index.php?id=9
Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/
Modify your subscription at http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/killietalk