Re: [Killietalk] "Setting the hook"

[Bill Gallagher <bill at lanpac_net>]

My first killies were at the 1968 or 1969 Vallejo Aquarium Society (north 
of San Francisco), which was the first fish show I entered (in the Junior 
category).  There was a class in the show called "spawned and raised" and 
there was this gorgeous tankload of gardneri (might have been called 
"calliurum ahli" then) entered by George Randolph of Sonoma, 
California.  He said he didn't want to take them all home, so I bought a 
pair for $2.  A year later I had myself a tankload of gardneri, a fantastic 
sight, and went to my first AKA convention at Ricky's Hyatt House in Palo 
Alto.  Starting around 1971-72, I began to learn a whole lot about killies 
from the great folks at the BAKA meetings at the s&l building in Hayward, 
CA, and the rest of the story you already know.

Others in the Vallejo Aquarium Society keeping and breeding killies at the 
time (besides George) were the Herkenrath's of Vallejo, and Dick and Cherry 
Bennett.  I think Mollison Ott may have been around there also.  We had 
blue gularis, Fp. gulare, "chaperi", "vexillifer", australe, celiae, 
nigripinnis, whitei, longipinnis, peruvian longfins, guentheri, palmquisti, 
rachovii, etc, and Scheel's wonderful R.O.T.O.W. book.

The first "fish room" that gave me some ideas early on (early 60's) was in 
a house garage up the street where I lived in Santa Clara, which had about 
15 largish tanks full of fancy guppies.

Bill
San Rafael, California

p.s. my old email address (@killi.net) is no more, if you lost contact with 
me, try the new email address above.
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