Re: [Killietalk] "Setting the hook"

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

 It was a book writen by Innes that my mother had
bought when she was breeding guppies(mid 60s) before I
was even thought about as I was born in 72. So I was
around fish tanks for several years. When I turned 10
we moved to TN to the home town of my parents. Mom
moved the tanks but none of the fish. When I was 12 I
asked if I could set one of the tanks up. She agreed
to let me set up both the 20 and 30 as they fit on the
same steel frame. During the process of setting up the
tanks(she knew to set the tanks up before getting fish
but not about the ammonia cycle) I found her fish book
and read it from cover to cover even though the second
and more times through it I skipped alot of species.
Reading the pages on killifish and seeing those
pictures(many were black and white with a few in
color) I knew I wanted to have some even if I could
not breed them(like most fish hobbiest never breed
fish). I asked and asked at the LFSs and no one knew
what I was asking for and this was in the early 80s. I
never gave up my search during those years but I was
never lucky about finding them. 

  So I raised, sold, and showed a few livebearers at
Chattanoga through college. I shut everything but a
couple community tanks down when I left for college.
Then marriage and kids came along. We kept a couple 10
gallon community tanks but left the breeding and such
behind. When our mobile home burned in 99 I lost the
tanks we had and did not buy anymore till last fall at
a yard sale. I was disabled in a fall at work 3 years
ago August 12th 02. I had to much time on my hands and
started looking for something I could do and something
I liked doing. I thought back to when I raised and
sold fish by the thousands during high school. That is
when I got the tanks last fall(2-10g, 1-55g). I did
not have the money to put fish in them until this
spring. I was pricing cichlid at several LFSs when I
over heard someone say killifish. They gave me the AKA
web site which was not an option back in the 80s and
even early 90s for me. The rest is history that
several of you can remember and even search in the
archives of killietalk. My first killies were got
through a LFS who knew someone that raised them in
Chattanoga(his other store is in Jasper which is north
west of Chattanoga and the one I got the fish at is in
Manchester). These were the golden wonders. I have
continued getting a few other species(6 todate).

                             Later, John


--- "Koran, David HQ02"
<David_Koran at hq02.usace.army.mil> wrote:

> 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
> 


John Cox of Cumberland Killifish
 Honey Robber beekeeping and removal services
 
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