[Killietalk] Hooks and how long

["matt kaufman" <igotadose at hotmail_com>]

Being originally from the borough of Queens in NYC and an apartment dweller, 
I always had a tank of 'whatever.' Dad's store was around the corner from 
Nassau street in lower manhattan, a long-ago home for fabulous little pet 
shops and collectible postage stamp dealers (my two hobbies back when, but 
the stamps are long gone.) Also, the legendary Aquarium Stock Company was 
within walking distance and whenever I had a spare dollar or two, I'd either 
visit Aquarium Stock or one of the small shops to buy some fish to kill - 
the usual, mollies, neon tetras, corydoras. I always had a tank of fish 
going as I grew up and we moved from Queens to Staten Island, where we 
actually had a house, but by then, we also gained a dog and a few cats. 
Still, though, the fish were around though usually a small tank of cichlids 
like keyholes or jack dempseys or angels.

Fast forward to adulthood (note: I didn't say maturity, eventually that'll 
hit). When I moved into my own house in 1985, I discovered the USENet and 
rec.aquaria and brilliant killi keepers like Richard Sexton, Oleg Kiselev 
and Thuan Nguyen. I'd never seen a killie live, only pictures, but I signed 
up with Richards list, and the late Dr. John Bridge sent me a couple pairs 
of orange Australe, which I promptly killed. Then came a box of fish from a 
BAKA meeting that a friend picked up for me - spoorenbergi, guentheri, some 
others. Killed them or they jumped. Then, finally, I attended a local club 
meeting in 1990 (the North Jersey A.S.), and someone there had brought in 
some pairs of aquarium strain gardneri. Increidbly great looking fish, 
hooked me then and, then once I discovered the local killi Affiliate, MAKA, 
things only got better.

My first AKA was 1991 in New Jersey. I didn't buy too many fish - by that 
time I had a fair number of tanks with gardneri and Richard and Oleg's BIT 
Lagos they'd found at the wholesaler in LA and whitei and some other, 
relatively easy killies like louessense and dageti. So, I limited myself to 
only one new strain of fish at the convention - I bought 2 pairs of OGO 
ottogartneri RPC 169. That fish really convinced me killies were the best 
fish to keep. They were gorgeous, always out and about begging for food, 
people could see them from across a dark fishroom. I kept that strain going 
without any introductions till 2002, when I swapped in a female I got in a 
trade off this list as I had no more females. Nor was I to have any more 
success with that fish, so after 11 years, I lost it.
I also had a line of Chrom. poliaki "Monea" that I picked up in a sale at 
the 1993 LA convention and gave away the last of when I moved to Washington 
state in 2003.

I have the ottogartneri again, 2 years later, here in the PNW. Nice fish. I 
really like them :-) Who knows, maybe they're relatives of ones I had 
originally. Lets see if I can keep them going for another 10 years. Also 
have bunches of Chrom. poliaki 'limbe.' More prolific than Monea but not as 
pretty.

Matt in snowy (for here) Seattle

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