[Killietalk] Aquabid & a bit on charity auctions..

["Tim Addis" <timaddis at killifish_force9.co.uk>]

>  If you want to explore why our listings are small compared to aquabid 
> look no further then the 3000.00 unexplained dollars that went to new and 
> rare  and no fish came out as a result of it. Where do Aka members get new 
> fish from if our own organization cant help and other members  dont make 
> anything available via the BNL. We have a few reliable listers like Ruth 
> and Fred and Karl's group and a couple smaller ones . What if those few 
> stopped ? Would there even be a need for a BNL other then  club and 
> afilliate updates ? Food for thought.... Keep em breeding

It's a really difficult issue to resolve. I do not want to get into AKA 
politics but I believe the organisation tries its best to conserve fish & 
distribute young for continuity.
What is the best course of action - Import new fish for general distribution 
or place them in known good breeders tanks for that particular sp.?
The general distribution idea is open to the highest bidder which can mean 
instant death. On the other hand in can bear fruit. Fish entrusted to known 
good breeders & conservationists should give good results but even these 
guys can have problems.
In the UK Notho's have really had a hard time over recent years. Few if any 
sp. are appearing at auction. Some members are doing a good job in keeping 
them going but the 'market trend' (hate this expression) has been bad for 
this genus. I don't know why this is. Perhaps new South American sp. could 
be to blame (conservation verses hobbyists?).
In the BKA we have similar problems in conservation. Members are just 
hobbyists & not full time conservationists.
Your BNL & our Fish & Egg List are supported by regulars.  We have a debate 
on what price fish/eggs in the current climate of heavy fuel bills.
Are we hobbyist breeders interested in breeding our fish or should we look 
at paying the fish house bills with a decent return?
Perhaps those advertising on Aquabid etc are looking for money to sustain 
their hobby. In the UK fuel bills have increased dramatically & it costs a 
lot to keep a fish house going.
I have always kept a fish house for 40+ years & payed the upkeep from 
breeding fish. I don't consider myself anything special in breeding fish. I 
currently make enough from surplus plants, live food & snails to pay my 
expenses.

In the UK our Midland Charity auction always pushes prices for breeders. We 
just put our minimum auction bid up to £3. What an outcry we had when we put 
it up to £2 some years ago. Now we are being praised by breeders & buyers 
with remarks such as 'about time prices were brought up to date' etc.
New legislation from government agencies have forced us to adopt new ways to 
auction fish. We approve of these new controls as they help the welfare of 
our fish.
We have donated £2300 to charities in the last 9 auctions. The AKA helped us 
to get to this figure in the past with egg donations. One year we had a huge 
response which almost totally paid for a group of disabled kids to spend a 
day at the seaside. Most of these kids hadn't seen the sea before.
Auction page - http://tinyurl.com/2ejgnu

Sorry for the plugs but I don't respond to every message I would like to.


                Tim 





E-mail message checked by PC Tools Spyware Doctor (5.0.0.179)
Database version: 5.07100
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/
Join the AKA at http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/content/index.php?id=9.
Archives are at http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/
Modify your subscription at http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/killietalk