Re: BAP 'N Dump -Reply

[William Vannerson <William_Vannerson@ama-assn.org>]

>>What is the number one reason for any of you for keeping the fish you
do?<<

Geez!  I really didn't mean to stir up a hornet's nest with my comments.

There are two reasons I keep the cichlids I do, sentiment and opportunity.

The sentimental side is what drew me to the Kribs and Rams.  Back
when I first kept community tanks as a teenager, these two species
caught my eye in the books I read.  My LFS just started to carry Africans
when I left for school, so Zebras and M. auratus hold the same sway,
but I don't have the tank or the time to keep them right now.

As for opportunity, I have two species that I keep just because of
happenstance.  My pair of Gold Angels were given to me by a friend,
Slim, when I visited his house one day, a very generous gift that enjoy
very much.  The A. borelli I obtained from Mike Jacobs from
correspondence on the killies list.  I had been lurking on the list for a
while but still had no Apistos.  I was going to the AKA's national
convention in St. Louis.  Mike is also into killies.  Through email, we set up
an exchange where I picked up a pair of killies from his short list in
exchange for some of his fry.  I still think I got the better half of the
bargain.

As an aside, it's folks like Slim and Mike that have made my return to the
hobby such a pleasure.  And they're not the only ones.  there are the
regulars on all of the lists and friends I've made at my local clubs.  I'm not
much of a breeder (yet), but it's because of these folks and the example
they've set that I have given away the few fry I have raised to other
newbies to help encourage them.

Bill Vannerson
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/william_vannerson