Aphyosemion/fundulopanchax collecting trips articles

[rubinho]

Hello!

I would like to know if some of you have articles about Aphyosemion or fundulopanchax collecting trips. I would like to read about what the collectors had to prepare before that long journey, how did they collect our buddies, how did they preserve them, the tricks, the fears, the problems, what went wrong, etc.

I'm a member of a few associations/groups (APK, KT, GAK, NMG, SAA) and I only have access to a limited number of articles concerning collecting trips, but they are mostly about nothobranchius or SAA.

Could some of you help me with this subject?

When I look at this link, I can see that we have nearly 100 different codes, so I presume that several collecting trips have been made.
http://www.killifish.f9.co.uk/Killif...Code_Index.htm

My question is:
Is it possible to exist at least 20 articles concerning those collecting trips

Or is there any book with all those articles compiled If so, I would be very interested.

I thought in one reason for not having access to those articles:
Maybe the collectors offered those collecting trips descriptions to their local killi associations, as a bonus for their bulletins.
Is it possible? I think that's a logical reason...

Please, if someone could send me any link or article, I would appreciate it very much :P

[whuntley]

Ruben,

I have to admit that about 80% of the information I have gotten on such topics has been at local club meetings, regional conventions and at the AKA annual convention. Some have been published in the JAKA, but not nearly enough, IMHO.

Wright

[TyroneGenade]

Some have been published in the JAKA, but not nearly enough, IMHO.

Hear! Hear! Wright, I aggree 100%. This is some of the most useful information we as hobbyists can lay our hands on. Knowing about the natural environment helps a great deal towards keeping the fish properly in captivity. It is very sad that these collectors rarely publish their experiances in the field. We know very little about the biotopes and ecology of most of our favourite killies (which for most of us is all of them). Maybe we should gat on Marshal's case about this.

tt4n

[whuntley]

Marshall gets on their case all the time, but he cannot offer the benefits of a free trip to convention or WCW that the clubs can. The collectors probably save their presentations for those venues, because they get to interact with their audience and find an outlet for their collected fish.

JAKA cannot publish articles not tendered, and not a lot of those get offered.

Right now, it pays to belong to a club that has or imports active collectors, as that's the best way to get a slide show and chance to hear about the trip from the collector.

Over the years, I have heard presentations by local BAKA collectors, including Peter Tirbak, Padre Derugin, Dale Weber, John Boylan, Bill Gallagher, Ron Harlan, Don Greig and numerous others.

BAKA has partially or fully paid expenses to have presentations by Steffen Hellner, Jean Huber, Brian Watters, Barry Cooper, Andre Schonewille and many others. The fish and eggs they donate often provide major compensation for the travel costs, when sold at auction. The club gets the infusion of the newest collections, and has a good grasp of what conditions they come from. The speakers get to mingle with a lot of dedicated killy nuts.

JAKA has no real way to compete with that, IMHO. I can't wait until SG has a strong club that can help pay my way to bring over some of the native American fishes I collect and work with.

Wright

[stormhawk]

There's a book by Roger Langton regarding wild collections of killifishes. I think it is still in print by the AKA. I don't have it so I can't refer or give any comments about it.

[rubinho]

There's a book by Roger Langton regarding wild collections of killifishes.

But does this book include several trip's descriptions or has it just been written to give us accurate codes?

I'm asking it because it just costs 12 dollars and that's too cheap for a compilation... That's what I would pay for a couple of those generic aquarium's magazines! We are talking about 53 years...

Has anyone actually seen this book? I'm thinking about ordering it...

[whuntley]

I have both an older one (1950-2000) and the newer one 1950-2003. [I have long ago lost the first one, circa 1996.]

It is basically a chronological listing of trips giving general location (country), collectors' names, and species collected. No habitat data, for the most part.

For the dedicated killinut, it is well worth having. Most hobbyists can probably live without their own copy as long as they can borrow it from the club library.

Roger has most of the collection maps giving more detailed locations, but they are not published to protect the collectors from having their favorite sites become tourist camps. Roger Langton has wisely, I think. declined to publish info like GPS coordinates.

Contact him if you have a legitimate need for academic information, etc. As Roger's health has deteriorated, he can no longer go on collecting trips. This booklet has become a labor of love for him, and a huge contribution to the hobby. Contact him at [email protected] and buy the booklet directly. I'm not sure if it still even sells through AKA.

On the original request, there are many books that give habitat information. Wolfgang Eberl's Cameroon book is typical. Also, particularly since Steffen Hellner got involved, the species descriptions in the Baensch and Riehl Atlas series have a lot of habitat data. Both are available in English versions.

I believe the Wildekamp series from the AKA also has a lot of such data. When I lived closer, I used to borrow them from BAKA, so never got a round tuit to buy my own copies. Now I cannot check my memory on that point.

Wright

[TyroneGenade]

I think. declined to publish info like GPS coordinates.

I have to disagree, this is the most scientifically useful information. Without it, it is very difficult to return to the exact same site for further research. But I can see why he is reluctant to let that info out... It wouldn'tbe long before that site of A. joergenscheeli or Diapteron is stripped by commercial collectors.

tt

[whuntley]

AFAIK, Roger has always been cooperative with legitimate scientific investigators, but I doubt if he would release location details without permission from the collector, anyway.

The best way to go is get the basic collection information from Roger's booklet, and then approach the collector about the details.

This way, the data is as available as possible to the academics, and the sites are at least not in a tour book for the rapacious.

Wright

[rubinho]

Thank you very much for your help!

I think. declined to publish info like GPS coordinates.

I agree with this method. I prefer 1 or 2 persons keeping a new wild killi (even without passing it), than having those sources destroyed by local commercial exporters. But that's the way I think...

[stormhawk]

Apparently Roger Langton's book is still available via the AKA website.

The first edition (1950 - 1995) is going for $4, second edition (1950 - 2003) is going for $12 and the last edition is available directly from Roger himself.

http://aka.org/modules/tinycontent2/index.php?id=5

Looks like I'm going to get this item from Roger directly. Anyone else interested?

[rubinho]

Is it possible for any of you to give me his email?

[stormhawk]

Contact him if you have a legitimate need for academic information, etc. As Roger's health has deteriorated, he can no longer go on collecting trips. This booklet has become a labor of love for him, and a huge contribution to the hobby. Contact him at [email protected] and buy the booklet directly. I'm not sure if it still even sells through AKA.

Ruben, Roger Langton's email is shown above in an excerpt from Wright's earlier post.

[rubinho]

Dear Jianyang!

Thank you very much! I'm terribly sorry but I missed it I don't know how...

[stormhawk]

Ruben, its okay. I tend to miss out some information at times.

It happens to all of us. If you do get a copy from Roger, let me know if its good. I'm considering getting a copy soon but not this month since I'm already tied up with several orders.

[rubinho]

If you do get a copy from Roger, let me know if its good.

It will be a pleasure for me to share with you my opinion about it!

but not this month since I'm already tied up with several orders.

Just this month?! All killi-maniacs have several orders each month...
What we have, isn't enough... We want more, more, more, more, more...

[stormhawk]

Haha, yes we have orders all the time. I just can't stop ordering SAAs every now and then. Yes, too many stuff we want, too little space. But hey, not every order succeeds so there's always the excuse to get more.