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GaryE

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I recently had a short discussion here about an obscure livebearer, Poecilia cf minima. I was confidently comparing it to the softwater (found with cardinal tetras) P. branneri that I used to keep and breed. @emeraldking pointed out that most of the fish in the group that used to be called Micropoecilia needed a little salt.
My females had kept looking gravid but I had seen zero fry, so I tried it.

Today I have a bunch of fry from several different females, swimming with the parents.

We look at forum as being for beginners, but even those of us with 50+ years of fishkeeping need a hint now and then.

Thanks, @emeraldking , and this forum!
 
There are so many little subsets to this hobby I never knew about before and no book could ever cover them all. So many obscure and rarely seen fish and fish that I thought disappeared but somebody still has them. If @GaryE is still learning that tells me that I should never ever run out of things to discover about tropical fish.
 
Love this post! Congrats on the fry! :D
Feel very fortunate to have so many intelligent, experienced and kind people on this forum who share their experiences and knowledge openly, trying to help those of us who are newer or trying out a different area of fishkeeping! You're all appreciated, and I hope you guys know who you are. :)
But I did say in pm to a nervous newer hobbyists today:
"Don't worry too much if stuff goes over your head, you will pick it up in time [...] Like I said, it's a steep learning curve in this hobby, and science always advances - even people who have been in the hobby for decades are still learning new things!"

Then you went and posted this, showing exactly that. It's awesome that there's more involved in this hobby than you could learn in a lifetime. That's kinda scary, but also pretty exciting!
 
Hahaha great !. I seriously never have the illusion I know everything about the hobby and every fish around. This is what a forum is about in my opinion.

And Gary : Always listen to the Dutch, they are always right hahahaha. Joking of course (or am I not hahaha).
 
And Gary : Always listen to the Dutch, they are always right hahahaha. Joking of course (or am I not hahaha).


I can never forgive the Dutch for using their old word "kill" in the name of my beloved killifish, and convincing the English speaking world that my gentle little fish are axe murdering psycho fish!

My Uncle always said he'd like to revisit Holland as it seemed beautiful even though there were too many bullets flying his way when he was there (as part of the liberation from the Nazis). I've been to Amsterdam twice, and even had a meeting with an amazing killie guy at the airport. If we could all have the space available for our hobby in a country like Canada, combined with the fishkeeping tradition of Dutch aquarists, we'd have a lot of fun.
 
I can never forgive the Dutch for using their old word "kill" in the name of my beloved killifish, and convincing the English speaking world that my gentle little fish are axe murdering psycho fish!

My Uncle always said he'd like to revisit Holland as it seemed beautiful even though there were too many bullets flying his way when he was there (as part of the liberation from the Nazis). I've been to Amsterdam twice, and even had a meeting with an amazing killie guy at the airport. If we could all have the space available for our hobby in a country like Canada, combined with the fishkeeping tradition of Dutch aquarists, we'd have a lot of fun.
You and your uncle are very welcome (no bullits or killing fish).
 
We look at forum as being for beginners, but even those of us with 50+ years of fishkeeping need a hint now and then.

Thanks, @emeraldking , and this forum!
Well, thank you for accepting the advice...
We're here to learn from eachother, no matter our grade of knowledge. This goes for me as well... The learning continues.
 
The more you learn, the more you realize that there's stll more to learn. Experience (yours and others) often out weighs 'book learning' and the hobby is full of myths repeated so often that they take on a life of their own...
Fish Hobby Myths vs. Truth
There are also so many generalizations in commercial aquarium books to be found, that just don't match the truth. And people read them and take them for granted.
 
There are also so many generalizations in commercial aquarium books to be found, that just don't match the truth. And people read them and take them for granted.
I think the 'trouble' is that an author can suffer from tunnel vision and many of the myths have become common knowledge often defended by many. I was once told by a hobbyist that s/he simply had to believe (a myth) because s/he heard it from 'an experienced fishkeeper' on the internet. Well with the possible exception of 'The Crazy Russian', the internet is just full of experts (or people you don't know) that talk (er write) like they know it all. The world is full of wannabe gurus.
And lets face it...to a point we're all set in our ways and once we believe something to be true, it can be a real challenge to change that belief.

But then again, what do I know?!?! lol :cool:
 
have become common knowledge often defended by many
That's is what we meet up with all the time...
The world is full of wannabe gurus.
I can't argue that... And most of them haven't beent that active for that long within the aquatic hobby. They come across a socalled info and take it for granted and think they can advice others right away... But this doesn't only go for the aquatic hobby but also for other fields of interests.
There are also people (mostly young people) who dislike seasoned aquarists. Simply because they know that they might say something different than what they had in mind in order to give advice to others.

I had to deal with some endler and guppy guru wannabees for a period of time. They wanted to be the leading role within this field in my own country without having the background needed for that position. And that leading role had to be established in a very short time. They used to have fish from me. But nobody were allowed to know that the first breeding groups came from me. They would tell outsiders that they were all imported. They used to be friendly towards me. But afterwards they were like that to get a foot in the serious international segment of endler and guppy keeping. That was the scene I was already in and they weren't. They just used me to get doors opened. At some point, they got doors opened for them by using money instead of knowledge. The one that lead the group of these wannabees, had a number of arguments with me. And his followers followed in the same behavior. They made stories about me. And a serious number of people called him the endler and guppy guru of Holland. But at some point , all of them faded from the endler and guppy scene. The position that he had at the company that he worked, was a complete different position. He made himself bigger than he actually was. And at some point the money ran out. A serious number of wellknown and serious breeders contacted me and told me that they're out and I'm still in. But those wannebees did succeed to get people believe that they were the experts. Another keeper who is dutch but lives in Germany, also made negative stories about me. Just to attract people towards him. He has a background in ponds and pond fish but not aquaristics. I knew him from the pond scene. But years after I got reconnected with him within the aquaristic field. He had none knowledge but told me certain things about endlers (which couldn't be true anyways). He was amazed when paid a visit to my place and saw how I was doing it all. In that period we had a good connection. But when he joined those wannabees that I've mentioned, he changed his behavior. And told openly on social media that I haven't judged livebearers internationally nor national. And that I was fake. And that I've bought mix guppies of him and that I resold them as being pure strains. And he even told people that I've died. He also sold guppies and have mentioned that I was the breeder (for he believed that people would rely on my good name). I got so mad about that. I told him to stop. He also copied parts of texts of mine and send an own created story and pasted the texts in a way that it would look bad for me to another breeder. So, I had to defend myself that it didn't come from me. That was a whole mess on social media that I had to deal with. I won't tell about all other things he did to me. Those things are unspeakable to mention. He fled from Holland to Germany because the police and tax authorities were looking for him. We've helped him, his gf and his daughter when they were so desperate. For we were looking at their young daughter. We felt sorry for them. That's why we've helped. But afterwards they've showed how ungrateful they could be. I've distant myself from them ever since. He used me to establish a big name within the endler and guppy scene. Even now, he still tries to get me out of the scene. He wanted to become the number one in Europe within the field of endlers and guppies. Also in Germany he has moved a couple of times. Simply because he set up a store while it wasn't allowed by the land lords. He has send guppies as entries to guppy shows. But I've already heard from German breeders that he uses new purchased guppies as entries. While you should enter own bred guppies instead. He doesn't realize that my German friends are keeping me posted and that they know that he's not a fair person.
But the main thing here is that he likes to be seen an absolute expert within the field of endlers and guppies, which he isn't. He's just a good example of a wannabee guru.

Btw, I myself won't call myself a livebearer guru or whatever guru. For that would be a very arrogant. It would also suggest that I know it all. But I don't know it all. Yes, I'm very experienced but also I still have got a lot to learn. There's no ending to the story of learning. That's the reality.

Sorry, for the long story. I haven't mentioned their names despite of the fact that they've used my name openly on social media. I'm the greater one to keep it decent.
 

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