OK.
So I guess I should introduce myself! :-)
My name is Ron West. I live in Florida, for seventeen years, but am
originally from Ohio. Married, two daughters, and only a few fish right
now. :-(
I have kept fish for 35 years. Cichlids were my first love,
followed by killies (not instead of, but in addition to :-)), and more
recently (once =real= ones became available), rainbows. Of course, over the
years a lot of other types of fish have jumped in there, too. (Funny thing.
They =always= seemed to be an interest "in addition to" rather than
"instead of" the fishes in which I had already taken an interest.)
I dabbled in the tropical fish industry for several years. Well, maybe more
than just dabbled. I managed a fish farm for a few years, and was partners
in a hatchery for a couple more. (We were producing African and Neotropical
cichlids, killies, and were just beginning to work with (pure!)
rainbowfish.) Unfortunately I'm not currently in the industry :-( and have
rather lost touch, but maybe, someday....
I'm not currently maintaining any rainbows :-(( But when I had them,
among
my faves were Goyder River tri's, lacustris, and sentaniensis. I also bred
Peacock gudgeons, and one other fish I'm still kicking myself for not
maintaining personally: Badis badis bermanicus. (So-o-o much nicer than
Badis badis badis! And the only time I have ever even =seen= the fish.)
These are all "gotta have's" someday in the future.
Anyway, I have been enjoying the list, and though I usually will probably
be content to remain a lurker, partly due to time constraints, I do have my
own special list of pet peeves and soap box topics that will probably come
up (and motivate me to insert my $0.02 worth) in the future.
Ron West
nfn09322 at naples.net