The only really yellow Trifasciata that I recall from the poster is of the
fish from Pappan Creek near Weipa and they were my fish that I personally
caught from the wild and handed to Gunther Schmida to photograph. They only
look that intensively yellow when displaying. However to me the shape is
wrong for a "herbie" but I haven't kept many PNG species for years and I
have not seen one that immediately grabs me and says " I am a Herbie" for
years.
<snip>
gl - I was combining two thoughts into one trailer, that concerning mixups and
potential mixups. I'm not sure by your comments but never meant that your fish
were mixups with the herbies. BTW Bruce what is your comment on the RML pic
listed as a Herbie?? To me it says "I am a Tri" :-)
BTW J. Allen has some pretty nice stock from his original strain of Herbies so
maybe someone out in the west can pick some up to introduce at the next ANGFA
convention.
Since Chris Drew said that he talked to you about this before I was hoping that
you would immediately remember the article I was talking about. So...
When I got home this evening I went through my fishes of Sahul (FOS) and looked
up the article I was referring to. It was a pretty good one which managed to
increase the legend of Adrian Dawson's snoring and also narrated the adventures
of the Hibiscus Kid (no mention of a weipa woman though). Vol 8 #1 (Aug 1993).
On page 345 is an inset of a fish labeled M. trifasciata (a very yellow
trifasciata) by N. Armstrong as well as a photo of a gudgeon (O. nullipora).
Then the caption for the stream picture, into which the fish were inset says
"...there was the stream meandering amongst straggly rainforest palms... the
fish were magnificent...the most beautiful Trifasciatas I have ever seen from
Queensland...huge colourful Mogurndas...Running Creek." -photo by author.
For the longest time I had assumed, as well as many other people that the Tri
displayed there was a Running Creek Tri. Not too long ago Chris Drew said that
he called you and that that fish indeed wasn't a Running creek but rather a Tri
from Pappin Creek. That creek was also mentioned in the article and the fish
certainly matched the description much better but you could see how it would be
possible for someone to come to that mis-conclusion. It was only until after I
saw the trifasciata poster when I thought something was wrong. It appeared to
me that the "running creek tri of pg 345" was now listed as Pappin creek, a
wonderful yellow fish photo of G. Schmida.
After that being said, and looking back at photos (really just attempts to
capture that color) displayed in FOS (see also FOS Vol9 #3 oct 1995 & vol 10#3
Oct 1996) vs the posters & other photos it really is important that the
providers of these Tris make sure that they keep their fishes separated and
their stock well marked as you can't always use the photos as an absolute ID.
A couple of goofs and we could end up with the Goyder/Giddy crosses all over
again.
Gary Lange
Rainbowfish Study Group