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And now a BLA auction across the Big Pond!
By unclescott from the in the swim department, Section Diaries Posted on Fri Feb 15, 2008 at 08:19:30 PM PST

While scouring the Net on another project, I touched on one of Tim Addis' UK sites. (He also has an interesting series of images on building his 5th fishroom.) His work on-line illustrates a much closer organizational cooperation between the British Killifish Association and BLA - the British Livebearer Association than exists between their US counterparts. Because the national UK guppy organization ceased to be a decade or two ago, guppy people may especially need the BLA as a national hobbyist organization they can work though and with.

In about a month the British Livebearer Association (BLA - what initials!) is having their spring auction.
16th March 2008
20 STEPHENSON WAY,
CORBY,
NORTHANTS

While typing that into Google Maps and tagging on UK to the end of that address, one discovers that that location is in Northamptonshire NN17, UK. Ah-ha! A place this ignorant soul has heard of! And not surprisingly it is pretty centrally located on the island. That event is about two hours from London, an hour and a quarter from Birmingham, close to three hours from Liverpool or Manchester, Southampton, or Bristol. It is almost four hours from Swansea in Wales and a whopping six hours from Edinburgh, well into Scotland. The latter of those last two trips would be about from my house to Cleveland, the Swansea trip would be analogous to driving to St Louis.

No wonder they can more successfully have national events in the UK! Some people would have to book a room for a night, but the weekend would be sufficient to get from one end of the country to the middle and back. (I keep thinking of the 22-24 hour round trip from here to the AKA national in Syracuse, the 29 or 30 hour round trip to the NANFA national this side of Dallas, or the 37-38 hour round trip to the ALA convention in San Antonio, TX.

The IFGA national will be less than an hour away from us. But it is about 28 hrs round trip from New York, 42-44 hours round trip from Miami or 60-62 hour drive from San Diego.

Obviously many Americans would have to fly to some of those events. But then they have to contend with packing their fish in their luggage or express mailing them ahead of time.

At any rate, here is the info on the British livebearer affair.
http://www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk/auctions.htm

Notice how the bags of fish are going to be displayed to comply with laws compelling humane care of the fishes. If 15% of the sale goes to the host organization, then the seller does very well indeed with 85%.

The BLA and BKA also co-host an annual charity auction. What a neat idea and what a wonderful assortment of fish will be there!

Sunday 3rd June 2007
10th Anniversary - Midland Charity Auction

All sorts of fish. Sponsored by the BKA (British Killifish Association) and BLA (British Livebearer Association) but galaxy Rasboras (Danios this week), dwarf cichlids, wild Bettas, rainbowfish, undescribed species, wonderful selections of fancy guppies and wild livebearers, live foods and who knows what else will be featured.

http://www.killifish.f9.co.uk/Killifish/Killifish%20Website/Midland_Auction_2007.htm

A couple of times we’ve gone looking for Scottish and UK aquarium societies. There isn’t time to do this at the moment, but if you are interested here are some previous GL discussions and there are a bunch of URLs to be followed up upon.

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2006/1/17/7560/92050

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2005/12/12/175714/23

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2005/6/28/112652/993
This was a 2005 UK show list. Many of these probably repeat at roughly the same time.

It would be neat hearing about guppy related events elsewhere. If you know of something, please let us know.

And now, let's see how possible it would be to go collecting Endler's livebearers in Venezuela or guppies in Trinidad. Yep Google maps show those places, though not in great detail. We'd better win the Publisher's Sweepstake for that one. ;)

< We get mail - auctions and shows | My Pennsylvania Beast. >

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And now a BLA auction across the Big Pond! | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

Re: And now a BLA auction across the Big Pond! (none / 0) (#3)
by MollieGuppy on Sat Feb 16, 2008 at 03:23:51 PM PST

Okay so i failed geography, Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center at Texas State University, Thats where duncan got his swordtail stock from ;D

Nah, that's not a geography error. He probably (none / 0) (#4)
by unclescott on Sun Feb 17, 2008 at 12:25:06 PM PST

collected in Mexico and Central America and stopped at the Xiphophorus stock center on the way home. I wouldn't want to take Xiphophorus with me into those countries to the south both because it would be harder on the fish to do the extra traveling and also because local authorities would very correctly wonder what the heck he was bringing those fish into their country for and where might he dump them, to the detriment of the local species. I don't think that he would do that, but "they" would be very correct to ask questions and maybe even seize and destroy the fish.

There are also facilities in Mexico caring for endangered and extinct Mexican fishes. You may have noticed that the Xiphophorus center will sell excess stock as a fund raiser (they also are looking for charitable contributions to an endowment fund). The Mexican fishes that are in trouble may have endangered or at risk status in the country, but they are not on the cities list (of the animals and animal products prohibited in international trade by treaty), so my GUESS is that if the authorities at one of those facilities had extra youngsters of a stock, they could issue papers allowing those specimens to be taken out of the country. So long as that is up front and payment/ a contribution is recorded in the accounts of that group, I wouldn't think that that would be illegal. And the facility might receive some very needed funds in exchange for fry they didn't have room for anyway.

They wouldn't do it for me if as a tourist, I just showed up and made inquiries. However if the person was a well known researcher or collector who contacted them ahead of time and negotiate the exchange, the response might be different.

But don't take my word for it. If you get a chance, ask Duncan what he did (although that may come up in the talk). Also one could e-mail or write those facilities.

[ Parent ]

Re: And now a BLA auction across the Big Pond! (none / 1) (#1)
by MollieGuppy on Sat Feb 16, 2008 at 04:33:06 AM PST

Hey Scott, Thanks for the heads up about Your latest diary entry, So here is my take.

I fully agree with what your saying about the central, If the UK was square position that it takes. The BLA are very clever at doing this and also have another trick up their sleeves if you cannot attend. Usually there are several people who will put there hands up and publish the driving routes to the actual auction, and will pick up others who would like to go on the way. This enables alot more people to come, last year they even had an offer with a nearby hotel for cheap rooms for the night.

Last year i wasn't able to attend as it landed on mothers day as i remember, If not it was her birthday, At this year it conveniently lands on my birthday. Theres no other way to describe the BLA auctions as a complete Library full of fish, Normally every livebearer and more you can see in a book, is there right in front of you. Yes you may not have heard of that little known cross that was going on across country to make the longest long fin swords you have ever seen, But here it is right in front of you. Duncan, Who will be taking the lecture is a very genuine, Knowledgeable man who is our British equivalent of unclescott here.

Overall the BLA is a very enjoyable experience and definitely worth anyones time in the UK, As you know there are very little if any shops that take so much care in presenting quality strains and quality fish. Most of these here especially Duncan are obtained from other organisations like the swordtail bank in Mexico he visited a couple of years back.

I would recommend it to anyone as would i a local fish group, Just like the Robin Hood Aquarists we have near us, Now guess where we are. I know some of you Americans think that Sherwood forest and Nottingham, Isnt real. But believe me we exist :-).

Although you say many of those will repeat, UK Fish keepers are predicting even bigger number of groups, organisations and a complete overhaul of how fish auctions are run, We are meant to have big plans for 08/09 But we will see if they come into effect.

All the best
MollieGuppy

Unless I can share a ride with a couple livebearer (none / 0) (#2)
by unclescott on Sat Feb 16, 2008 at 08:13:28 AM PST

people or con (er, persuade) my bride into swapping times shares for one near there, the ALA convention in San Antonio Texas May 1-4, 2008 is out of the question. Sigh!

In addition to the great speakers, fish show and auction, they will offer two fantastic collecting trips (Coleto Creek and San Marcos River) which feature wild mollies, cichlids, killies, rare Gambusia, and aquatic plants. There will also be tours of Charles' Clapsaddle's fish hatchery, as well as the Xiphophorus Genetic Stock Center at Texas State University. And I'll bet one can buy stuff from them!

http://www.goliadfarms.com/pages/about/main.htm
http://www.xiphophorus.org/xgsc.htm

Heck, could probably catch colorful 4.5"/11.4 cm latipinna mollies on the Riverwalk, if we don't turn our ankles on the plecos or trip on the exotic cichlids. Do have a nice dip net, which packs pretty well...

ALA Convention info:
http://hla.fotaswebsite.com./SanAntonioWinsConvention.htm
http://ala2008.info/

I've even heard of Robin Hood Aquarists. Prolly just an ad in Practical Fishkeeping though. ;)

As for Duncan, they probably wouldn't let me be a bearer on the collecting trip. Some of us are talkers and some are doers. ;)

Sharing rides, as I am doing to Syracuse, is a pretty common strategy here too. And the conversation is usually terrific. We've planned to stop at a great shop in the Buffalo area (North Tonawanda) on the way. The driver actually wants to get there a day early (Thursday) so that we can rest up (recover) from the drive, maybe help set up (my idea of being a good guest) and bum around.

This next weekend in Elkhart, I'm riding with one buddy in a pick-up truck of fish room gear (his) for the auction. With the addition of a rented cot (mine) we'll share a hotel room with an additional friend. Someone could probably film Grumpy Old Men III.

I'm really glad for the ALA, the Houston Livebearer group and aquarists in that area that the ALA is having a convention there. It is hard for national clubs to develop a genuinely national pattern of conventions sometimes. The ALA has really been pursuing that goal lately. My one regret is that New Guppy Mamma's family moved a year before all of this neat stuff (NANFA too) takes place in the Lone Star State.

Ah, we recently renewed the Chicago Killifish Associations Import/Export license. (While I was speaking in Phoenix last year, the CKA had a meeting, looked around the room and asked, "Who's crazy enough to thunder up the Interstate to O'Hare International at any hour of the day and pick up fish?" So they voted to put my name on the application.) If I ever flew to the BLA event, I'd just ante up the $50 inspection fee, arrange ahead of time for a visit with F&WL and bring the livebearers and whatever in as a commercial shipment. Technically more than 7 fish is a commercial shipment. (That of course is if the UK allows hobbyists to take animals out of the country and if I had the means to fly. My arms might get awfully tired.)

Ah! Fish lust!

They seem to have recently busted a killie guy for bringing in a dozen killie eggs. That'll teach them to be honest and mark fish eggs on the package. The authorities counted each egg as a fish and levied a $300 fine on him for exceeding 7. And your name gets into the Federal computers as a scoff-law. Maybe one gets to be a favorite of Homeland Security. I know that hobbyists play games sometimes, but that is really unfair. Generally a dozen eggs sells for less than a pair of fish, which will provide lots of eggs or live fry in a matter of days to a couple of weeks. Next thing you know they will be x-raying livebearers and charging for unborn young. :(

Had an interesting conversation a while back with a F&WL agent from their New York office. To them, a usual commercial shipment of fish is several skids, rolled out of an airplane, packed high with fish boxes. Then that inspection fee makes more sense.

If you get to one of those BLA events (perhaps as a birthday present? Not that I want to cause trouble for you) would you give us the low-down on the festivities?

Thanks and all the best!

[ Parent ]

And now a BLA auction across the Big Pond! | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

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