In April 2017 I had the opportunity to go on holiday to Bavaria, Germany. As is the case with most of my holidays, I seem to try to slip something fish keeping related into them and this was no exception. With the IRG (International Rainbowfish Group) having such a big presence in Germany, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring back some nice Rainbowfish. Point of fact, it would be a waste not to!
A few months before heading out I put a message out on the IRG forum talking about my visit and I managed to get in touch with a very helpful and knowledgeable breeder called Gunnar Loibl. Gunnar keeps and breeds a number of fish types including rainbows, rhads, blue eyes and gobies. It was my plan from the outset to get rainbowfish eggs. I was tempted to get fish, but the problem was transport. I was comfortable with bringing eggs back on the plane, but I was uncomfortable about bringing fish back this way - what if I got stopped? - It's not illegal, but airlines don't like it and quite frankly, I didn't want to get kicked off my flight. Gunnar kindly offered me eggs and told me to look through his available species on the rainbowfish breeders list. As you can imagine, this was exciting indeed and I took a few weeks deciding on what eggs I wanted. My main interest at the minute is of course rainbowfish, and more specifically, Melanotaenia, Chilatherina and Glossolepis. Whilst I have dabbled with breeding and keeping some blue eyes, they really are not my focus. Gunnar keeps a number of fantastic species (especially Melanotaenia varieties) and this made things more difficult, but that's pretty much the best kind of difficult there is! I was tempted by a number of species which I didn't go for in the end, especially the Melanotaenia boesemani "Sungai Kromsa" - I had just lost my Aitinjo boesemani a month or two before and I fancied some more boesemani. I decided against it in the end, the Kromsa being a smaller variety, and well, also because I think the Aitinjo are probably the best boesemani around. Melanotaenia duboulayi "Kangaroo Creek" were also a temptation, but unfortunately, these didn't work out. I decided in the end for the Melanotaenia lacustrus and the Melanotaenia garylangei (both F3). Pre oder done!
A few weeks later I headed out to Germany. As one might imagine, I enjoyed some beautiful German countryside, quaint old towns and cities like Bamberg, Regensberg and Nuremberg and some fantastic German beer (Winkler Brau Kupfert Special being my favorite - see right)! I really did have a fantastic time.
I had arranged to head to Gunnar's house towards the end of my trip, and thanks to the internet, we were able to liaise and shore up the last minute details. The drive there was easy enough, I had started to get used to the fact that German roads were great, even though they drive on the wrong side and there was pretty much zero speed limit on the autobahn. When I arrived I got the chance to meet Gunnar and his family and enjoy some refreshments. It can be hard to know what to expect when you meet someone for the first time, but from the outset, Gunnar was friendly, polite, humble and was enthusiastic to meet another one of the rainbowfish clan. Gunnar literally bent over backwards to help me and I have very fond memories of meeting him. We chatted for a little bit before he gave me 'the tour.' Gunnar has several display tanks set up throughout his house, one of my favourites being the six foot tank in his living room with possibly the biggest wild caught rainbowfish I had seen before (Melanotaenia rubrostriata "Dekai"). Another quite impressive tank was located in his basement, this containing some Chilatherina campsi which like slightly cooler water conditions and were housed alongside some very nice Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi. I was also quite pleased to have my mind changed by the Melanotaenia sexlineata 'Kiunga.' To be honest, these were a species I had always thought to be quite ugly, but a first glance at them in the flesh and my opinion changed. A very nice fish indeed. I wound't say I was disappointed I hadn't asked for eggs of these, but I would definitely be open to keeping these species in the future. Very nice indeed and i'm happy to have my opinion changed so drastically.
I can't quite recall how many years Gunnar has been involved in fish keeping, but I can tell you that he was bitten by the rainbowfish bug around 10 years ago. Prior to this I believe the main area of interest for him was South American Cichlids, and there is still some evidence of this with a few Apistogramma in some of his tanks. Regardless of how many years experience he has, Gunnar is obviously a dedicated fish keeper and there were certainly more than a few fish keeping trophies displayed in the fish room. I didn't count Gunnar's tanks, nor do I recall asking him how many he had I just remember that excited feeling as the door was opened to reveal a hidden fish keeping treasure room. I was mesmerised!
A few months before heading out I put a message out on the IRG forum talking about my visit and I managed to get in touch with a very helpful and knowledgeable breeder called Gunnar Loibl. Gunnar keeps and breeds a number of fish types including rainbows, rhads, blue eyes and gobies. It was my plan from the outset to get rainbowfish eggs. I was tempted to get fish, but the problem was transport. I was comfortable with bringing eggs back on the plane, but I was uncomfortable about bringing fish back this way - what if I got stopped? - It's not illegal, but airlines don't like it and quite frankly, I didn't want to get kicked off my flight. Gunnar kindly offered me eggs and told me to look through his available species on the rainbowfish breeders list. As you can imagine, this was exciting indeed and I took a few weeks deciding on what eggs I wanted. My main interest at the minute is of course rainbowfish, and more specifically, Melanotaenia, Chilatherina and Glossolepis. Whilst I have dabbled with breeding and keeping some blue eyes, they really are not my focus. Gunnar keeps a number of fantastic species (especially Melanotaenia varieties) and this made things more difficult, but that's pretty much the best kind of difficult there is! I was tempted by a number of species which I didn't go for in the end, especially the Melanotaenia boesemani "Sungai Kromsa" - I had just lost my Aitinjo boesemani a month or two before and I fancied some more boesemani. I decided against it in the end, the Kromsa being a smaller variety, and well, also because I think the Aitinjo are probably the best boesemani around. Melanotaenia duboulayi "Kangaroo Creek" were also a temptation, but unfortunately, these didn't work out. I decided in the end for the Melanotaenia lacustrus and the Melanotaenia garylangei (both F3). Pre oder done!
A few weeks later I headed out to Germany. As one might imagine, I enjoyed some beautiful German countryside, quaint old towns and cities like Bamberg, Regensberg and Nuremberg and some fantastic German beer (Winkler Brau Kupfert Special being my favorite - see right)! I really did have a fantastic time.
I had arranged to head to Gunnar's house towards the end of my trip, and thanks to the internet, we were able to liaise and shore up the last minute details. The drive there was easy enough, I had started to get used to the fact that German roads were great, even though they drive on the wrong side and there was pretty much zero speed limit on the autobahn. When I arrived I got the chance to meet Gunnar and his family and enjoy some refreshments. It can be hard to know what to expect when you meet someone for the first time, but from the outset, Gunnar was friendly, polite, humble and was enthusiastic to meet another one of the rainbowfish clan. Gunnar literally bent over backwards to help me and I have very fond memories of meeting him. We chatted for a little bit before he gave me 'the tour.' Gunnar has several display tanks set up throughout his house, one of my favourites being the six foot tank in his living room with possibly the biggest wild caught rainbowfish I had seen before (Melanotaenia rubrostriata "Dekai"). Another quite impressive tank was located in his basement, this containing some Chilatherina campsi which like slightly cooler water conditions and were housed alongside some very nice Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi. I was also quite pleased to have my mind changed by the Melanotaenia sexlineata 'Kiunga.' To be honest, these were a species I had always thought to be quite ugly, but a first glance at them in the flesh and my opinion changed. A very nice fish indeed. I wound't say I was disappointed I hadn't asked for eggs of these, but I would definitely be open to keeping these species in the future. Very nice indeed and i'm happy to have my opinion changed so drastically.
I can't quite recall how many years Gunnar has been involved in fish keeping, but I can tell you that he was bitten by the rainbowfish bug around 10 years ago. Prior to this I believe the main area of interest for him was South American Cichlids, and there is still some evidence of this with a few Apistogramma in some of his tanks. Regardless of how many years experience he has, Gunnar is obviously a dedicated fish keeper and there were certainly more than a few fish keeping trophies displayed in the fish room. I didn't count Gunnar's tanks, nor do I recall asking him how many he had I just remember that excited feeling as the door was opened to reveal a hidden fish keeping treasure room. I was mesmerised!
From what I recall, Gunnar primarily kept gobies in the smaller tanks in the bottom row
It always fun getting to look through someone else's fish house. There was no small amount of things to see and I really enjoyed the fact that there was space available. Plenty of room for people to pass one another without the need to shuffle sideways. As you can imagine I took some time walking up and down the line. There were lots of wonderful fish, and perhaps a larger variety of gobies here than I have witnessed anywhere before. The tanks were filled with hundreds / thousands of fry and young fish of various ages, lacustrus, boesemani, rubrivittata to name but a few.
It always fun getting to look through someone else's fish house. There was no small amount of things to see and I really enjoyed the fact that there was space available. Plenty of room for people to pass one another without the need to shuffle sideways. As you can imagine I took some time walking up and down the line. There were lots of wonderful fish, and perhaps a larger variety of gobies here than I have witnessed anywhere before. The tanks were filled with hundreds / thousands of fry and young fish of various ages, lacustrus, boesemani, rubrivittata to name but a few.
I know some fish keepers feel that the fish house is only for working in. I know they likely have their reasons for this, but I'm with Gunnar here. You need a space to sit down and relax, enjoy a beverage and have fun observing whatever is going on.
Every good fish house needs a workstation and Gunnar's fish room is no exception. It just makes life so much easier. As if that wasn't enough, Gunnar also makes time to culture a lot of his own food. There are lots of tubs of various worms, vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp to mention but a few.
Another detail I quite like, and you can just about see it to the far right in this photo is the hot water tank. I know that my own hot water tank seems to give off an obscene amount of heat that is just wasted. Having it located in the fish room just seemed like such a great idea to me. Rather than being wasted, it contributes to the heat of the room and helps reduce heating bills.
As I'm sure you can all see, I had a very enjoyable time meeting Gunnar, a fellow rainbowfish hobbyist. He packed up my mops of eggs (each laden with what seemed like hundreds of eggs) into bags with a little water and lots of air. I then placed these into a polystyrene box with a heat pack ready for transport home. I'll do another write up in the future about egg transport, but for now, I'll sign off with a video of how the little rainbows that hatched from these eggs are getting on - very successfully I might add. Please excuse the shaky filming!
As I'm sure you can all see, I had a very enjoyable time meeting Gunnar, a fellow rainbowfish hobbyist. He packed up my mops of eggs (each laden with what seemed like hundreds of eggs) into bags with a little water and lots of air. I then placed these into a polystyrene box with a heat pack ready for transport home. I'll do another write up in the future about egg transport, but for now, I'll sign off with a video of how the little rainbows that hatched from these eggs are getting on - very successfully I might add. Please excuse the shaky filming!
Further Reading
Gunnar also spends a little time writing and presenting on various aspects of his hobby. See below is a link to one of the English articles Gunnar has written for the IRG magazine 'Regenbogenfisch'
http://www.irg-online.de/media/rfe/Regenbogenfisch_2016-1_pp15-20_Loibl_Tateurndina_ocellicauda_and_Mogurnda_cingulata.pdf
Gunnar also spends a little time writing and presenting on various aspects of his hobby. See below is a link to one of the English articles Gunnar has written for the IRG magazine 'Regenbogenfisch'
http://www.irg-online.de/media/rfe/Regenbogenfisch_2016-1_pp15-20_Loibl_Tateurndina_ocellicauda_and_Mogurnda_cingulata.pdf