Treasure Chest
AFC 2008, Laxou, France
Written by Sunday, 26 October 2008 00:00
After attending this meeting three years in a row (2003-2005) we knew this was the best cichlid meeting in Europe. We would normally not miss it for the world but October 2008 was really hectic; with George's relocation plans and the extension still half way through the possibility of us attending looked rather remote. Yet, much as we were considering missing a great opportunity to attend informative lectures and see good quality fish, we could not resist seeing our friends again. So despite a lot of difficulties and a very tight schedule, we decided to give it a try. The annual conference of the French Cichlid Association was scheduled to take place in Laxou, France, and we arranged to meet our Belgian friends (Frank, Hilde, Staf and Linda) there. The French gang, Michael Negrini, Loic de Rezollier, Federic (France) and a whole bunch of Italian cichlid lovers (Fabio, Marco, Paolo and many others) would naturally be there too, as would be Sonia Guinane and Dave Tourle, our British friends. Francesco, our Italian team mate, could not make it this time.
We would start our long trip to Laxou from Manchester, UK, cross the channel via the Euro tunnel and then drive to Nancy. This is a total of 673 miles (1.076 Km) – a really long trip. We set off from Manchester at 23:00 on Thursday night and we reached our hotel in France a little bit after 14:00 on Friday afternoon – fourteen hours in all. We decided to make the trip by car for the comfort of our fish (first things first ...). We had arranged with Michael to take with us an 2 year old pair of Paratilapia sp. "Andapa", offspring of the pair we got from Jean Claude Nourissat almost 6 years ago, as well as some young Paretroplus damii and Ptychochromis oligacanthus. We were particularly concerned about the P. '"Andapa" as, due to their considerable size, we were not confident they would travel well by air. The Ptychochromis oligacanthus would also appreciate a comfortable drive; the fish were bred and raised by our good friend Spyros Kakouris in Greece and they would be travelling from Greece to Manchester and from Manchester to France.
George and the Ptychochromis oligacanthus arrived in the UK in good health at 10 am on the Thursday. We spent the day doing water changes and taking care of the fish in Manchester and at 8pm that evening we started netting and packing the fish that were to come with us.
We used Kordon breathing bags for the transportation of the fish which proved – once again – to be a great step ahead in fish transportation. The fish arrived in Nancy (Laxou) in prime condition. At the hotel we met Sonia and Dave who had brought some Paratilapia polleni small spot "East coast" and Pt. grandindieri with them. While we were having a drink at the bar it became apparent that Laxou was not to offer the same kind of comfort we were used to in Vichy. There was some distance between the buildings reserved for the conference which meant that the fish had to be transported to the bourse by car. Sonia and Dave, who had wisely decided to arrive to Laxou a day earlier, were already familiar with the whereabouts. They set off with Marina to show her where the bourse was. Marina acclimatized the fish in the tanks reserved for them; our male P. Andapa started displaying the minute he got in the tank we had reserved for him and his partner.
It is worth mentioning a few things about our P. Andapa pair. The fish were born in Athens and moved to Manchester when they were a few days old. They paired off by choice rather than because they were the only male and female in the tank. For over a year they were always together, eating, swimming, playing even sleeping side by side. Prior to travelling we considered taking some tank furniture with us to make sure the female had a place to hide if the male decided to attack her, something quite common with cichlids of their kind. We decided against this, given that this pair were extremely good with each other. We were proven right.
After being acclimatized the female joined the male in the same tank. She swam straight to him and stayed by his side during the whole three days we were there. The fish 'run' to Marina, who has hand reared them, during our visits to the bourse to check they were all right. If ever a hobbyist is to find parting with their fish hard, these fish will be P. sp. Andapa; they become real pets and are absolute heart winners. We were sad to see them go but we knew we could not keep one more pair. We held on to them for a considerable amount of time, until an appropriate home was available for them; we wish them the very best of luck in future.
Back in the hotel we were joined by our Belgian friends for one more drink at the bar. In the evening we went to the dinner (the Belgians decided they fancied grilled duck at a nearby restaurant). The long drive has taken its toll on us so we decided to miss the paper on the "Discovery of Madagascan amphibians" by Stefane Vitzthum, scheduled for Friday night. Instead we browsed the exhibition area at the conference foyer. There was an eye catching collection of Madagascan insects which included butterflies the size of a small pizza with dazzling blue colours and beetles of giant proportions. AFC publications had a stand with some particularly interesting books, too; we planned to get some later on. Finally there were lots of 'fishy' goodies, air pumps, filters, a great selection of wood and so on. We treated ourselves to lots of little things but the big winner was Frank. He got a stunning piece of bogwood for his kitchen tank.
Loic and Michael joined us later on in the evening; shortly after we were thoroughly enjoying the famous French humour by a real performer, Loic. There were vibrant discussions everywhere on different topics related to fish keeping; we concentrated on fish compatibility given particular tank sizes and on feeding fry. We thoroughly enjoyed the debate with knowledgeable hobbyists, especially because all views were supported adequately. We did not forget to call our good friend Francesco ... who responded very politely under the circumstances.
Saturday was a busy day. In the morning session Uwe Werner shared his experience on keeping cichlids in captivity (« Morceaux choisis sur la maintenance des Cichlidés »); after lunch Siegfried Loose talked about lake Tanganyika cichlids ( « Tanganyika, les espèces, leur mode de vie et leur capture dans le lac. ». Both papers were in French, extremely well presented and informative and generated vivid discussions. Following the papers the various groups (including the Madagroup) had their annual meeting. This is an excellent idea which allows hobbyists keeping the same species of fish to meet and discuss in detail particular issues related to the fish they keep.
In the meantime Frank located a nearby park which was a natural reserve for birds. On Saturday evening we went there for a walk and a photo shooting session. The weather was ideal for this kind of activity and we got a chance not only to relax and chat to our friends but also to take some interesting photos (our other common passion) some of which we will be showcasing on line in the future.
On Saturday night there was the gala dinner. The organisers had booked the local sports hall, a really massive area, which was appropriately laid out for the occasion with extra long tables and a space for the band. The band started off with pleasant popular music; when dinner was over those so inclined found themselves on the dancing floor. There were lots of laugh, good food and plenty of alcohol in as many forms as you can imagine but, hey, we were in France. The French know how to have a good time and get everybody participate. When we say everybody, we mean it. The conference was extremely well attended,. There were more than 500 participants from all over Europe, something we rarely see in other similar events. We must confess that this time we may have crossed the line at some stage. The photos below speak for themselves. If you are wondering whether we had too much wine remember there is no such thing as too much wine, not in France. Yes, it was white wine and an excellent red wine and that green stuff followed by the amber stuff and more wine..
On Sunday morning, Uwe Werner gave another very interesting lecture on the crenicichla (« Les Crenicichla ») a special group of fish which may prove very demanding in captivity.This was followed by the event everybody was waiting for, the bourse.
The Bourse is always one of the highlights of the AFC meetings and is generally characterized by the quality and sometimes rarity of the fish which are usually on offer. The basic principle behind it is not to make money out of selling one's fish but to offer fellow hobbyists access to good quality fish at affordable prices; it is the moment the hobby moves on based on its own achievements rather than a constant reliance on fresh supplies from nature. It is also the time to meet people from different countries and have fruitful discussions with them. We were pleased to see Anton Lamboj again and catch up with him.
Our discussion with Italian hobbyists and wholesalers on the current trend in fish keeping in Italy was of particular interest to us since it largely confirmed what we heard from Katarina Verduijn in Holland as well as other LFS owners in both the UK and Greece. The latest trend is for smaller tanks with colourful community fish. This may well be the result of the increased cost of electricity (or gas) and water but could also reflect the dire economic situation which seems to affect more and more people these days. Michael told us that France is perhaps the only European country in which hobbyists having large tanks housing big fish are still not few and far between. We sincerely hope that this Europe will soon follow the French tradition in this matter; there are many interesting fish which attain a large final adult size and are worth giving a good home to.
Fish-wise, the bourse offered fish for every taste. Every time we took a walk around the tanks, George saw one more fish which he would like to take home with us. The tanks were a joy for the eyes but a torture for our hearts. Take 'that' synspilum for example. Or the bright orange A. citrinellum. Or that magnificent pair of Heros sp. Compté, the male of which you can see below.
During AFC events George's African rift lake heart misses a bit. Those T. duboisi, the Pundamilia nyererei, the beautiful A. calvus seem to be a voice from the past, demanding a tank in the future. Still, we both knew we should not take any fish back with us. We are in the middle of extending our home and we have a considerable number of big fish all waiting for their new tanks to get ready. That did not stop us taking several walks around the tanks admiring their inhabitants. We have uploaded some of the photos here for you to enjoy:
Staf and Linda beat us to the bourse. They arrived extra early and got themselves a colony of excellent Cynotilapia Afra Cobué and some Cynotilapia Galireya Reef. They kept drooling over a lot more tanks (especially one with Ophthalmotilapia ventralis).They decided they wanted to turn their hand into keeping Malagasy cichlids, so a group of F2 Paratilapia polleni small spot "East Coast" also joined their 'spoils' in the all-metal BMW to be driven in style to their final home in Belgium.
This is not to say that we left without any fish. Loic and Michael presented us with a group of Etroplus suratensis – some splendid juveniles showing an excellent colouration which won our hearts the minute we set eyes on them (we should have known better than following Loic to his room to see his fish ...). We also got six juvenile P. damii bred and reared by Michael Negrini, in exchange for six of ours. This way we would both get different bloodlines in our tanks. Finally Sonia and Dave gave us a much wanted group of young Paratilapia polleni small spot "East Coast".
As if this was not enough, we decided to buy two of the 128 L tanks available after the bourse at 30 Euro each. This seemed a very good idea at first but proved to be a problem when we tried to fit everything in our small but heroic VW Polo. This exercise is now called "inventive space utilization" - and yes, the car made it. With the tanks, the fish, the suitcases, the wood, the slate, and everything else that was in there, including both of us.
It was time to say good bye to our friends and get on our way home. The funny thing is that when the excitement is all over the trip seems to take much longer. You have memories of the nice moments, the jokes, the discussions, the fish, the overall mood. Attending this event is a must for every serious cichlid keeper – and not only. We made a rendez-vous for next year in Paris, for the AFC 2009. We hope that this time there will be nobody absent.
Photos by the authors and Frank Panis. Many thanks to Stijn van de Water and Michael Negrini for their help with the identification of some fish.
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