Generally speaking: There was no problem in Britain as Paro’s are concerned as long as Allan Brown was active as one of the best breeders of these fish ever. Every year he bred many species and variants with great success and brought all of them to the continent. But about three years ago he quit all his fishkeeping, and now Britain is a “distressed area” in this respect. It’s a pity!
Its such a shame that myself and Andy (and no doubt others) have missed Allan and his Paro’s, it sounds like he really was someone I would love to meet and hear about his experiences with Paro’s and learn some of the “tricks of the trade” that obviously made him so successful, there is no doubt that an awful lot of hard work went into his endeavours.
But let me remind you of an important date: next autumn, 2013 (!), 28./29th September, we will organize in Hamburg the first international meeting of the Parosphromenus-Project (with lectures by M. Hallmann, H. Linke and others, simultaneously translated). Maybe, some American or Asian visitors will come, too; I shall ask Olivier Perrin from Paris to talk to us and so on. And there will be at least ten species available in greater numbers (among them two forms of nagyi, of linkei, filamentosus, quindecim, spec. Langgam, harvey, possibly parvulus, ornaticauda, and others). We would be very glad if some visitors from Britain would come and take many of these fish back home for their friends.
That is quite some time away but is something I would really like to attend if funds and work commitments permit, particularly if some other UK people would accompany me.
Regards
Paul