Hello

[Bill Little]

Hello everyone –
as I assume the responsibility as the moderator for the American forum of the Parosphromenus Project I thought it appropriate I introduce myself. I currently live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I spent close to 25 years as a member of the United States Air Force followed by a second career operating a small information technology company providing support too small to medium sized law firms in the local area. I am now retired, retired.
Early in my career I raised and breed the gamut of fish in a number of locations in the U.S. and overseas. I collected bettas from the klong of northern Thailand while stationed there and when stationed in Japan I focused on goldfish and koi. I have belonged to fish clubs in Omaha Nebraska, MASI in St. Louis and PVAS in Northern Virginia. I worked on an early ACA convention in St. Louis. As increasing career responsibilities multiplied I took a breather from the hobby for a number of years. After retiring in a Tampa suburban community I returned to the hobby. I am currently President of the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society (TBAS) and a board member of the American Labyrinth Fish Association (ALFA). While I have a couple of community aquariums my main interest is in labyrinth fish with specific interest in the Licorice Gourami species.
In assuming responsibility for the American forum of the P-P I would like to encourage greater use of this forum particularly by hobbyist from North America. While the focus and interest on the Parosphromenus species has been centered in Europe we have seen increasing interest in these species on this side of the Atlantic particularly in the past year or so. We have a small cadre of people who belong to the P-P but I believe there are even larger numbers who regularly visit the site but do not sign up as a member. There are a number of us who regularly participate on the main page but totally neglect the American Forum – I am guilty of this I must admit.
Some of you have communicated with me when I handled the distribution of Peter’s little green booklet on Licorice Gouramis over the past several months and I welcomed the communication. Many of you commented that you wished you could acquire various Licorice Gourami species but were unable to find them and when you did there were not in very good health. Fortunately, some of these issues are beginning to change and several of the species are becoming available in limited numbers. I have also found that some of you are currently maintaining these fish in small private collections. In the coming months I would like to explore avenues for increasing re-distribution of some of these species. As individuals become successful in breeding these beautiful creatures, perhaps we can get them to share their fruits with other hobbyist. This is what the hobby is all about – right? All this begins with communication … I encourage you all to post questions and information that you have found of interest in your efforts to maintain these species. Softwater and low pH, I am sure will become a topic of continuing discussion.
That’s it for now … I hope to see increased communication among our members in the coming weeks. One final request … the world-wide Paro census is currently being conducted by the Project. We have not had great participation from the North American community in the past. Please take a moment and complete the census information and send it in. Specific directions can be found on the top bar of the forum page. Let us begin the discussion …
Bill Little

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