Look What I Found

[gwand]

I was doing some research on Apistogramma cacatuoides on the American Cichlid Association site and I came across two references.

Elson, Gary. 1998. "The search for the true Ratpunk — Keeping Apistogramma dwarf cichlids in the home aquarium". Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine. 46(8):156-162 (crc07152)

Elson, Gary. 1999. "The Beast Of Both Worlds Apistogramma cacatuoides". Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine. 47(12):140-144 (crc05997)

Do have reprints Gary?

 

[GaryE]

Wow. Oldies. I'm not sure if they were goodies.

I have a thing about the books and articles I wrote. I have never read them. Once I sell it, it's gone. Otherwise, I'm a harsh editor and spend all my time criticizing my phrasing. You know that sentence in paragraph 17? Awkward. It's awkward. I'm like that with my work.
Over about 8 years of TFH, there must have been 20 to 30 Apistogramma articles published. They were very popular fish back then.

The one article where I can say I made a classification mistake was that 'ratpunk' one. It was a new, undescribed fish and I guessed wrong for where it would fit with related species. It figures that would show up.

I have a row or two of TFHs in my bookshelf. That was just before digital copies were being made, and when paper was still the medium. Drop by for a coffee and we'll dust them off.

 

[MaloK]

It seems that TFH magazine does not got back that far on their web site and even a digital version is not available.

 

[GaryE]

It seems a lot of fish related media from about 2000 to 2005 has entered a dead zone. It was pre-digital by a hair - not old enough to be seen as archival but old enough not to be digitized. Add to that the carnage in magazine world when everything became free (ie, authors stopped being paid) and there wasn't any incentive to digitize. Aquarium Fish Magazine (owned by Vogue) and Freshwater and Marine Aquarist both went under, and TFH and English Amazonas survived by the skin of their teeth.
TFh had a circulation between 40,000 and 60,000, which wasn't bad. But it stopped dead over very little time.
I don't know if any magazines are profitable enough to pay someone to digitize back issues.

I used to teach a University morning class, then another in the evening with no time to really do anything at home in between. One of the things that made me realize I could do that writing was the biology library, which somehow had about 25 years of TFH magazines sitting in the stacks. I'd read them on my 3 hour break, and they were a wealth of information. Fantastic stuff, from 1970 to 1995.

In many ways, we have lost unbelievable amounts of information. It's fashionable to say things are outdated, but breeding reports, and hands on experience info doesn't change. Info's built on info, and we allowed our aquarium civilization to go full Atlantis - lost beneath the waves. I just read an online article that authoritatively stated 'facts' disproved 30 years ago. In probably 700 words, it had two major errors in it, disproved by serious hobbyists in the print era. It's like we're starting all over again in many ways.

 

[Colin_T]

I used to collect TFH and other fish magazines but stopped getting TFH in the mid 90s. There were too many adds and not enough articles to warrant spending $20.00 on the magazine (it's retail price here). After that most shops stopped carrying the magazine and either dropped fish magazines altogether, or had a few of the cheaper ones. Practical fishkeeper, Coral Life and a few other magazines were half the price and had a lot more articles and a lot less adds.

I contacted TFH years ago trying to get back issues in digital but it wasn't going to happen. I couldn't buy back issues in paper form or in digital format so haven't bothered with them since.

I think if companies have books, magazines and documents, they should be digitized and if suitable, made available to the general public, even if it's through a subscription.
eg: Buy a 12 month subscription with TFH and get access to the older issues in digital format.

There's a lot of really good information in old books and magazines but it's a matter of finding them and getting them put on a hard-drive. Prior to 2016 I had TFH magazines dating back to the late 60s and FAMA magazines going back to when they first came out. Most in mint condition and all could have been scanned into a computer. Unfortunately, due to an incompetent judicial system, a psychopathic sister and a drug dealing cop, I no longer have them.

Maybe this forum could set up a storage base for digitized copies of fish magazines and articles. People could scan in old books and mags and save them as PDF documents and a copy could live here.

 

[GaryE]

Copyright is a big problem. TFH bought the rights forever, and while they can't digitize, I don't know if they'd appreciate others storing their stuff.
A few years ago I joined ANGFA in Australia because that would permit me to download their excellent journals. I learned so much about Australian fish, and to a degree, Australian fishkeepers. There were some real personalities writing for that magazine, and a real valuable looking social dynamic happening. In music terms, they had a scene going on.

I like aquarium writers who show some of themselves - their motivations and their passion for what they enjoy. The science is important, and underpins it all. But the human reaction to the science rarely shows in our terse little online messages. When you have to sit down and craft 1500 words in a way that you think will entertain and inform readers, you can't help but show your human side. There are aquarium writers I feel I know, even if they died before I was born, or before I was aware of their existence.