From the photo, I would say that these fish are far more likely to be like the Heterandria anzuetoi and jonesi than Heterandria formosa.

If I am right, they require very different condition to formosa. They are quite pugnacious and would not fare well in a 20 litre tank. Most likely needing a tank 200 1itre.

Nice looking fish though.

I would like to create an online resource for Editors, but one step at a time.

I am happy to help you with a picture or two if you have any particular requirements.

At the moment the system is very informal and is currently just in trial, but is something like this.

1./ Each editor deposits their magazine in draft form as soon as possible before it is published.

2./ If any article is of interest then the receiving Editor will contact the donating Editor for permission to publish.

3./ The donating Editor gets the required permissions and sets the requirements for publishing an article (i.e. credit being given to the donating group / author, the provision of a number of copies of the magazine and the date from when the article can be published).

4./ The donating Editor provides the article in electronic form (article and photographs).

5./ The receiving Editor translates the article etc and complies with the requirements for publishing.

My opinion of the system is that it works well and I believe that this system could be the saviour of the international magazines.

As a volunteer Editor, it is such hard work to get submissions and after a while you just get ground down by all of the complaints and give up (I went through this stage between January and June 2010).

If we can get a ready supply of fresh articles then the Editors job becomes easier and more tolerable.

A 'take one / leave one' policy might be a good idea, but I know from my own experience that it kind of ebbs and flows. Every now and then you get inundated with articles and then they dry up. Some days you are keen and other days you just wish you had never taken the role on. A 'take one / leave one' policy would not aid this process and an 'honesty box' system seems to make more sense to me.

By the way, the ALA are already involved in this. The BLA have just published an article on the ALA Convention that featured in your magazine and the ALA have just published an article on a trip to Guatemala that featured in the BLA magazine.

Your committee / management team work very hard (on a voluntary basis) to give you guys value for money, just like every committee around the world, often in ways that none of us know about.

That is why I felt that I had to step into this thread.

Hi Melody,

Thanks for picking up on the positive aspects of this thread. From my perspective, it is something that works really well. I try and publish 80-90% new articles in the BLA magazine and, as far as I am concerned translated articles are new (although that is a slightly self serving definition).

I have been able to get the French and German groups to participate and have a special on Micropoecilia in the next edition which is around 35 pages and covers all aspects of Micropoeclia. It has been translated from German.

Joel,

What is driving all of this mate? It seems to me that all you are doing is offending those of us who actually intend to participate by writing articles.

Do try and bear in mind that you are posting on the American Livebearer Association's official forum and therefore your comments acquire weight and will be hitherto read by newbies wanting to know about the ALA.

It does seem to me that you have a peculiarly forthright way of not participating, but it takes all sorts and you are more than entitled to your opinion.

I am not a moderator, but in light of the way this thread appears to be descending into vitriol, can I suggest we draw a line under it now before we do lasting damage.

Very well put guys. I am the Editor of the British version of the Livebearer Magazine and 3 years and 12 magazines in, I have to say that it is an immensely frustrating and rewarding experience.

There are so many reasons that I have heard of not writing an article, but I believe those of us who are experienced have a duty to promote the keeping of livebearers to the best of our ability.

Many experienced fishkeepers do not write articles because they fret about how they will be perceived by their peers, but I always try and write my articles for the benefit of newbies, I hope that experienced fishkeepers get something from them too but that is not the be all and end all.

I have tried many approaches to getting input and I can vouch that 'vinegar' is the surest way to not get articles. Honey works sometimes, but procrastination and indecision is a constant enemy.

I am pushing for a worldwide article pool for the benefit of all clubs and it is starting to bear fruit in Europe with a large part of my next magazine being filled with newly translated foreign articles.

Some of the articles that have featured in the BLA magazine have made it into the ALA magazine and many ALA members have provided articles to me, but have not provided articles to the ALA. I have been unable to fathom why.

In fact, I have found that you guys are good at providing articles, you all wait to be asked, but when asked I find you all only too willing to provide input.

From an Editors point of view, I have a little trouble getting large 8-16 page articles for the magazine but I always struggle with getting the 1-2 page articles and if I could get 6 coffee break articles per magazine (24 per year) then my life would be made so much easier.

Quite a soapbox guys. I don't actually believe you Joel, I don't believe that you believe what you have written (I have seen your website after all and much of your site would make a good article).

If you are truly not interested, then don't write any articles but it is a bit of a shame that you would let all your experience go to waste.

It is fairly easy to write articles. There are loads of reasons not to write some, but everybody has something to contribute and starting to write an article is always the hardest.

Do not use salt in tanks with swordtails. It is definitely not necessary.

Amen to that.

I would suggest Ataeniobus toweri. They are one of the few warmer water Goodeids.