Amphilophus margaritifer

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Donald Conkel;2678347; said:
Greetings,
As you can see by my username this is "Donald Conkel". Unfortunately, some people have been posting comments and suggestions they don't have complete knowledge of. I will be posting documentation from Dr. Miller refuting said comments. I will gladly respond to any questions anyone has regarding any of my fishes upon being contacted.
Don Conkel
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Terrific!

If you can verify your identity, I think this would be a great place to clear the air and get things back on track to everyone's benefit.

Perhaps if you identified the retailer in Virginia Beach with whom you do business I would be able to verify your identity.
 
cchhcc;2678401; said:
Terrific!

If you can verify your identity, I think this would be a great place to clear the air and get things back on track to everyone's benefit.

Perhaps if you identified the retailer in Virginia Beach with whom you do business I would be able to verify your identity.
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Good point chc.
 
Very interesting and educational thread. I doubt we will ever know what is up for sure though. It's been too long and there's too many conflicting stories.
 
cchhcc;2678401; said:
Terrific!

If you can verify your identity, I think this would be a great place to clear the air and get things back on track to everyone's benefit.

Perhaps if you identified the retailer in Virginia Beach with whom you do business I would be able to verify your identity.
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It is very difficult to prove my identity on this forum, but if you wish to contact me personally at the telephone number provided on my website, I would gladly verify. In regards to a retailer or hobbyist in Virgina Beach, I do not sell to one. The last person that I delt with in Virgina was Ed Taylor more than 10 years ago.
 
balton777;2678391; said:
Mr. Conkel, would you kindly give us some info and background on this fish? Where it's from, how abundant they are, why they're not seen in the hobby and why Miller was allegedly pissed off that you published this fish. Thank you for your time and effort to come here to MFK.
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Donald Conkel;2678553; said:
It is very difficult to prove my identity on this forum, but if you wish to contact me personally at the telephone number provided on my website, I would gladly verify. In regards to a retailer or hobbyist in Virgina Beach, I do not sell to one. The last person that I delt with in Virgina was Ed Taylor more than 10 years ago.
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So you're unwilling to give us any info?
 
I'm pretty sure this is Don, since Dr. Miller has passed away we can't verify how he felt. I know Rusty extrememly well and he has no reason to not be telling the truth. Miller named a fish after him in is honor (Theraps wesseli) I do not think he named anything after Conkel, even though there is a fish in the trade with his name. Who started this name I do not know. I've never met Don, nor been to his farm. I do know a lot of people who swear by his fish as being great, I'm sure he produces some fine fish. I also have seen numerous threads here and on cichlidae.com questioning fish that supposedly came from him that were not the species they were sold as.
I also know he has been on many more collecting trips than I have and introduced numerous species to the hobby that we would not have if he had not done this. I give him great repect for what he has done over the years. Had I caught this fish I would also be calling it margaritiferum, I wish it had been viable and he had produced it in mass and this would not be in question.
Don were any samples made for DNA collection for comparision to the Holotype? I would think if Dr. Loiselle were present when the fish was originally collected and if it was suspected to be a very rare species such efforts would have been made to verify it's existance.
Ken
 
Ken Davis,
We collected the fish in question as juveniles (2"+) amongst 400-500 other extracted fishes. We did not know exactly what we had at the time of capture. We shipped them back to Tampa, placed them into a grow out pond and harvested them later in the fall of '83. Only then, was it apparent we had something different and unique. No dna studies were being made at that time by anyone. That technology came about years later, in the early 90's. The first dna papers about CA fishes were produced by Roe, Conkel and Lydeard in 1996.
Unfortunately, we lost this species in the freeze of December 1989. Only one 8-9" specimen survived
 
Don, what species were in the grow out pond with them? I should say, what species were collected with them (same site), and were they all grown out together?

Thanks...
 
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