Fort Mason Center, Building C, Room C370

Ron Harlan and his Venezuelan Killifish adventure

Dr. Ron Harlan can trace his interest in tropical fish to his childhood in Rangoon, Burma. He helped a family friend, U Cho, drag a seine through streams and collect tropical fish. He joined the AKA in 1965 and was a member of the BAKA during his high school years when he lived in a bedroom with 35 species of killies and dwarf cichlids. More recently he had been the resident Rivulus expert in the Southern California Killi Club and keeps a slightly more modest number of species. Professionally, Ron was a faculty member and department chairman at Glendale College for 28 years. Three years ago he became Dean of Instruction. He is the owner of Back to Nature Filtration since 1985 and still provides affordable reverse osmosis to the tropical fish and orchid hobbyist.

Ron has led 5 trips into the Peruvian Amazon as well as collecting in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Bolivia. This month's talk will be about his first to Venezuela in 1997. The trip featured outstanding food and lodging, great roads, diverse Venezuelan people, and outstanding collecting. This trip resulted in the reintroduction of several very desirable killis not seen in the hobby for over 10 years as well as the discovery of several possible new species of killi and cichlid.