MEET AN AQUARIST SERIES: THE AQUARISTS OF BANGALORE by Howard Norfolk PART ONE: RAJENDRA KUMAR After riding furiously in a cab through the hot, noisy, congested and polluted streets of downtown Bangalore, a large city in the very centre of South India, it was indeed pleasant to be sipping coffee surrounded by aquariums on the peaceful shaded patio of Raj Kumar's spacious house…
Every winter I take a month or so to travel wherever I fancy in the World. This year I visited Hong Kong for a week, and then went back to the fascinating country of India, which has been part of my itinerary for the last five years. In connection with Aquarticles I had been in contact with Raj Kumar, who contributed three articles (to be found in the Aquatic Plants and Aquarium Management sections). When I said I was to pass through Bangalore in January 2002 he kindly invited me to visit. Raj's interest in fish was inherited from his grandfather, who kept numerous aquariums and goldfish ponds on the family's 100 year-old coffee plantation at Coorg, 250 km. south of Bangalore. The ponds are still there, but that property has now passed to Raj's cousin and he doesn't know if the goldfish are still there. Raj's own coffee estate has ponds that contain grass carp and other edible varieties. The fish are occasionally harvested for food and the proceeds given to charity, since as they are strictly vegetarian Hindus, Raj's family members do not wish to profit from the sale of meat. So Raj still has ties to Coorg, but now lives mostly in Bangalore for the sake of his children's education and to further his technical radio related businesses. Talking about radio; Raj's other great hobby is ham radio, by which he speaks to other enthusiasts all over the World. Raj's business office is in his home, and he is a lucky man in that when he tires of answering the phone or staring at a computer screen (he says this happens about every twenty minutes!) it is but a few steps outside to the tropical paradise of his patio and garden. Strategically located to receive sun in the cool season (down to 14º C, record low 8º C) and shade in the hot (up to 36º C for a week or so in May), the temperature of Raj's in-ground fishpond stays more stable than this, and is comfortable for most species of warm water fish all year. The kidney-shaped pond is divided into three connecting sections - half is for Raj's three 15" koi and some other fish, the rest is walled-off for plants and a variety of smaller fish, and there is a small basin filled with plants that only the livebearers can enter, for breeding purposes.
Raj's pond fish are a mixed bunch of species that we in more temperate climates can only dream of keeping outside year round. They include platies, mollies and swordtails (which grow very large in the natural surroundings), two giant gouramis (a popular pond fish in the tropics which have individual characters and can be trained to come to be hand fed), tinfoil barbs, tiger barbs, African cichlids, Indian sunfish, Indian panchax killifish, and a couple of red-eared turtles (not an Indian species - the keeping of Indian turtles is not allowed). One of the reasons for Raj's eclectic collection of fish is that his pond has become something of an emergency home for fish that outgrow the aquariums of his aquarium club friends! Raj does not filter his pond, although he has thoughts of doing so in future. Instead, his gardener uses the nutrient rich water on the collection of lush tropical plants in the garden, and replenishes it with pure water pumped up from a deep tube well. The pond is somewhat murky with algae, although this sometimes clears up of its own accord. Raj only recently walled-off the koi into their own section of pond. Now he can grow more plants in the other section, and perhaps the plants will help take care of the algae (by competing with it for light and nutrients). Also in Raj's garden are three "cement rings" - cylindrical sections of concrete made for lining wells, but locally modified for use as fish tanks with cement bottoms and wire mesh covers. They hold about sixty gallons of water, and in them Raj breeds angelfish, mollies and platies, and keeps plants.
On his patio Raj has nine aquariums: two large well-planted community display tanks and seven smaller ones. One large tank contains mostly smallish goldfish, and the other a mixture of tropical fish, including angels, kribs, red-tailed sharks, Chinese algae eaters, harlequin fish, various tetras, and corys. The smaller tanks are mostly used for selective breeding of guppies and platies.
Aquatic plants are perhaps his main interest, and Raj has a CO2 injection system for one of the large tanks. He likes to experiment with different substrates, lighting, fertilisers and water chemistry. He has a large collection of plants, some bought locally, some rarer ones brought back by a friend who occasionally visits Singapore, and some gathered by Raj himself. He keeps a net in his car, and on road trips will stop to probe interesting looking jungle ponds or streams.
Until recently Raj had a personal web page on the Internet, which included
information about his aquarium hobby. It is temporarily off-line, but I will provide a
link to it when it is back. P.S. Shortly after my visit, Raj started a Yahoo Group for his club, the Aquarists Society of Karnataka. After a few months he found he was getting enquiries from other parts of India, so he opened it up to all India, and indeed anyone anywhere who is interested in the Indian aquarium scene. You are invited to visit and join "Aquarists of India" at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a-s-k I took the above photos one morning, and Raj invited me back that evening to meet seven or eight other members of his aquarium club, The Aquarists Society of Bangalore. We had some interesting discussions, and there I met Madan Subramanian, who kindly offered to spend the next day showing me his own aquariums and those of his friend Adip, and also gave me a tour of his favourite aquarium stores.... GO TO PART TWO: MADAN SUBRAMANIAN |
Raj
on his outdoor patio
The pond
A
"cement ring"
The
goldfish tank
A corner of a
planted tank