Sid Davies, a Memorable Aquarist

By Robbie Kirkup (STAMPS)

Mount Pleasant began in the 1960s and survived the split of 74, but ended around 1984, meetings were fortnightly on a Thursday in Mount Pleasant Social Club. At he time I joined, urged on by a school friend, a retired gentleman called Sid Davies was the Chairman. Sid got into fish after he left the army in 1945; the Aquarist Magazine, before it took over the Pondkeeper, would be in regular touch with Sid to see what was in his shed (fish house) at the bottom of his garden. Sid was the first person in the UK to breed Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi), Chocolate Gouramies (Sphaerichthys osphromenoides), Cardinal Tetras (Parachieirodon axlerodi) & the Emperor Tetras (Nematobrycon palmeri) - to list a few!
Thinking back to Sid, I remember a lot of debates on the pros & cons of undergravel filters & grolux lighting, even the only fish magazine at the time ‘Aquarist & Pond keeper’ devoted lots of space to this subject in its letters pages.
Sid also had one tank in the house, a steel framed putty lined (silicone was just introduced around 3 years earlier) aquarium, under gravel filter and 60 watt, a clear, household light bulb every 10 inch. On the lid was a bottle of Babybio (plant food) which had plants looking like they were in the Amazon.
Sid gave me his chairman’s position one meeting because I had arranged a lecture by Brian Risbridger and Alan Spencer called ‘Keeping Fish the German Way (paludaria)’ this lecture was to change mine, and a few other members whole outlook on fishkeeping; Sid would not turned out because he despised anything German or Japanese ‘During the war, an all that’.
He became very interested in the Paludaria, as his tanks were already half way there, and even enjoyed conversations with Brian, after he found out his surname did not originate from a German P.O.W.