The Apistomaster.

[puertoayacucho]

It was 2009, I don’t remember the month, I drove up to Clarkston, Washington from SLC to meet with “The Apisomaster”, AKA, Larry Waybright (not the other way around as some would correct me).
Larry was one of our co-admin at Wild Finarama (finarama.com), a place where for years many of us shared our delight and experiences in our beautiful hobby of fishkeeping.
Apistomaster lived in a cozy little cottage home just a couple of blocks from his beloved Snake River, on the Washington / Idaho border, where he would frequently practice his favorite other thing to do, Fly-Fishing.
There, he had a small collection of 10 to 30 gallon tanks, a 55 and a 125, where he had his well photographed Symphysodon discus heckel. I was there to bring these home with me to Salt Lake.
We spent that day together along with my son, Stefano, then 12 years old and two of his friends who came along with us on the trip.
Tank by tank Larry explained to me his science, his understanding of nature, and how in each tank he managed to have a functional, natural and balanced miniature ecosystem in where the different fish species he kept would eat, thrive and breed, with minimal human intervention.
He explained, that the foundation of everything was the proper substrate, in where the roots of plants, invertebrates, worms, crustaceans, etc., could easily move through and get their nourishment, mostly provided by the byproduct of the main inhabitants, his dwarf cichlids, plecos, tetras, killifish, cories, wild bettas, all his preferred smaller species, which he chose mainly due to space limitations in his small home. I figure that is why he chose the name “Apistomaster” in the first place.
You could see the live substrates, literally, moving, as snails and black worms, made their way about, in amounts just enough to feed whatever species he kept in the tank. The plants grew at a rate where they almost did not need but minimal trimming, that is, the fish did their part, and scissor work was always little. Clay was his secret, and still, his water was always as clear as the air of the mountains that surrounded his home.
Several cory and pleco species were abundant, and he shoved a good amount of Sterbai in with the box of Heckels, as well as some cardinals.
Larry was Picasso, when it came down to how he kept and bred his little friends, his daily companions as he lived alone. Love led to Art, and fishkeeping, was his colorful canvas.
A man of not many friends, a hermit he called himself, he learned to socialize through the internet. We talked frequently OTP and more than once had I promised to visit him again.
With his brother, who I never had the pleasure to meet (I hope he contacts me if he ever reads this) and another of his very few close friends, he went out fly-fishing, his favorite sport. In the water, wading, or in an air tube or boat, it was easy for him to overcome his mobility issues. It was difficult for Larry to walk, because of a severe injury he had suffered many years earlier, when he drove off a cliff in his jeep while working as a surveyor for the government. As of then, he had to rely on medication to ease the pain, so his life was not easy. Indian music and aromas seemed to help. Yeh, he was an old hippy.
It was those limitations that did not allow him to mess with larger tanks and species, keeping him to those that could thrive in smaller aquariums. I guess his nickname of Apistomaster says a lot if not all, so now you know the story behind it.
Planet Catfish, Simplydiscus, Finarama, Scotcats, Monsterfishkeepers, and many other forums can bare witness to this fabulous Master.
In May of this year, he told me he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. His brave spirit opted for terminal hospice instead of chemo. We talked four times during the weeks that followed. Then, after July 11th, he no longer replied. I found his obituary a few days back in the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston is right across the river from Clarkston).
On July 19th, Larry left us to paddle up his own Kerepacupai Merú. I am sure he reached his own Angel Falls and is still paddling.
God Bless you friend.
ER

[Jools]

That is a lovely note. I didn't know Larry in real life, but we talked a lot here. I am sad to hear of his death.

Thank you for taking the time to tell us a bit more about the @Apistomaster.

Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

Agreed, thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Eric

[dw1305]

Hi all,
*Ed, thank you for your words.

I was really sorry to hear of Larry's demise.

I also never met him in person, but we talked over a long time period, and the World, and PC, are a much poorer place without him.

Cheers Darrel

[puertoayacucho]

Thanks Darrel, yeh, he was a sunflower of a friend and it's a good thing we can always google up his thousands of posts all over our hobby forums and find his great insight into our little water worlds.
Ed Ruiz here (Eric?)

[dw1305]

Sorry Ed*,
@bekateen is Eric

Larry was a great man. Hopefully the more holistic, ecological approach to aquarium keeping, that he was an early proponent of, will eventually gain greater traction.

He was certainly an important figure in my own personal journey.

Cheers Darrel

[Viktor Jarikov]

He touched my life too.

[Shane]

What a wonderful tribute to a fantastic hobbyist.
-Shane