Frans Vermeulen was born and raised in The Netherlands. As a child his
fascination with all types of aquatic life was almost an obsession. As a young adult
Frans became so addicted to the aquarium hobby that he made it his daily profession
and opened an aquarium shop that soon became widely known throughout
The Netherlands and the neighboring countries. While raising a family he kept
the business growing for 15 years, and then at the age of 50 he closed the business,
and together with his wife Marjan, he moved to the sunny island of Aruba in the
Caribbean. His passion for killies continues and has become a way of life for him.
Today his fish room contians about 250 small aquariums in which he keeps and
breeds many species of killies, but only the ones from South America. Frans has
made numerous expeditions to various parts of South America like Argentina,
Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela and Colombia, and he readily shares his experiences as speaker at international
killifish conventions in Europe, South America and the USA. He has described some new species and is now
working on several new species that he discovered himself not long ago. Frans has also written numerous
articles for fish hobby magazines about his fascination. In addition he maintains a multifaceted web site which
is a "must see" for all who love killies from Middle- and South America in particular
