The second half of the 20th century is unthinkable without it”. Tripp did hold a very nice inaugural speech: “This fair is today a mean of communication not to be replaced with anything else, compared only with the mass-media such as television, radio and news paper. 200 exhibitors from 12 countries participated and it received 5000 trade visitors. From 1972 on it was called INTERZOO and the German Minister of Economics of Hessen inaugurated, next to Emil Haas, president of ZZF myself and other “celebrities”, the 12th INTERZOO. In 1970 it was established, that the still called the Wiesbadener Zoo-Messe would take place always in May, every even year, and for the first time politicians became aware of the importance of this fair. And it grew none-stop to the world’s most important trade fair of the pet branch. With my work, collecting around the world since 1965, exporting ornamental fishes from Frankfurt, Germany, to 86 countries worldwide, I announced to everyone, that the Zoo-Messe in Wiesbaden is the largest and most international pet exhibition and trading place on Earth. And since than I have never missed one fair and helped, like my mother, to make made it popular worldwide. It was a sensation, as at that time no one had seen an aquarium with so many of the most asked for aquarium fish and none the new rummy nose tetra before. I displayed an aquarium with 3000 cardinal tetras and 500 of my recently discovered brilliant rummy nose tetras (later described as Hemigrammus bleheri). I remember very well when in 1968 I participated for the first time myself, the than still called Zoo-Messe. Tripp – the man who knew my mother to well and recalled their joint venture for the first “Zoobörse” – convinced me to join the ZZF, also because my mother had been a founding member in 1947. When I moved my ornamental fish company, AQUARIUM RIO (founded 1965 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to Frankfurt in 1967 and Dr. Tripp, the remarkable founder of the ZZF, who is definitely responsible for what became the INTERZOO. The Wiesbadener Zoo-Messe was integrated 1966 into the new founded WZF (Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe Deutschlands GmbH) still under Dr.
In 1964 17 countries were represented to show mainly their birdcages and products, which were exceptional in size, and for the first time marine aquariums have been displayed. The 6th Zoo-Messe included the first animal show organized by my mother’s friend, Emil Haas, which after a three-year pause had been moved in 1962 to Wiesbaden and was established as bi-annual fair. In this year it was able to celebrate its first “International” Zoo-Messe, because some of the 58 exhibitors were companies from the Netherlands and buyers came from eight European countries. The following years it became a moving “Zoo-Messe” (Zoo-Fair) and took place in Essen (1954), Köln (1955), Hamburg (1956) and came back to Frankfurt in 1957, were it remained until 1959. There were about 100 traders from 40 West German villages and West Berlin. I recall, although that I was very little, of this first event standing next to my mother’s side and her aquarium exhibition. V.), Goki’s Versandhaus, the ornamental fish and plant enterprise of my mother Amanda Flora Hilda Bleher and Emil Haas, owner of the pet shop “Zoo-Haas”, also in Frankfurt. Martin Tripp, the very first managing director and founder of the ZZF (Zentralverband zoologischer Fachgeschäfte Deutschlands e. It started as a small zoological market (“Zoobörse”) in Frankfurt am Main in 1953, commenced by Dr. The 30th INTERZOO May 22-25, 2008 was not only a special celebration date, but also the largest INTERZOO ever in its 55 years of history.