Thank You Milwaukee Aquarium Society and Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists

A special thanks to Rob McLure to showing us around the Milwaukee area. An additional thank you to Gary Greenwood, Jim Gasior and Jeff Michels for opening up their fishrooms to Bob Townsend and I. From the Madison area, Ted Judy and Randy Peterson for opening up Ted's Fishroom to us. Bob and  I had an excellent time. Both of us have our eye on Cataclysm in the fall. For more information about this event, visit their webpage at: http://catfish-cataclysm.com.

We couldn't leave Wisconsin without some fish! I was able to pick up a new woodcatfish species. Currently listed as a Tatia species it could very well be a Glanidium species. Other fish species we came back include: Crenicichla sp. "Rio Orinoco, Colombia" Wild, Bunocephalus verrucosus Wild, Hyphessobrycon sp. "Junior" Wild, Belonesox belizanus, Scleromystax barbatus F-1, Corydoras weitzmani, Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum Wild (a lovely red/orange variety) and Foerschichthys flavipinnis Wild. More updates to come!

Central Aquatics where a lot of our aquariums are made

 

Photos by Bob Townsend of Jeff Michel's Fishroom

Photos by Bob Townsend of Gary Greenwood's Fishrooms

Photos by Bob Townsend of Jim Gaisor's Fishroom

Photos by Bob Townsend of a WI Fishstore

Photos by Bob Townsend of Ted's Fishroom

 

A trip to Wisconsin couldn't be complete without some beer and a wiener, the Oscar Mayer Mobile.

Tatia sp. "Marble" Wild, check out the view from above with the vivid pattern. A lot of the woodcats rival Loricarrids in color and pattern!

 



Thank You Minnesota Aquarium Society!

A big thanks to Stephan Tanner for hosting me during my stay in Minneapolis, MN. The Minnesota Aquarium Society has a great group of hobbyists. Many are very knowledgeable and dedicated to such groups of fish as Bettas, Loricarrids, Corydoras and Killifish. I truly enjoyed my stay despite my luggage and fish being lost for four hours! Many thanks to those that opened their homes for me to share their fishrooms and fish stores.

A trip to Minneapolis is not complete without visiting the Mall of America. While I knew there was basically an amusement park inside of the mall, it is one thing to see it on TV and another to see it in person. I was completely overwhelmed in the amount of rides some of which include water and the amount of places to shop and eat. The Mall of America even has an aquarium (see photos below). The aquarium is kind of your typical collection of fish and inverts. It would have been nice to see the space used more properly but it was still worth seeing. If you are ever in Minneapolis, be sure to check this place out. You may need a few days to go through it especially for the shopper in your family.

May 2015 Availability features Killifish

Just in time for the American Killifish Association (AKA) convention on Memorial weekend in Detroit, Michigan we have a bunch of killifish ready to go. The Michigan Killifish Association (MKA) is hosting this year so it should be a good one! I know the MKA are hard at work putting the finishing touches on what should be a great time! Please see our Aquabid.com page if you are interested in any of our fish, http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?disp&viewseller&Fishboy21. A few species are limited to just a few pairs! These are available for pickup at the show in Detroit. For further questions, please email us at: jeremybasch@gmail.com. See everyone in Detroit!

 

Aphyosemion sp. "Lobaye"

 Aphyosemion sp. "COFE 2010/22"

 Aphyosemion pyrophore "Komono Yellow"

 Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum "Mbanga"

 Chromaphyosemion splendopleure "Ekondo Titi"

 Chromaphyosemion splendopleure "Moliwe"

 Epiplatys lamoteii "Salayea"

 Procatopus similis "Kumba" F-1

Thank You Missouri Aquarium Society Inc.!

A big thanks to MASI for inviting me to be their April speaker. I had a blast and have too many folks to thank! A special thank to Gary Lange for hosting me during my stay. Also in order is a special thanks to Andy White, Steve Edie and Mike Hellweg for sharing their fishrooms with me. I hope was able to take something away from my presentation and may consider keeping some Woodcatfish in the future.

Some news from the fishroom seems in order. We have fry from our Procatopus notataenia "Edea"! And it would seem that our Plataplocheilus ngaensis are finally spawning. From what I can find in the literature, there was a collection of BBW 00/25. Until I can confirm further though we will treat it as an aquarium strain. It is quite the fish with two lovely blue streaks through the body and yellow fins. Hopefully I can attempt to take photos of this species soon.

Shipping Season is here!

Having worked at a fish store for over a decade really opened my eyes on how fish are shipped from various parts of the world. Massive amounts of fish stuffed into plastic bags (sometimes numbering 500 or more). I sort of mirrored this approach except placed just a few fish in smaller bags.

Things all changed when I heard Rusty Wessel give a talk on Central American cichlids. Rusty shared the use of what are called breather bags. He claimed that the fish were purged for several days and then would be placed into these breather bags. The fish were often left in these bags for weeks! You can't do that with a normal fish bag. Today, I use nothing but breather bags for shipping. We have had great success using this method. While the cost is more, it is just the right thing to do for the fish.