Friday before CSG conference shop trips?

[MatsP]

Anyone up for any trips to the shops around the area of the CSG conference?

I'm aiming to leave around 7AM, which means that I'll be in the area around 11AM, give or take a bit.

Anyone got any suggestions of shops to add to/remove from the list below:
Pier - for obvious reasons.
Aqualife - always a good place to visit.
B.A.S - is it still a good place to visit?

Later on we'll try to arrange for the route between shops and times when we aim to be at each shop...

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Mats

[RIPbiglad]

last time I went to BAS the stock was much improved on the previous visit

[MatsP]

last time I went to BAS the stock was much improved on the previous visit

Ok, so that could mean just about anything, and it would be helpful if we knew when those two visits were...

It's a bit like when the papers report "Such and such up 135% on previous year". Without knowing how many there was last year, the number is completely meaningless...

Don't mean to be difficult here, just trying to understand on a more absolute level whether it's a good place to visit.

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Mats

[RIPbiglad]

first time was just before they went into administration and second time was just before xmas. Still worth the visit in my opinion and they have a cafe which do great bacon butties which is always a bonus

[MatsP]

Still worth the visit in my opinion and they have a cafe which do great bacon butties which is always a bonus

Yup, and the bacon butties made the trip worth it even if the fish hadn't been good last time around...

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Mats

[wrasse]

I'm planning to call in to Pier on the Friday, Hadn't really thought hard about times, so I'll watch this space. Looking forward to meeting you all.

[sojapat]

I think you had better get some tanks cycling
Is Anyone looking for anything in particular?

[wrasse]

Yeh - freshwater seahorses. You can do it Neil.

[Jools]

Yeh - freshwater seahorses. You can do it Neil.

They're so common, what I'm looking for is the tartan colour form (Hippocampus alba).

Anyhow, I should be in the area for around midday.

Cheers,

Jools

[sojapat]

Seahorses , theyre so last season,This years must have is the Japanese flag ,dry land octopus from the Kalahari.. A real stunner.
Or maybe the Whiptails that we just collected in the Parana river Argentina that are touching 5' yes feet in length with the extension..
2 feet + body but these were real im sad to say ...Fingers crossed my man may come up trumps but its a long shot ...We had 17 pcs ...
We had an undescribed Megolanema that sits like goslinea too.. A new Hysonotus Tiger as well marked as cocama.
My good friend Kamphol and I caught about 250 Hysonotus in an afternoon Aky and the EL tigre.
Lets see if the fish materialize on that one
For sure I have 1 shipment Colombia,2-3 from Peru and a Thai and 2 or 3 from Brazil. In the next weeks .
All have some special fishes on the lists ..
I can pop on every couple of days to update if you want ?

[MatsP]

Neil, you seem to have a lot of interesting fish coming up. I don't have a tank to take a 2ft whiptail, but they sound amazing...

--
Mats

[Richard B]

This years must have is the Japanese flag ,dry land octopus from the Kalahari.. A real stunner.

ahhh you kill me....

[Richard B]

I can pop on every couple of days to update if you want ?

Er PLEASE!!! don't make me beg, it's sooooo undignified

[wrasse]

I hope its not snowing like today, on the 5th March.
You know what happens..... 2"of snow and the UK grinds to a halt and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere laughs at us for being unable to cope. Its 5" deep out there! And its still snowing hard.
Neil's got all those lovely fish and we'll all be stuck on the M6.
And, I've a 3 course meal waiting for me at the hotel in Southport.
Us Brits love moaning... erm... talking about the weather.....

[sojapat]

Nice to see you again yesterday Mr Wrasse, A shipment has arrived this week with some delays some of the fish look a little worse for wear.
Anyway I have been busy with them... The US Customs are a bit mad at times ...
L200 all sizes both normal and sp4 2"-8"
L201 / L201 All 3 types .
L202 lrg
L128
L91 Very nice 5-6"
L240 3"-6"
L199 XXl 4"
L75 Colombia 8"
Tatia sp Black panther ??Probably Trachycorystes trachycorystes ???
Liosomadoras normal oncinus
Trachelyopterichthys taeniatus very nice woodcats .
XL well coloured Acanthodoras very orange .
Sturisomicthys leightoni
There are a few other bits I cant remember all.
Mr Racolls fishes are coming together nicely the neon devarios look nice
There already are a lot of nice fish in already in ...

[MatsP]

Nice to see you again yesterday Mr Wrasse, A shipment has arrived this week with some delays some of the fish look a little worse for wear.

That's not good, is it...

L91 Very nice 5-6"

Nice - I must have a look at them in a couple of weeks time... Subject to some still being there, of course...

L240 3"-6"
L75 Colombia 8"

Both very tempting (so is the L199 that I removed from the quote, but I don't have a tank for them at the mo' - in fact, I just broke one of my two 24" x 18" x 15" tanks that I was about to set up instead of a 48 x 18 x 15 tank... But I think they still have another of the old stock tanks at £20 each).

--
Mats

[sojapat]

A few bits of things we already have , L15,142,81,18,177,129,124,134,183,95,368,309,46,330,191,190,Shampupa, 141
Lamonticthys ,sturisoma(Nice examples)
Spatuloricaria sp Nanay (Caqueta)
Cory Napoensis (Good examples)
3 more small deliverys this week .

[Marc van Arc]

Tatia sp Black panther ??Probably Trachycorystes trachycorystes ???

Could you provide a picture (in due course) pls Neil?

[wrasse]

I did a pitt-stop at Pier last Friday. there are some treats 'in store' for us.
Amongst many things that caught my eye were-

Cory Napoensis, with a purple sheen on the males.
Cory Reticulatus. True, not Sodalis.
venezuelan bronze corys (refreshing and colourful, instead of mass-produced usual bronzes we all see).
Lamontychthys and Sturisoma.
L75 and L163. Which still confuses me. I have an L163 for sure, more colourful, less spots. But 2 races of Sabaji.
Trachy Taeniatus (greedily, 6 are reserved for moi).
2 types of L134. One is more spotty than stripey, very nice.
Loads of Lnos. Beautiful big royal panaques.

Also, some lovely satanoperca and wild rams. I have a soft spot for these.

As much as I like Neil, I had to 'shoo' him away so I could take it all in..... could spend hours there gazing at the fish.

[wrasse]

I'd back Neil's identification here..... Tatia sp Black panther ??Probably Trachycorystes trachycorystes ???

Currently around 6"/ 15cm, very dark/ black. TTs

[Marc van Arc]

I'd back Neil's identification here..... Tatia sp Black panther ??Probably Trachycorystes trachycorystes ??? Currently around 6"/ 15cm, very dark/ black. TTs

Well, if these are also getting a fake name, we'll be in for many more surprises. I should think the exporters are able to identify the great Zapato......
Thanks anyway Richard. Appreciated.

[sojapat]

Hi Marc,I will try to take a photo this week but I know its going to get a little manic .
I have 3 shipments this week 2 of which are anti social ie 10pm landings...
I keep looking at this fish,the black woodcat , it looks thin for Trachycorystes trachycorystes..? But the buggers keep hiding
Nothing new there then
I will leave it for you to talk over...
Something I will check on is that I think my fish have forked tails...I will look tomorrow again with my camera in my hand...

[Marc van Arc]

Hi Marc,I will try to take a photo this week but I know its going to get a little manic .
I have 3 shipments this week 2 of which are anti social ie 10pm landings...
I keep looking at this fish,the black woodcat , it looks thin for Trachycorystes trachycorystes..? But the buggers keep hiding. Something I will check on is that I think my fish have forked tails...I will look tomorrow again with my camera in my hand.

First things first Neil, so just take it easy with the picture. I will have a look; for obvious reasons it can't be Tocantinsia (shipment came from Colombia, didn't it?), but that was the first species I was thinking of when reading your description.
I take it you have the Japanese Catfishes of the World book? If so, have a look at page 96, bottom picture. Or click this:

Tocantinsia piresi

Auchenipterichthys longimanus (same book, page 98, bottom - no Clog entry) would fit nicely too but it lacks a forked tail and - like the above fish - comes from Brazil.
I may have a picture somewhere; see if I can find it.

[Marc van Arc]

Here it is; source clearly stated on the picture.
Named Trachycorystes spec. megamouth, but afaik Tocantinsia piresi.
Actual question: was the shipment from Colombia?

[sojapat]

Hi Marc,Yep a few miles away from the Tocatins river they are from Colombia ,the tail is also black I think ?
I have dug out the camera so I will take it with me tomorrow.
I wanted to get some pics of the Trachelyopterichthys taeniatus they are very well coloured.

[evesonevo]

Hi All,
If its ok with everyone i'd love to join up for the shop trip on the friday.
These are my LFS but its a good excuse to have a good look around and also to meet some of you guys on here.
I've also got my eyes on some of the sturistichthys leightoni as well.
Many thanks
Col.

[wrasse]

Hey Col, most definitely!

I think we're all aiming to arrive at Pier Aquatics on Friday late morning/ midday. See you there.

Richard.

[sojapat]

As Promised , the black cat with straight tail

A shot of the striped woodcats
A bit tatty but they are coming on .

A quick shot of the napoensis

[Martin S]

Looks like T.trachcorystes to me - shame as was excited about them being the smaller fish mentioned earlier. Is it me or do the striped woodcats not look like T.taeniatus, or is it just that they have yet to fully settle in?
Just my two pennys worth
Martin

[sojapat]

Hi Martin,I am not sure they are just very pretty thats why i put a pic on ..
These are not my favorite group of fish and to be honest I do little research on them,the exporter sent the photos .
I thought they were nice thats why I got them.
I have better fishes to come fingers crossed ... a particular fish I tried to get last year and failed..
Asias equivalent to a corydoras Some uber rare loaches.
6 of the prettiest corydoras imo....
Some very rare loricarids .... Fingers crossed...
Is there any interest in Corydoras gracilis from anyone?