PlanetCatfish.com

Here are a few shots of our Seattle fish tour this weekend.
7 fish stores and three pubs in 8 hours.

This of course is one of my favorite fish stores because if it's location and selection(of beers across the Road).




Shane ready for a few cold ones after the last stop on the tour!




Quality German Brew.




Drinking out of the Boot . . .
it might be time to cut Shane off!




I will post some pictures of the booty after they have had a chance to settle down.

Shane, you DO know how to use the boot, allright?

some Austrian soldiers tought me how to drink it, after I doused myself with beer ofcourse, much to everyone's amusement.

if you hold it wrong, well...they say beer's good for the hair.

Barb,
Taking Bob on a "grand tour" of the Seattle stores should'nt be too hard because so few stores are in business than there were just 5 years ago. In the Metro Seattle area there are only about 6 left not counting the chain stores. Now I know who thought 1.5 inch BN were too small.Actually they were my first guess. Too few stores results in too much 'tude. I'll send you the list of must see Seattle area LFS's, all 4 or 5 of them for 1.5 million people! It will take at least 4 hours because they are on all sides of Lake Washington and the traffic's always bad. 2/3 of them will have identical inventory. No wonder there hs been a profusion of internet fish dealers if the Seattle trend is representative of the industry as it now exists at the local level. The survivors' get cocky apparently thinking that it is their "superior knowledge and skills" that have kept them in business. The fact is that not everybody buys everything elsewhere so some shops will always be around for when you need something now and not next week.
Larry

If anyone is interested in taking a seattle fish tour including a little pub crawl just pm me! I would agree that there really are not that many great fish shops in the area. But you never know what you will find in some of these shops... especially the shops in the I.D. We tried to stop in to the infamous Liems pets in Maynard alley. He was closed on Fridays? We will try and see this crazy store next week.

Cheers, Whitepine

Hey whitepine, what's up?
Liem's is closed Fridays and only a fraction of what it was, one of the most fascinating lfs's anywhere. Little Amazon is good for exotics especially arowana sp and discus. The big Issaquah shop and sister Fish Galleries are good. Don't know if Massi's is still in business so many places have gone out of business.
Next time I'm over I'll contact you if you want to visit the shops with me too. I was'nt able to do that on a recent trip over there. My best fish buddy over there was'nt able to get a new liver so I have lost a good friend. We met at Fin n Feather(out of business) when he commented on a tank full of Copella species. I had spawned and raised about 75 and traded them for credit. He was quick to realize he'd just met a serious fish geek like himself and a friendship was born.
Larry

I would have to say the best fish store we stopped at would be "A Place for pets" in Burien. And if you are heading North of Seattle to Bellingham, make sure to check out Clarks!

Cheers, Whitepine

Some of the Booty...

Sold as pitbull pleco.




Sold to me as LDA45.

Hi whitepine,
I bought the same fish(LDA025 pitbul plecos) and out 6 four are like your P. jumbo and two are a pair P. spilosoma. Pit bull plecos are currently in fair supply in the PNW at this time. I am finding them to be a nice change from common otos.
The Ancistrus is an interesting find, were you able to get some of both sexes?
Larry

apistomaster wrote:Hi whitepine,
I bought the same fish(LDA025 pitbul pl*cos) and out 6 four are like your P. jumbo and two are a pair P. spilosoma. Pit bull pl*cos are currently in fair supply in the PNW at this time. I am finding them to be a nice change from common otos.
The Ancistrus is an interesting find, were you able to get some of both sexes?
Larry

Only the one Ancistrus. It sounded like he has had this fish for quite a while. I too found pair of P. jumbo and a pair of P. spilosoma mixed in as pitbull plecos. Well see what happens

Well, well that news of you also finding both species of Paraotocinclus bodes well for my hopes that another 6 might yield a few more P. spilosoma. I would like to have them breed for me. I separated the P.spilosoma and gave them a 5 gal tank with only a few tiny bumblebee shrimp sharing the space. I have a power sponge filter running in there to simulate the flow and hope I'm on the right track. I have seen all the articles on the care and breeding of them.
Larry

Seattle is the BEST. Even though I've never been to any of those shops except the sister Fish Gallery's. I know the owner so I have an obligation..... JK no obligation but I do enjoy the shops. In fact the owner of fish gallery's son started a salt water shop in Issaquah, very nice. (I don't recall the name of it but its cool)

Peace out for now. GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in the Issquah shop dozens of time but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the place. I stepped out of the fast lane and have been back here in SE Washington long enough my mind is getting s l o w.
But it's a very nice shop. The group of shops you mentioned are usually good places for making pleasant discoveries.
I lived there for 30 years but it was too far from my favorite fly fishing rivers and it stays nice and dry here.
I still think I some residual moss growing on me from being constantly rained on everyday. I did construction inspection work over there and was always out in the weather. Don't seem to miss it much but I think it's a nicee place to visit now.
I think the shop is Blue Sierra or something like that. They do reef stuff well.

apistomaster wrote: I think the shop is Blue Sierra or something like that. They do reef stuff well.

Thats the name of it.

http://www.bluesierraexotics.com/map.htm

Pretty good store with a varied selection... I still like a place for pets in Burien though...

Here's the alley to Liem's pets.



Shane entering the store. The owner ussually doesn't let you take pictures inside



Nothing to exciting at Liem's this time. We also visited blue sierra and the Pet gallery in Renton.