Shop-hopping-trip, Southern California Us

[tear-scar]

I went fish-shop-hopping with some friends today (SnyperP drove if anyone knows him). I didn't have my camera, so I didn't get any photos of the shops, or the fish my friends bought but . . .

Also, please excuse the green dust on the glass in all the photos . . .

First shop was "All About Fish." This was an awesome store with lots of great little fish! I found the DREAM fish for my current scape.

Sparkling Gourami:

If anyone remembers the original concept illustration for my current lay out, it featured these guys! Like this:

Finally I got a small school in real life too!

Dicrossus (checkerboard cichlid):

I don't think anyone knows this, but I always envinsioned Naupaka Coast with Dicrossus. Like the sparkling gouramis, they share the nice blue-green-red color scheme that reminds me of the coloration of wrass/parrot fish in real hawaii reefs. They have a tropical feel IMO. These guys are so tiny though!! They don't even have the colors of the larger adults, so I hope they color up quickly.

BTW-- SnyperP took the plunge and bought a small $40 school of galaxy rasboras :hihi: Hope to get some photos of them in his tank in the future!

Bunch of other nice planted tank fish there too . . . apistos, boraras (multiple species), hummingbird tetras, pygmy cories, endlers, licorice gouramies . . . they had snowball shrimp too XD

Next Stop: Tom's Tropical Fish

This was a whole-in-the-wall fish store owned by an old Chinese man. The store was very asian is all I can say. XD

We stopped by mostly to get a flowerhorn for our friend John.

BUT while he was picking one, I spotted these guys:

at 3.99 each!?? No idea why or how. Botia sidthemunki (dwarf chain loach) are usually at least $8 or $9 bucks each! I've seen 'em sold for $15. Well, a steal for me anyway! I had to take out the pea puffers to put in my other fish so this is perfect for keeping my tank snail free!

I also bought a nice set of dragon rocks! They weren't really big enough to make an iwagumi in my tank but since I wasn't planning to do one anyway maybe I'll find a use for 'em one day. I sure love hard-scape stockpiling . . .

We went to some other shops, but didn't buy anything.

One last shot of a dicrossus free in the tank:

Yes, that's HC in the background. >.< They're all so puny!! But I've dreamed of having this fish in Naupaka Coast so I'll just cross my fingers that he sizes up and colors up. Right now, the sidthimunki's are bigger! >.<

 

[thrankall]

wow sounds like yo got some good deals

 

[Mr.September15]

OO They all look gorgeous

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Sounds like you had a great day... shopping + fish + friends, what else can you ask for?
Your new fish are all gorgeous! I am in love with your sparkling gouramis

 

[George Farmer]

Nice surprise to see you here Steven!

Great fish and bargain on the Botia sidthemunki.

I look forward to seeing the gouramis in their new home. How big do they grow?

Everyone's after the "Galaxys" eh? I may be switching my original idea of 6 galaxys to pure shrimp in my 3 gal. iwagumi, Amano and CRS. I like the idea of seeing them crawling about the rocks, HC and hairgrass, like little sheep grazing the grass.

 

[tear-scar]

Yeah, it was fun all.

lol, yea george, guess everyone's after the galaxies. haha Actually, if you wante critters that interact with the scape and hide/crawl/and stuff, the galaxies would still make an interesting pick because they are more of a mid-bottom scavenger than an open-water swimmer, just like the erythromicrons. When I saw them in real life they would pop out into the open, then dive back into the hemianthus micranthemoides, then waddle around in there a bit, and then maybe pop out again, then dive back. You get the picture.

Gouramis should grow to about 3-3.5cm I think, but none of mine are close to that yet . . .

 

[George Farmer]

Yeah, it was fun all.

lol, yea george, guess everyone's after the galaxies. haha Actually, if you wante critters that interact with the scape and hide/crawl/and stuff, the galaxies would still make an interesting pick because they are more of a mid-bottom scavenger than an open-water swimmer, just like the erythromicrons. When I saw them in real life they would pop out into the open, then dive back into the hemianthus micranthemoides, then waddle around in there a bit, and then maybe pop out again, then dive back. You get the picture.

Gouramis should grow to about 3-3.5cm I think, but none of mine are close to that yet . . .

Cheers mate. The galaxies sound ideal then. I'm off to get some Amano shrimp today, a bit of staghorn algae due to neglect! Naughty, naughty.......

I never realised the gouramis were so small, they sound lovely for your set up. Make sure you post some full-tank pics etc. on here, show it off so to speak.

 

[tear-scar]

Aaaahhh

Where's this All About Fish shop? I want to get galaxy rasboras but the shipping cost is holding me back...

And oh,

Eh-heh . . . I don't know . . . I'm just a helpless Hawaii boy who doesn't know anything about California . . . heh heh . . .

Um, I'm sure if you look at Mapquest you can find it. Or else there should be some aquarium store locating stuff . . .


George-- Good luck with it then bro!! I'll try to update when my HC fills in a bit, and the fish start goin' out and about. They still don't like the "highlight" period. They'll come out at night, hand out in the morning, but as soon as that second bulb goes on, they hide.