Loaches Online "mini British meet-up" 29/03/08

[Emma Turner]

I've just got back from spending a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with David (daspricey) and Helen and Tom (Hel's other half). David had been staying with relatives in the midlands, and before he went home to York, his dad kindly took him on a detour to our shop in Crowland!

Here are a couple of pics - Helen, David, and me:



Then we dragged Tom into the second one - Tom, Helen, David, and me:


I could easily have spent hours chatting with these lot. You would not believe David is only 15 as he is mature beyond his years, and other people his age could learn a lot from him. It is obvious he cares passionately about his fish. I will let him tell you what fish he took home with him later on! If there had been more time, I would have loved to have bought him back here to show him Marge & co, but they had a long journey back up north. Hels & Tom stayed a bit longer (Helen that comment about your sister is still making me giggle! ) and they left with a nice group of Rasbora spilocerca to go with the Corydoras habrosus she got the other day. Helen has plans underway for a bigger loach tank, and I think Tom is gradually being assimilated into the loach collective. He certainly likes his Garras, which is a start!

Emma

[daspricey]

Hi Emma, Great to see you, Helen & Tom! Had a great time!
I could have spent hours in that shop, wonderful selection!
For those wondering i left with, 4 Y. nigrolineata, 4 sinibotia pulchra, 5 devario sp giraffe, 3 acanthocobitis zonalternans, 3 garra cambodgiensis & 5 "northern glowlight" danios*.

* these aren't actually northern glowlights, look more like larger danio sp TW03 as mentioned on petfrd.com

Anyway it was a pleasure to meet you all & had a great time.

David

ps, is it me or do i look drunk on the last pic?

[mickthefish]

nice spending spree David, it,s a good job me and Andy did'nt come down
the three of us would have made Emma and Helen feel a wee bit small. haha

mick

[daspricey]

nice spending spree David, it,s a good job me and Andy did'nt come down
the three of us would have made Emma and Helen feel a wee bit small. haha

mick

Hi Mick, yeah i'm more than happy with the fish! I just wish i had a couple more tanks set-up, i would have been unfair to add to many at once to the tanks i currently have. Emma had a couple of devario assamensis which were at least 3.5" (?), they were absolutly stunning! She also had some huge devario sondhii in, they were about 2" (?) which considering D. sondhii ussually only grow to 1.5" is quite a size.
And those emperor botias! No words can explain them, they were to die for, i would have had 4 of them if i had a suitable tank at the moment.

[mickthefish]

David, for the emerors you also need a healthy bank balance too mate.
they don't come cheap.

mick

[Emma Turner]

Helen and I said beforehand that David was bound to be taller than us! Most people are...

David - glad you got back ok, hope the journey wasn't too bad. We'll all be looking forward to pics once the fish have settled themselves in.

Mick, I reckon David could afford the Emperors, he has been squirrelling money away and only ended up spending about half the amount that he thought that lot would come to! I think his dad is secretly quite keen on fish, its just his mum he needs to convince now. I think his best chance would be the garage, he could set up a nice fishroom in there if he's sneaky enough.

Emma

[helen nightingale]

Davids dad is very keen on cardinal and/or neon tetras! He and Tom were educated into the difference yesterday

[Jim Powers]

Every time I see one of these threads about visits to Emma's shop I get very envious.

[helen nightingale]

it was really nice to meet David and his dad, and Emma is right, a lot of people David's age could learn a lot from him, as could people a lot older than him too

i hope that Steve didnt starve. he cuaght some fish for me quite late in the day, and then Emma did a de-tour with me to the Private Loach Emporium for my bedtime pornography, and then took Steve some food. i feel sorry for the poor man.


David, do you have any photos of your fish yet? i am sure Graeme and Mark take photos of their new fish at about 3 am. mine hid as soon as they got in the tank, but i am not confident in my photography skills

[daspricey]

David, do you have any photos of your fish yet? i am sure Graeme and Mark take photos of their new fish at about 3 am. mine hid as soon as they got in the tank, but i am not confident in my photography skills

I will get some battery's tomorrow.
The nigros and sinibotia did their loachy dance for a while after being added to the tank, the sinibota have been quite active today, the nigros have been hiding somewhere in the tank for the day.
Everyone seems to have settled in OK!

My mum has taken an immediate shining to the sinibotia and are quickly becoming her favourite, she thought they were clown loaches! lol
I'm just kicking myself that i didn't get more sinbotia, they really are brilliant fish!

[helen nightingale]

As it was your mum that took a shining to the sinibotia, that is great news. there is hope of there being a York Freshwater Aquarium opening in the future

lets hope you get another chance to get more sinibotia another time

[Mark in Vancouver]

I'm with Jim. Green with envy. Although it's strange that yesterday's visit took place a month from now...

Mark runs!

[Emma Turner]

Ok clever clogs, the date has been amended!

Glad to hear the fish are settling in well. Looking forward to the pics.

Emma

[Jim Powers]

I thought maybe they had created some kind of time warp or some other distortion of the space time contineum.

[daspricey]

I've got one of the sinibotia,



And one of the devario sp giraffe



Sorry about the quality, the tank is quite low lighting and i decided not to use flash.