In northeast US I am from, fish stores are dominated by Petsmart, Petco, Petplus chain, with fewer and fewer independents left. Canada is a different country. When I visisted Toronto, I visited a dozen LFSs within 30 miles radius, all independent except Big Al which operate many chain stores in the city and vicinity. But Big Al there is like independent that bring in rare species, and not just bread and butter fish as in US chain. The retail biz in US has evolved. To get uncommon species in US, you have to go to fish club auctions, or buy them from many mail order vendors. Africans are still popular here for new hobbyists, but for seasoned hobbyists in fish clubs, the scope of interest has evolved.
Africans From the Past - Warning pic heavy!
- Thread starter RD.
- Start date
Neil you should have named this thread "Africans and Cameras from the Past" lolJoking aside, when you use that Powershot in Auto-mode is it usually using the flash or not? In some pix I think so but others I can't tell.
Hey Barrett, almost always with flash now, but back then I can't recall? Probably with flash on majority of those pics. A few my buddy took, those would have been flash too.
I live on the other side of the country from Toronto, and we can get as rare as rare gets. It just costs a LOT more than in the USA. lol Everyone evolves once they are in the hobby, interests change, etc, but that doesn't change the overall popularity of anything in the hobby as far as retail sales goes. BA's still sells plenty of African cichlids too. I've never joined a fish club, no clubs where I live so I don't tend to follow club dynamics or trends.
I live near Philadelphia. Fish clubs are very vibrant here, and there are 3 within 1 hour drive and 6 within 2 hour drive from me and each club holds auction once or twice a year. About 3/4 independent lfs from North Jersey, Philly to Northern Virginia have closed shop, including long timer such as Shark Aquarium and giant Aquarium Center in Baltimore.
BA has wonderful stores inToronto, carrying many uncommon species, including rare Africans, tank busters, salt and Asian arowana that US chains don’t carry. BA opened a huge retail store near Philly a decade ago, but sold it and changed ownership a few times. Every BA store carries a giant display tank, including the one left behind in Philly but it is now abandoned. I have been patronizing BA mail order dry goods for decades.
BA has wonderful stores inToronto, carrying many uncommon species, including rare Africans, tank busters, salt and Asian arowana that US chains don’t carry. BA opened a huge retail store near Philly a decade ago, but sold it and changed ownership a few times. Every BA store carries a giant display tank, including the one left behind in Philly but it is now abandoned. I have been patronizing BA mail order dry goods for decades.
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The people who own the Pets Plus chain bought the BA store and renamed it Captain Nemo's....now it's called Natural Life or something like that.
While these are one of the most common mbuna found in the hobby, they are still one of my all time favourites. So much so that I almost wasn't willing to part with the Ruarwe strain that I had. The fish below was a German strain bred by a local breeder. I later added an F1 group of L. caeruleus Lion's Cove that came from a local acquaintance that spent several months working on Lake Malawi for the late Stuart Grant.
One of the females, holding a mouthful at an early age.
One of the females, holding a mouthful at an early age.
Beautiful fish and nice photography, what, if I may ask, type of fish do you have now? Or you taking rest from fish care?I shut down my last African tank this week, sent them off to a friends fish room where they will live out their lives in his 270 gallon display tank. I got to thinking about all of the various African cichlids that I have kept over the years and started going though my HD for photos. I thought that I would share some of those here. Keep in mind the vast majority of these photos were taken with a $20 point & shoot. The fish looked a lot nicer in person.
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