They had a fairly large selection of both salt-water and
fresh-water critters. Their tanks were decorated in a neat
way that I ought to try. The gravel was sloped at a 30degree
incline from front to back (1/4" in the front and about 4" in
the back) and a couple of rock piles on the left and right.
No live plants. But, they had a colored foil background that
was bunched up to provide a "cave" effect. Each tank looked like
it had individual filters and was serviced from the back. The
tanks were on a stepped stands (lowest was close, middle 4" back,
and top another 4" back). Some tanks had a smaller tank put
against an opening in the background and stuffed with rocks
and branches.
That was a change from the usual fish stores near here with all
tanks in a straight vertical rack, uniform painted backgrounds,
and serviced from the front.
That was interesting. Now for the funny part ...
I went up to this gray-haired guy who seemed like he was
the proprietor of the store and asked him if he had any natives.
His response "They're illegal". My jaw drops down and I say
indignantly "No way! I am talking about minnows. They are not
illegal." The guy is a bit shocked and tries to bluster "But, we
can't keep those fish at the tempratures that we keep around here.
They would soon get protozoan infections". I am so pissed off.
I tell him "You should've told me that before I spent the past
five years keeping native fish at room tempratures without
losing many". I then walk out. No use spending any more time
in a store when they don't know about natives, huh?
Sajjad
Chicago
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