NANFA-- Indoor collecting

bockj (bockj_at_erols.com)
Sat, 22 Jan 2000 16:22:19 -0500

Desperate for a remedy for cabin fever, I embarked on a collecting trip
last Sunday. I needed plants for my 65 gallon sailfin molly tank, but it
was too cold to go wading around the Chesapeake. I set off for the
aquarium center, an aquarium superstore in the northern Baltimore suburb of
Randallstown. The place is huge, with more than 700 tanks, I think. Lots
of exotic tropicals for a winter weary native fish enthusiast to look at
while longing for warmer climes. If anyone is interested, the Aquarium
Center also had some "Pike" livebearers. The store also had a few strains
of sailfin mollies. Naturally, I "collected" some of these to bring
home--two oranges and a nearly black male. A week later, the males are
both doing ok; the female died soon after giving birth.

Next, I went after what I had come for--plants that would survive in my 65
gallon high hard water tank. Fellow NANFA member Shireen Gonzaga
recommended that I ask for "Gloria." I told her what kind of conditions
the plants would need to survive under, and she recommended some onion
plants. I bought three species (I can't remember the names. She also gave
me some Naja grass, which people on the livebearer list said were
indestructible under a variety of conditions, and a leafy plant that she
said might work out for me (I can't remember the name of that, either.) I
mentioned that I knew Shireen, and Gloria told me that I had missed her by
only a day.

After having perused the frozen fish food freezer for baby brine shrip, I
bought a dozen crickets for our green anole, then headed back south to
Washington. Shireen had worked it out that all NANFA members would get a
10 percent discount from the place. As proof of membership, I sported my
NANFA cap and 98 "Fishheads_at_Chatanooga" tee shirt. Not exactly collecting
in the Everglades, but, for a winter's day, better than sitting home.

Take care everyone--especially you Southern NANFA members out collecting in
the sand and surf.

Bob

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