Friday, January 8, 2010

Gobies & Such


What a great fish club meeting last night. Despite the lousy weather and roads we had a nice turn out. Even had a few of the cichlid fanatics there, the people who are interested nothing but cichlids. They turn out in droves for speakers on cichlids but tend to boycott everything else. The people who are obsessed with only certain kinds of fish at the exclusion of everything else are missing one of the most interesting aspects of fishkeeping, the amazing variations is appearance, personality and spawning behaviors. Most cichlids are incredibly hearty and would survive in a tank of Kool Aid, so where's the challenge? I do keep a few cichlids, and have spawns of three different varieties growing out right now, but I much prefer my "odd ball fish", Gobies & Puffers, my Mudskippers (actually part of the Goby family),the Marbled crayfish, my Ctenopomas, and the wild livebearers. Neale's talk included Desert Gobies, Peacock Gudgeons, Knight Gobies and of course the Skippers, all amount my favorite fishes.

Tonight we go to Mike's for a potluck and another chance to listen to and learn from Neale. We'll be discussing brackish fish, the ones who live where the fresh water rivers meet the sea. My Skippers are brackish fish, as is Edd my Puffer. I'd love to set up a brackish tank for other species such as Monos, Scats and Archer fish.

Sometime today I need to take my gear over to the show site so I don't have to try and get it in tomorrow morning. Also need to bathe and finish trimming Argus. Promises to be a busy day!