Somewhere in our travels, Peter and I met Joe Doyle, a member of the Greater Pittsburg Aquarium Society Inc. (GPASI) and what a pleasure it has been. He heard we were going to be in the area for their fish auction and offered to take us on a “Shop Hop†the day before.
There were prizes at every stop and Peter and I cleaned up because we were the only two on the tour LOL!! We went to several local shops, but mixed in between were fish room tours, and these tours will be the focus of my article.
First stop – Eric Bodrock’s fish room, which was very diverse and quite impressive! Cichlids, catfish, livebearers; you name it, he had it. His “room†was actually several rooms spread throughout his basement, not to mention Regina’s fish room(s). What caught my eye in Eric fish room was the plecos, so many “L†varieties I had never seen before, and many were breeding for him. He shared some of his techniques with us, feeding, breeding, water changes & parameters.
Of course we bought a few varieties and are hoping to breed them ourselves and introduce them into our club in the near future. He also showed us his system for pumping out the water change/fish water into his garden and even let us sign his wall of fame (which was the door to his room).
Then we strolled across the basement to Regina Spotti’s fish room. There we saw all kinds of cstuff; Cory Cats, Angelfish, Killie fish, and Panda garra just to mention a few.
And somewhere in between we wandered into what seemed like a “Fish-history†room, filled with fish supplies from days gone by, it was quite a collection. I always wondered where these artifacts went; now I know!
Onward we moved to Joe Doyle’s fish room, and let me say this about Joe’s fish room … it’s not the size of the room but the magic that’s in it. What’s his secret? Breed ‘em, turn them in for BAP and move along. Look at all of his awards! At the time we were there, he seemed to be focusing on breeding Killie fish, Geophagus altifrons and L046 plecos.
Then we travelled to Bob Fulmer’s fish room, Bob has been with the GPASI since he was a teenager. Upon entering his home we saw a large saltwater tank in his living room, then he took us into his basement where we saw a few more tanks and his fish/office set up. When I thought we had seen everything there was to see he went around the bend into another room, of course we followed, not knowing if there was more to see or not. Well there was!
I bet he had 50+ tanks tucked in this long narrow room, all filled to the brim with fish and beautiful healthy plants. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, tanks everywhere, and a row of large tanks up the middle. It looked more like a garden than a fish room, I asked him what his secret was with the plants and he said he didn’t do any of that “fancy†stuff ; he just keeps light on them. Then he gave me quite a few plants to take home, what a nice guy!
All in all we travelled about 180 miles over the course of 11 hours, we truly enjoyed seeing both the shops and the fish rooms and learned a lot that day. Many thanks go out to Joe Doyle for a simply “fin-tastic†time! If you would like me to write about your fish room I’d be happy to, all I need is an invitation and the next article could be about you!