Mamashack & Rca Explore York Fish (Maybe Chip) Shops

[Meeresstille]

I hope the weather will play along and make this a great experience!

 

[Mamashack]

Thank you all for your interest - we had a brill afternoon, tho only one of us has made it home so far (moi!) poor RCA is still travelling having to get 2 trains to reach home! Safe journey RCA!
We met about ½hr later than planned due to my puppy having a gippy tum, but we had a lovely lunch at her friends' house where we'd met up and I have to say, the muffins were absolutely delish!!
 
That took us to after 2pm and ate seriously into our aquatic shopping time - we only had time to visit one shop - Maidenhead Aquatics in Poppleton and spent ages looking at and photographing some of the fish. RCA has an amazing camera whereas I only had my phone so she was the photographer of the day and will post pictures when she can. She may need to wait til tomorrow as she may be knacked after her marathon journey home. 
 
You may have guessed that neither of us came away empty-handed as planned - it was just too much temptation in the end!
I bought a lovely chunk of wood and some shrimp. They came at quite a good price in the end as the assistant Pete who showed us round said they were RCS at 5 for £10. So I said I'd have 5 for the 60L tank. The boss then had to serve me and said they were actually Sakura Fire Shrimp and should cost £20 for 5 but let me have them at the price I'd been quoted! Woohoo! Result!!
They are currently acclimating with lights off and am slowly adding tank water and their colour is gradually returning to it's flame colour (they'd gone a bit pale in transit). Will take a picture tomorrow as I don't think they'd appreciate me flashing lights at them after such a stressful event.
 
It took an hour in peak traffic to get from Poppleton into York for RCA to catch her train - fortunately there was one an hour after the one she'd wanted to get. It actually took me less time to get home from York than it did to travel across York!
 
 
Will leave RCA to tell you about her purchases - mainly cos I think she'd like to (and secondly I can't remember the names of what she bought! lol)

 

[Meeresstille]

Lol, glad you arrived home safely again and hope RCA will get back without too much stress as well. I imagine your little treasures you picked up today will always be a nice reminder of the fun day you had together.  

 
RCA's post will probably come too late for me to be able to read until tomorrow night or Saturday morning, since I'm scheduled for a little trip myself. Going to leave tonight to attend our daughter's Graduation (Bachelor's in Science of Nursing), which is tomorrow at 8:30 AM, and pinning ceremony at 4:00 PM! (Who plans these things anyway?)
 
Hope all will go well with your shrimp's acclimation and that they will love it in their new habitat! 

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks Meeresstille! They are now in the tank proper tho I can't see them yet as the lights will still be out for another 45 mins.
Hope all goes well for your daughter's graduation! I'm a nurse too altho I don't have a degree (nursing degrees didn't exist when I first did my training and that shows just how long ago it was! lol)

 

[TallTree01]

Sounds good, can't wait to hear RCAs post.

 

[RCA]

Thanks for your patience and interest.
 
I was back very late last night after a 45 minute wait between trains!  By the time everyone was fed including the cat, and the fish were settled having moved 120 litres of water, I just crashed into bed at about 22:30.  So about us meeting up ...
 
I made the wraps and packed up everything then headed for the 8:07 bus to York.  On arrival at the bus station there was no sign of the said bus, so I asked the bus advisor where the bus was.  The reply was “oh that bus only goes on Saturday; lots of people make that mistake”.  On checking the schedule there was a small “S” above that time slot at the top of the page, so stated that maybe it could be a little clearer, I was not annoyed just disappointed, as the next bus was not until 9:42!  So, I decided to take the 10 minute walk to the train station to check out my options.  The next train was about 20 minutes away and although more expensive than the bus I decided it was not often I get a day out to York to meet a “fishy” friend (no offence MS) so decided to go with this option.
 
Prior to Mamashack’s arrival I went to meet with long standing family friends .  MS arrived just in time for lunch, muffins and a welcomed cuppa.  After we had eaten we decided to head on our way to start our tour.  As MS advises we only made it to one store in the end, MA-York, which was filled with many delights.  I took lots of photos, and will place a selection on here for you to enjoy.  Let me know if there is anything in particular you are interested in and I will see if I have a picture of it.
 
So, what did I come away with?
 
Dwarf Neon Rainbow x5 – these were some of the brightest I had seen of these fish and I was quite taken with them.  In some ways I wish I had now got 10 as I am sure a shoal of these would look stunning.  They have coloured up beautifully and are a violet blue with red fins.  Can’t wait until they are out of quarantine, and seeing their colours against the backdrop of the green and brown in the planted tank.
 
Panda Gara x 1 – I was torn between this little fella and a Goby species, called Rino Goby, for which I have been unable to find much information on.  This particular Panda Gara was very active and I liked his markings.  When he was acclimatising in the sealed bag he was jumping all over the place so I was slightly concerned there was something wrong with his water, however, I did a quick search on this little character.  I found out that they are known to exit the tank especially when first introduced, so ensure all holes are covered!  Needless to say I clipped his bag to the side of the tank when adding the water and the quarantine tank has had a towel over the top of it all night!  Luckily he was still in there this morning.
 
Gold Ring Hillstream Loach x1 – this one I have been struggling to find information on and the nearest image to it is the one I have linked to.  I have taken some pictures in the store and will update you with them in due course.  I have two Hillstream Loaches, but this one is lovely with a gold patch on his back.  I am again wondering if I should have got more, as it is a stunning looking fish.
 
Others for consideration were:
Rino Goby, which as above I have not managed to find out much about these fish.
Pacific Blue Eyed Rainbows instead of the Dwarf Rainbows I got, I think I am pleased however with my choice.
 
So surprisingly despite a tank full of female Bettas and a few males I did not buy any Bettas, however, I am seriously considering one at my local LFS, and have just posted his image in Betta Resistance is Futile, as I need to call first thing to reserve him if I decide to go ahead.  Let me know what you all think of him, ideally before 9am UK time.
 
It was lovely to meet someone via this forum and MS and I had a great time and I am sure MS will not mind me stating, that we are both as mad as each other.  To share a hobby with another fish mad person is very rewarding, so we both enjoyed the event.  In fact so much so, we are already planning our next trip, hopefully in July, with a bit of a twist to it, so watch this space.
 
Mamashack here is an article I came across on your Fire Red Shrimp.
 
Photos to follow in due course.

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks RCA I actually found that article last night when I was trying to remember the Sakura bit.
Looking forward to the pictures - there were absolutely loads so you'll be spoilt for choice!
Your future betta looks lovely - hope you get him!

 

[DerpPH]

There are many types of gobies though. Rhino goby as in rhinogobius genus? I think I saw that in seriouslyfish site? Try searching there.

 

[RCA]

Thanks DerpPH, I would need to know the Latin name of the fish from the shop, as I am aware there are many Gobies, like Cory's just not 100% sure which one it is

   I found this which gives an overview of some of the species.  Plus the site you mentioned has a few of them, I would say it looked like the top one from here, being Rhinogobius cf. nantaiensis.

 

[MBOU]

Goldring Hillstream Loach aka Sewellia Lineolata are great fun Very similar to the Hillstream Loach but Tropical Tend to be a bit more scrappy, I have three in 380L and they still chase each other about for the best spots of food, that said, the most aggressive move they seem capable of is pressing each others faces down a little bit

 They still want a high flow/high oxygen but warmer than hillstreams, they also love their bloodworms! They definitely seem more willing to interact, more boisterous in stealing food and easier to read their behaviour than I found with Hillstream Loaches. 

 

[Mamashack]

Ohh the one that RCA got was really active when Peter was trying to catch him! Took a good few minutes of watching him dance out of the way of the net before he was finally caught!

 

[RCA]

Goldring Hillstream Loach aka Sewellia Lineolata are great fun

Very similar to the Hillstream Loach but Tropical

Tend to be a bit more scrappy, I have three in 380L and they still chase each other about for the best spots of food, that said, the most aggressive move they seem capable of is pressing each others faces down a little bit

 They still want a high flow/high oxygen but warmer than hillstreams, they also love their bloodworms! They definitely seem more willing to interact, more boisterous in stealing food and easier to read their behaviour than I found with Hillstream Loaches. 

 
Here he is ...
 

 
for comparison one of my existing loaches

 
I hope he is not too boisterous as the larger of my existing is somewhat crazy and often bombards my Cory's and Java Loaches.  I have started placing food all over the tank to assist in preventing this behaviour.  Thanks for the information, I believed that my existing Hillstream's were tropical but there is also a cold water species which tends to be smaller and have a variety of colours?  It is somewhat confusing when looking for them, as like Cory's there are many differing views on the types and how to keep them.  My others seem to be thriving in the aquarium so hopefully the conditions are suiting them.  I have looked at the coldwater ones my LFS has but have never bought any due to the fact that they need cooler conditions.  I will try and remember to take a picture of them next time I am there for comparison.  Any further insights welcome.

 

[MBOU]

Your original one is the original (tropical) Sewellia Lineolata or "Goldring Hillstream Loach", your new one is either a colour variation or a different species of Sewellia, I know there are a few..
 
Yep.. thank god for the internet! They are two different species of Sewellia I found this info which is useful:
 

 
This species is very rarely traded but similar in appearance to the fish we have listed as S. sp. ‘SF01′, also known as S. sp. ‘spotted’ or S. sp. aff. albisuera.
However in S. albisuera body patterning consists of a network of irregular dark lines forming a complicated series of reticulations vs. many small, light spots on a dark background in S. sp. ‘SF01′, plus the pelvic fins do not reach the anal-fin origin vs. pelvic fins reacing anal-fin origin in S. sp. ‘SF01′.
It’s been suggested that these two may represent the same species but this appears not to be the case.
When describing S. albisuera Freyhof (2003) used a series of specimens collected in 2000 plus some larger, spotted fish which had been collected in 1999 and preserved in New York.
 
Although he noticed differences in dorsal patterning between the two series these weren’t considered sufficient to separate them as distinct taxa based on the number of specimens available (J. Freyhof, pers. comm.).
Prior to the mid-1990s S. lineolata was the only species in the genus but an upturn in surveys of fresh water fauna in Vietnam and Laos has resulted in the discovery of various new taxa, several of which remain undescribed.
The first addition was S. marmorata (Serov, 1996) and this was followed by the description of a further four species in Roberts’ 1998 revision. He considered the larger-growing representatives with relatively short pelvic fins (S. elongata and S. diardi) to belong to his new subgenus Diardichthys. 
Freyhof and Serov (2000) found S. marmorata and S. patella to exhibit a combination of characters applicable to both subgenera, however, thus Diardichthys is currently considered a synonym of Sewellia.

 
So basically, original loach is Sewellia lineolata and the new loach is either Sewellia albisuera OR (Spotted) Sewellia sp aff. albisuera