Re: Welcome Back Mike

["Roger Vitko" <rvitko@ix.netcom.com>]

I suppose you mean AquaStabil aquariums- yes very beautiful, now if only
someone would import them.  I was told they were about double All Glass but
maybe I was wrong, I noticed in Germany most buyers finance them.

Roger

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike & Diane Wise" <apistowise@bewellnet.com>
To: <apisto@listbox.com>
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: Welcome Back Mike


> Bob,
>
>     My trip to Stavanger, Norway was fantastic!
> The weather couldn't have been
> better. I was told to expect it to be cool &
> rainy, like the Pacific Northwest,
> but the week I was there was sunny & cool.
> Stavanger is the oil capital of
> Norway. Norway is the 2nd largest exporter of oil
> in the world, after Saudi
> Arabia. Because of this Stavanger is a very
> cosmopolitan city. Still gas was
> NoK9.80/L (~$6.00/US gallon) so we American have
> nothing to complain about in
> that area. I stayed in a bed & breakfast (the
> bridal suite - with my wife of
> course) in the older part of the city. Breakfast
> was Continental style - with
> caviar. We spent most of our days walking through
> Old Stavanger, looking in the
> shops,  going to museums, & enjoying a boat ride
> up the fjords.
>     I got to visit some of their pet shops. The
> pet shops were surprisingly
> similar to those in the US. They had mostly the
> same 'bread & butter' fish.
> Most of the dwarf cichlids that I saw for sale
> were commercially bred fish from
> western & central Europe. I saw Hüser Red
> Agassizi, Red Shoulder Macmasteri, A.
> cacatuoides Double Red, A. gibbiceps, A. iniridae
> (lots!), & A borellii (I may
> have forgotten some). One difference that I saw
> was that the most commonly sold
> catfish was not Corydoras aneaus. Instead everyone
> sold C. sterbai - a much
> prettier fish. The shops have mostly the same
> brands of equipment we have in
> the US. Of course the tanks were metric. I was
> particularly enthralled with a
> brand from Denmark that had aluminum frames. I was
> told that these tanks cost
> about the same as all glass aquariums.
>     My program was well received - all 2 hours of
> it! There were aquarists who
> traveled 5 hours by ferry & road to get there. Alf
> Stalsberg even delayed a
> trip to South America & flew into Stavanger for
> the program. I hope it was
> worth it. Alf is someone we should bring to the US
> to give us programs on his
> many collecting trips. This gentleman is very
> knowledgeable & can TALK!
>     An auction was held after my talk. It was
> similar to the typical American fish club auction.
> It had the general mix of fish & used equipment, &
> books. I was lucky to buy a copy of "Die
> Buntbarsche Amerikas, Band 1" for NoK150
> (~$21.00). This was a steal & it was one of the
> books I was hoping to buy while there. There are a
> few Norwegian books in Norwegian & a few books
> that have been translated into Norwegian, but most
> of the books were in English. Actually, most of
> the aquarium books used in Norway are the same as
> we see in the US. The main difference that I saw
> between US & the auction in Stavanger was how item
> were purchased. At every US auction I have been to
> the buyer pays at the end of the auction. In
> Stavanger you paid for each bag as it was
> auctioned off. At least there was no 'bidder's
> shock' at the end of the auction.
>     The members of the local fish club (Jæren
> Akvarienklubb) were wonderful
> hosts! I was treated like a king. Diane & I were
> invited to members' homes for
> dinner & viewing their aquariums. Language was no
> problem at all. Almost
> everyone can speak English. Popular fish among the
> members were South American
> cichlids, large & small, and wild types of
> livebearers. Malawi Peacocks & some
> Tanganican cichlids were more popular than Mbunas.
> I did see 2 species that I
> wished that I could bring home with me. One is the
> rarely available A. sp. Rio
> Preto do Candeias. This species came into the
> hobby, in low number in both the
> US & Europe, about 3-4 years ago & quickly
> disappeared. The Stavanger crew has
> kept the species breeding while it has disappeared
> everywhere else, it seems.
> The other fish is Nannacara sp. Essequibo. This
> fish has features somewhere
> between N. anomala & N. taenia. This is an
> undescribed species, originally
> collected by Scandinavian aquarists in Guyana
> about 5 years ago. As far as I
> know it is not found in the hobby anywhere else.
> They have been keeping it all
> this time - and they had tanks full of adults
> waiting to be moved! Most of
> their rarer species, it seems, come from specimens
> brought back from collecting
> trips by the members.
>     The Jæren members have major problems getting
> wild & unusual fish. They
> have found it almost impossible to find anyone who
> can supply wild caught fish
> in lots of 10- 20 fish. It's hard to justify
> buying box lots of rarer species
> in a country of 4 million. Right now they are
> looking for anyone who is willing
> to sell small lots of species, at 2 - 4 boxes per
> order. If any North American
> or European sellers are interested in selling fish
> to them, please let me know
> & I'll forward your email address to them.
>
> Mike Wise
>
> Bob Wiltshire wrote:
>
> > Mike,
> >
> > How was the trip? Did you see any new fish? What's the
> > state of the hobby there?
> >
> > Mostly just lurking on the list but paying attention.
> >
> > Bob Wiltshire
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
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