Category Archives: Tours

Video tours of other aquarist’s fish rooms.

April 23, 2013

A Visit to Anthony Mazeroll’s Fish Room

Gary Pack, Patty Ashley, Brian Bolen, Tim Utne, Natasha Patten, Blonde FishGal, Steve Waldron liked this post

I visited the COAST aquarium club in southern California a few weeks ago, and one of our tour stops was Dr. Anthony Mazeroll’s fish room.  Dr. Mazeroll is a Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Soka University of America.  His work on wild fish genetics and environmental impact of humans takes him all over the world.  His fish interests are just as broad.  He has a huge DIY aquarium in his living room that is full of Lake Tanganyika cichlids.  His fish room has a fish diversity from fancy bettas to wild discus.  Dr. Mazeroll is a man truly dedicated to tropical fish, both professionally and as a hobby.  Enjoy….

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March 3, 2013

A Visit to Bob Schneider’s Cory Catfishery

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Bob Schneider is one of the icons in the Chicago area aquarium hobby.  He is actively involved in the Greenwater Aquarium Society, and participates in most of the club swaps and auctions in from southern Michigan to Wisconsin.  Bob raises a lot of Corydoras sp. catfish, and he does it very well in a relatively small fish room.  I have several catfish that I have picked up from Bob at various events, so it was a real pleasure to have the chance to see where they were born and raised.  Enjoy…

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December 16, 2012

Blue Fish Aquarium

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Blue Fish Aquarium is an exceptional destination aquarium store in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you ever find yourself traveling through western Michigan, stopping in at Blue Fish is well worth the effort.

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December 11, 2012

A Visit to the Bireley’s Fish Room

Here is a glimpse of the fishroom and homestead of my good friends the Bireley’s.  Rich has a love of large tanks and the monster fish that go into them.  Most serious hobbyists have one or two large tanks, maybe up to a 220 gallon (my largest is only 110!).  Rich has several large aquariums, and some even larger vessels for holding fish.  At one point in the video, Rich explains that the fish he is talking about needs a larger tank… the 180 it is in just will not do!  You will also meet Anjoli, Rich and Laura’s daughter, who loves her big fish as much as her dad does.  Great family.  Great fish room.  Enjoy….

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September 20, 2012

A Visit to Dave Herring’s Fish Room

Dave Herring is the owner/operator of a long-established aquarium maintenance company in Indianapolis:  African Adventure.  I knew Dave casually as another ‘fish guy’ when I was doing the retail aquarium thing in Bloomington and Indianapolis over 20 years ago.  I ran into Dave at the ACA convention this past July.  He was wearing a t-shirt that I designed and sold at the Louisville ACA convention… back in 1992!

Dave built himself an awesome fish house on the back end of his garage, and he is justifiably proud of it.  He invited some friends and I over for a visit on the Sunday of the convention.  Dave is also the leader of a rock band, and he built a ‘party’ room for his band to perform over the fish house.  Dave’s fish are probably the rockin’est cichlid in the midwest.  Here is Dave’s fish room.  Enjoy!

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July 24, 2012

ACA 2012 Convention

Here is a little video showing some of the happenings and displays at the American Cichlid Association Convention that took place in Indianapolis two weeks ago.  I apologize up front for the incompleteness of the video.  I ‘worked’ the convention behind a TedsFishroom.com booth, and did not get to experience as much of the convention as I would have liked.  Maybe next year I will be able to go (to Denver!) with just my cameras and document the event as it should be done.  Enjoy…

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June 21, 2012

InterZoo 2012

Many of the largest pet industry companies in the world gather every other year in Nurnberg, Germany, for InterZoo… one of the two largest distributor trade shows in the world (the other is Aquarama, held in opposite years in Singapore).  All aspects of the pet trade are represented, and the aquarium displays steal the show.  From huge koi ponds to nano tanks (both fresh and marine), everything available in the hobby can be seen at InterZoo.  Here is a video of only of small sampling of the cool stuff I saw this year.

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June 7, 2012

AquaFish – Northeim, Germany

Another ‘sightseeing’ stop during my trip to Germany was to a local aquarium store in Northeim.  This is a small store in a large town (I would not call it a city) that sells only fish and plants.  No dry goods.  I would love to be able to run a store that way someday.  Enjoy…

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June 6, 2012

Aqua Global

I went to Germany in May (2012) to meet with my co-editor of Aquarium International – The Freshwater Magazine and attend the huge InterZoo trade show.  Most of the time was spent ‘working’, but i did manage to do a bit of sightseeing.  We drove through Berlin to get this wholesaler… is that close enough to ‘sightseeing’?

AquaGlobal is not a huge wholesaler, but what the lack is size they make up for in quality and variety.  There are some pretty rare fish there!  They are well known for their catfish selection, and this is due in no small part to one of Aqua Global’s employees… Ingo Seidel.  Anyone into catfish, especially plecos, knows who Ingo is.  Author, photographer, explorer and international speaker, Ingo is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  He gave me free access to explore Aqua Global.  Here is a little video tour….

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February 20, 2012

A Visit to Rachel O’Leary’s

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Rachel O’Leary has earned the reputation of being an excellent source of hard to find freshwater fish and invertebrates.  She supplies mostly nano-fish species, Asian snails (such as fancy nerites), shrimp and crays.  All of her business is run out of her basement fish room, from which she ships dozens of boxes of livestock each week.  You can see what she has to offer here:  Rachel’s Website.

There are lots of cool things in Rachel’s room, but I want to specifically point out the welded iron racks that her husband Chris builds.  These racks are a functional work of art.  Someday I may have to pay for the O’Learys (and their welding equipment) to take a vacation in Wisconsin!

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