just seen an amazing loach

[helen nightingale]

Thanks for putting the picture on Emma. he is quite hard to describe properly without seeing him.

do you think i should put him with both yoyos and kubotai to see which species he gets on best with? he is so lovely id hate to have him bored and lonely. i am really looking forward to being able to bring him home and see what his character is like. our new man is starting on the house in the next few days, so hopefully that wont be too much longer now.

thanks for your suggestions about what he is. any info is aprreciated

[Emma Turner]

We started him on the Levamisole treatment last night, so I'm sure we'll be able to put a bit more weight on him before you're ready to collect him. With regards to tankmates, he has been getting on fabulously with the Yo-yos that he came in with, and you already have some of these (plus I think you said you were going to add more) so he should be fine.

By the way it was really lovely to meet you on Wednesday, I had a great time! Nattering away about loaches all afternoon with a fellow 'loach nut' is a brilliant way to spend half a day! It felt like I'd known you for years! I'm glad you liked the Sewellia fry and of course, Marge, who was so kind to grace us with her presence! Gary came over today too, so we showed him the little 'uns and Marge & co. (Btw Gary, it was great to meet you at last too!).

Emma

[Graeme Robson]

Superb picture, Emma.

[helen nightingale]

thanks for putting him on the treatment hopefully he will get a bit fatter soon. i will definately be getting more friends for him and the other i already have. it should be lots of fun

it was great to meet you too. i hadnt realised how long we had spent standing in "loach corner" gassing. it seems quite strange that loach nuts seem to have a few more things in common that just loaches, or something else to talk about. i had a really good afternoon , thankyou!

did you get those storms over the last coule of days? it gave me a good excuse to have a good look through the magazine you & Steve gave me. its so different from PFK isnt it? thats such a nice change. are those congo tetras the ones from your display tank? they looked great in print (but i still dont fancy getting any, strange foreign fish). i think i'll have to get some back issues, and of course the hillstream issue.

has LOL ever had a gathering? i just have to wonder what any outsiders would think of the conversation and the collective levels of sanity

[Emma Turner]

I'm really glad you like the magazine, it's put together by a great group of fishkeepers, and it doesn't have so much irritating advertising - more room for fishy articles. If you do decide to get any back issues, I did an article on Botia in the issue before the one you've got, which might be of interest!

We had quite a bad storm yesterday, although not a lot of rain with it. Now it seems really hot again. Bottles of iced water now floating on the river tank again....

As for LOL meetings, I think Martin said he met up with a couple of regular LOLers back when he lived in England. But I don't think there has been any gatherings recently, other than people visiting us at the shop.

Emma

[Graeme Robson]

Oh i'm sure we could arrange something to-wards the end of the year. I know a perfect meeting place.

Nice one Gary. Hope you picked a potential breeding pair.

[helen nightingale]

thats what made me think i must get the back issues

as well as the lack of adverts, i liked the way its written - it doesnt take istself to seriously, but still seems to have really good information

i wonder if Graeme if thinking of the same place i may be thinking of for a gathering? anyone interested?

[Martin Thoene]

What place are you talking about? Thing is I have to be in the Norwich area in pretty darned quick time because my Mum is very ill. She got taken into the N&N on Thursday. It's really not looking good.

I've totally promised myself (and Emma) that the next time I come to England I'm visiting the shop and I will most certainly fit that in even if things turn out bad with Mum. My sister who lives in Fleggburgh says I can borrow her car for day trips.

You probably mean meeting at a certain shop?

Martin.

[Graeme Robson]

You concentrate on your Mum, Martin.

The meeting is insignificant at the moment.

Yes it's Emma's store.

[Emma Turner]

I agree. We can hold a LOL meeting anytime! If you come over because of your mum, you spend all the time you need with her. Don't come rushing over to the shop just because you 'promised' you'd come and visit next time you were over. The invite will obviously still be there even if you don't make it this time.

(Thinking of you and your mum, by the way, and sending best wishes).

Emma

[Martin Thoene]

Thing is I promised myself and I'll need some time out too. News this morning is somewhat worse. They're doing tests and the results should be in by midday tomorrow.

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Our thoughts are with you, Martin.

[Martin Thoene]

Thanks Jim.

Martin.

[Emma Turner]

I had to move Helen's loach to another tank today, as it was causing havoc with some fairly young Heros notatus that we'd bred in-store.

So I thought it'd be a good opportunity to put him into my photo tank for a few minutes, and get a few more photographs to share with you all. His colouration is slightly muted (compared to the photo I posted the other day), as he was obviously not too thrilled with suddenly finding himself in my little tank, but you can get an idea of how beautifully marked this fish is, particularly the orange fins. He's had one round of Levamisole, and he's due the next round tomorrow:









Emma

[Martin Thoene]

OK, a bit stressed out, so it faded somewhat, but still a great looking fish.
The fin colour is interesting.

Martin.