alanmin4304

We have uploded the above picture onto an account at www.photobucket.com under the aboves images name. And this is the result. We have more good photos for your information and for your image library and feel we are more than capable , however we seem to be missing the vital piece to this puzzle.....

We have followed the instructions from the creator and this is the result. My PhD is now up for Auction. Any bids please?

I now wish to formally apply for my PhD in pICtur' Loadin'.

Quarantine for fresh water tropicals was 2 weeks then went to 6 weeks and remained there but had some other conditions added at the time the new Regs came out. Gold fish (when I did it )was 6 weeks in a fish house then 4 years for the breeding stock but you could sell the offspring. It was a total disaster.

I had the pleasure of inspecting that shop many years later (early 70's) when it was converted to a ladies hairdressing salon. I had been through it with the lady wanting to open as soon as possible to recoup the money outlayed. "Come back Tuesday and it will be ready" she said. I turned up Tuesday and she was busy doing a ladies hair. "When you have finished inside the toilet outside has been done up so check that out" Duly did all that ---walked outside and there were two naked ladies sun bathing on the back lawn (living in the flat upstairs) All cheerful and " Lovely weather". I nearly choked laughing because I could see the six guys upstairs in the garage behind all having a very pleasant smoko that they had not noticed.

Theeeen there was the pet shop around the corner from Jacqui Johnson's shop--- on the riverside between Manchester Street and the Centennial Pool. I was only a kid but I was always in the pet shops having a look. An old lady came in and wanted to buy something to kill the bumble bees that were in her aviery as she was worried they might kill the baby chinese quail that were about to hatch so she had gone in there and killed all she could find with a tennis racquet.

That is why I use sand.

Theeeeen there was freddie angel who turned up at Eddies shop one day convinced he was going to sell him half a dozen baby spider monkies and was not impressed when asked "What the hell am I supposed to do with them" And there was the guy that wanted to put a team together to go to Ausie, buy a boat and bring back 500 sulphur crested cockatoos for later export to USA. No doubt somebody else took my spot. It has been a great journey so far.

There was an old fella from Europe (Dutch I think) who built a cold water marine set up and used a refrigeration unit from an old fridge under a stainless steel plate to cool the water. It was on a thermostat that cut in a pump when it got too hot. He kept stuff realy well including a baby octupus. I remember being very impressed.Then there was old Bill Grey who had fish club meetings down the brighton zoo and he was one of the first importers. Jacky Johnson who had the pet shop in Manchester St, later became Jacquie (the trannie grannie from the west coast) and sold the shop to The man that started Willowbank (Brian Willis). Also Bill Grey junior who had the petshop in Columbo Street and manufactured all the Betta brand air pumps and heaters and elements before combos were available. Makes you feel old don't it.

He was an importer and wholesaler in Auckland who sold up and went to Fiji to find fame and fortune. He was exporting marines to the USA. He was caught in a bulldozer on the reef by the powers that be who felt that was not a nice thing to be doing so they gave him a holiday at her majesties pleasure (between coups I guess). There was an importer in Christchurch whos name I have forgotten who was in it at the beginning. He lived down the Road from Eddie in West Watson Ave but got into hang gliding in a big way when it first started and gave up the fish. Someone may remember him.

The goldfish bowl was started by Eddie (corner Picton Ave and Riccarton Rd) The Fish tank by Geof Pearce then sold to Jan and Jane then moved further up Hereford St then to Stanmore Rd. Redwood aquatics started in a shed built originally for growing orchids I understand, at the back of his house. I understand his new location was partly financed from the export of freeze dried tubifex to the arabs. I and a friend were supplying most of the shops in town with aquariums (in those days all built from second hand glass from broken shop windows). I was selling tropical plant round town from the Adams family in Welcome Bay, Bob Ward and stuff I was growing myself. As well as 300 bunches a week of Elodea canadensis. We were selling fish to the reef smasher (Malcolm Davies) who I understand was selling to 125 outlets. I and others were selling tubifex to anyone that would buy it including Auckland and Tauranga and it was more expensive than steak.Those were the days in the big smoke.

Apologies for the spelling-- my friend is a computer geek not a plant person--Should be Echinodorus ozelot. Have Emailed Caryl with pic. Might see if we can figure it out once I cut my friend out of his straight jacket.l

My friend works with computers all day and is very computer savy. He is also involved in a number of sites and has absolutely no problem loading pics on any number of sites. This one has him pulling his hair out and he is about to spit the dummy. I am getting very frustrated because I would not regard myself as computer savvy but I am also not thick and can follow simple instructions (everywhere other than here it seems) I have been putting in a lot of effort along with some others on this site to try and grow some of these plants emersed and flowering in the hope that we can correctly identify them. At the moment I feel like I am complaining to my mother in law about my wife. How come this is the only site where you need a PhD to load a pic.

Because Eddie was German he could get on the phone and sort out a few deals in Germany. He discovered that a German company were the main buyers of fish from Brazil. He was then the first in New Zealand to import from Brazil. The prices to buy were very much related to numbers. I forget the numbers but by buying thousands of rummy nose and cardinal tetras he got them at something like 10% of the price for a few. With his usual style he came around and told me he was a gambler but he had decided he would gamble where he could control the odds. He got in that many fish that the NZ market couldn't handle it so flew to Australia and did a big deal there and exported heaps to Ausie These fish were a fraction of the cost of the same fish in Singapore because theirs were coming via the wholesaler in Germany. He also bought in a lot of equipment from Europe and was one of the first supplying some of the specialised equipment used for marines. Bob Ward of Redwood Was one of the first people seriously growing plants and Critter Kingdom were one of the first importing fish in Christchurch.

We are just good friends.

I would doubt that you can treat plants for algae successfully without ending up with sterile compost. Snails and parasites--yes, algae I doubt. I think it is about the chemical balance and lighting etc favouring the plants.

We have tried a number of times to load pics as per the letter of the instructions and it only works a fraction of the time. We have Emailed the creater and await his reply.

Feelers--- I know nothing about IDing marine fish. We went for everthing we could catch in rock pools and off the rocks with a net. There were some great anenamies and we got some of them as well. Some of the divers would have a better idea of what is out there. I remember one of the best looking fish were little spotties as they went a great green colour. I think to be successful you would need a refrigeration unit as we found the summer temperatures were the killer. Kept baby flounder and eels as well which we got while catching tubifex worms.

I understand that the people selling plant to the shops are still getting about the same price as I was 25 years ago.

I built a fish house and bred a lot of fish whch I grew up to a sustainable size and passed onto a friend who grew them on further. Then we sold them to our friend (still in prison in Fiji as I understand). This was in the days when we (including Eddie)used to get live tubifex to feed to our fish,and sending an import box of fish to Auckland cost $20.00. The fish tank used to buy 45lb of live tubifex twice a week and every petshop had it and every hobyist (in Christchurch) had to have it. My partner told me at Eddies funeral that he had sent 49000 fish to Auckland and that was not counting the ones I was selling round town along with the tropical plant and Elodea canadensis I was selling. Eddie was an expert at seeing an oportunity. He was buying rabbits in Christchurch and selling them in Auckland for 300%. Buying lizards for a dollar and exporting to Germany for $14.00 etc. He also had a good working knowledge of a number of European languages.

I was a pall bearer at Eddies funeral-- we went back a ways. I also used to sell 50000 fish a year to the man that mowed the reef in Fiji. I have never kept tropical marines but tried hard to get cold water marines going in Christchurch. Made three trips to Kaikoura on different occasions and supplied a shop with 25 varieties of cold water marines after catching, treating and holding for 3 weeks. We got ripped of every time --thats life--not a shop mentioned here. I was asked by and went with Eddie to the consultitative meeting with Maf and the importers when they were looking at drafting the present regulations for importing Tropical fish. Because I was not importing at the time and my understandig of quarantine (as an environmental health officer) I was asked to chair the meeting. Interesting times and I think we came up with something all parties could live with. I miss Eduard he was a very interesting person. The fish tank was started by Geof Pearce who gave up fish, went to varsity, did a PhD and became a leturer. Also stood for parliament as a communist candidate. He has since died also.