Beat 'Em, Join 'Em!

I left off with Jim insulting me. I figured, If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! And on my day off, Jim, Larry, Jim's girlfriend Beth and I, "fish cruised." We hit every store in the L.A. area. Oh, probably every 6 weeks or so. And San Diego every couple of months. This was the early 1970's. No wet/dry, no reef tanks. In fact you could still see quite a few metal frame tanks in use and for sale. In the L.A. area there are probably 250 to 300 stores. And of course we had our favorites. One store had fish we might have bought if we could have gotten them off their rear ends and away from the T.V. long enough. Always on the lookout for some odd Cichlid. Some days we'd hit pay dirt and come back to Jim's with bags (Boxes!) in hand. Or at least a laugh or two!

Ah, the heyday of the tropical fish boom! It was exciting! And for a day of fun, all it cost was gas (@ $.65/gallon) and a couple of six packs of Coca Cola! What a deal! Between the four of us, we liked about everything. Cichlids were always first on the list. Catfish, characins, rainbows, killies, you name it. Mostly, we wanted things that we could breed. Larry liked Red Humps (Geophagus steindachneri). Jim favored most South American Cichlids.

We went to fish club meetings. Together. In fact, we did just about everything connected to fish. We even went to the Salton Sea to collect what native fish we could find. And a trip to Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco was always and anticipated thrill!

I don't want to say that Jim's house had about the same humidity as the Everglades, but, well, it was close! I think you people should ask Jim about the fish he "found" in his garage after a year or two. (And he even gave me a hard time!!)

I did take a break from fish and moved to Utah and managed a Dude Ranch. While there my friend K.C., who still worked in a pet store, sent me a fish quiz that consisted of all the dried of fish found behind aquariums. He glued them on a piece of notebook paper with ABCDEF choices. Ok, Ok. We are a little sick.

While standing there in line to go to the movies we would play 20 fish questions. Like, "I'm thinking of a fish." Is it a Cichlid? No. Is it an Anabantid? No. It was one sure way to learn fish families, keep your mind busy and drive the people behind you nuts! Then do it in Latin, even better!

Just so you know that willingly, I didn't move to Utah. I was awakened at 4:30 a.m. October 31 by the telephone and the fire department telling me I had a "little" fire. By the time I'd gotten dressed, driven from Hermosa to Redondo Beach, my pet store was a total loss. The fire department had hosed the entire store over a smoldering fire that has started with a ceiling fluorescent transformer. The water damage was much worse than the fire. Three days before the fire inspector had given me a clean bill of health. Melted 55 gallon plexiglass tanks are an eerie sight. Mostly the fumes killed all the birds, small animals, reptiles. I think two or three of the turtles made it. Can you think of anything worse? So I kinda lost heart for a while. My life for months afterward was soot & dead things.

But like the circus, fish get in your blood, and back again for another shot. I saw a Red Devil, Gold Severum cross the other day. Hmmmmm . . . . (to be continued)

note: Lynne Abbott is a highly successful Angelfish breeder. She is currently living on the proceeds from her sales of the little beasties. Of course every so often, one covered with peanut butter helps tide her over when sales are down.