Mike's Moments
(October '95)

Why do Eskimos do their laundry in Tide?

Now, you don't think you will get the answer that quick do you? You're going to have to do a little more work than that . . . You're going to at least have to read part of this column to get the answer.

The other day I was sitting around doing nothing and I thought, oh boy, it's been years since the wife and I have been fish hunting. No we aren't going to South America . . . although I wish to do so some day . . . we used to drive to several nearby towns and visit all the different shops. Well, it wasn't "shop hoppin'" but the other day I went to some shops that I have never been to before. Some of these shops I have passed a zillion times before. I've been here in the area since 1973, and never did I have so much fun . . . again!

Shop hoppin' used to be a favorite sport for us Hoosiers back in the days when we were young and ambitious and full of what the hobby would give us next. We would leave at 7AM and not return until 10PM . . . even in the dead of winter. Boy do I remember the time the floorboard of the old car became a direct link to the ground and there was 3' of snow on the ground and it was freezing cold and the heater stopped working and the hole in the floor was like air conditioning and we had a good two hours to go until we got home and we weren't sure if the $50 worth of fish would be suspended in animation or dead or what . . . ($50 was a lot of money for a college kid to pay for some fish in 1968) . . . but we were young . . . and the hobby . . . oh my, those fish. There was always something new back in those days.

We heard there were some "butterfly" bettas in a shop 60 miles away . . . off we go! In Indianapolis there is rumor of some real black bettas . . . off we go. Over in Ft. Wayne there was supposed to be some new cichlid that is as blue as the sky . . . Cobalts. A guy in Evansville is supposed to have some of those angels that start as silver angels and turn to gold at the size of about a silver dollar . . . Naja Angels they were called. Someone said they were in Anderson and there were some discus over there that were ALL bluish-green . . . from a guy in Florida named Wattley. We had to go to a place in Chesterton to see our first hi-fin platies . . . $7.00 a pair in 1969. But it was fun . . . it was a time that was measured in enjoyment and not in dollars. The entire state of Indiana was our ground and we covered it all. We even got to the Windy City . . . Chicago . . . and participated in the infancy of the saltwater hobby, and I mean infancy. We didn't know about the nitrogen cycle then, we honestly figured it out . . . less the correct element . . . but what we did know was that it was fun to drive 150 miles each way to buy percula clowns for $4.00 each . . . those orange/black/white little devils . . . and we thought we could sex them by their stripes . . . . Thank you Martin Moe . . . St Pete, FL.

What's the point? The point is those wonderful days of the hobby when everything was happening like lightning. Everything was booming . . . everything was new. All of the people who keep fish were anxious to hear the latest word on the new filter, the new fish. Shops kept all kinds of fish . . . and they learned to do it well. If a shop was to succeed they would always be open and they would learn everything about everything . . . and would sit and talk with people for hours . . . this is a social hobby. Everyone's view is correct. If it worked for them then it's correct . . . what works for you is just what works for you . . . nothing more, nothing less. There's always more than one way to spawn an angel. I really hope that the new generation of fish keepers have it as nifty as we did back in Indiana . . . it was a great introduction to a hobby that has lasted a lifetime, and the friends we made during those trips have turned into great memories and the stuff that produces daydreams. Avail yourself of the whole hobby. Keep freshwater for a while, then turn to salt, then keep killies, and then do discus. Then it's time for you to spawn things, then try a brackish tank. Then set out to spawn a difficult fish . . . you will be rewarded!!