# Some cool stuff at the Menagerie



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hey folks,

So I had some stuff to do downtown today and ended up droping by the Menagerie. Here's what caught my attention:

*Blue Tiger shrimps*: Very blue and at a very nice price . No space in my tanks so I didn't get any.

*Betta rutilans*: Very red wild type betta with iridescent blue eyes. Full grown adults at 1 inch already! Perfect for the nano tank.

*Betta forschi*: Just came in but already coloring up nice. I think they sold out of their last shipment of these fish.

*Splash tetras*

*Dwarf Mexican crayfish*: just a few left.

*Stiphidon gobies*: the blue kind.

*Show Guppies*: I'm not at all into guppies but these really caught my eyes. Very nice bright pastel blues and pinks - on each fish no less.

*Siamese Fighting show fish*: Nice sized and colors, half moons and a few crowntails.

*Manzanita drift wood* - man, if I had the space... right now they got all sorts of nice shapes and sizes, saw a few that had that 'tree stump' with roots look. Was sooooo tempted to buy it. 

Their plant tanks were 75% full. Oh yeah, they have nice sized *Anubias Coffeefolia*.

Their marine fish were stocked well with standard type of fish and some ok corals and frags. The only thing of note IMO was a nice *Harlequen tusk fish*. Too big for my tank, but very nice looking anyways.The new marine fish shipment was delayed again but from what Harold tells me, it'll be worth the wait with a lot of nano type fishes they're trying to bring in.


----------



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

I gotta drop in to check out some driftwood/plants


----------



## RebeccaV (Dec 30, 2010)

I was supposed to go today because I was going to be in the area, but my appointment got pushed back and I didn't have enough time  I'm thinking of going up Sunday, gotta get my hands on some halfmoon bettas!


----------



## george (Apr 11, 2009)

The plants are all nice and healthy. I got some nice ones so I do apologize if I didn't left enough for everyone.


----------



## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

Stiphidon gobies: the blue kind.
is not a good description. lol! these stiphodons are not nearly as vibrant as some species of 'blue' FW gobies.

Although, if she's still there, I saw a female in one of the tanks.
Female/Male pairs or a single female will do better than two males or a single male.
Especially when they will 'flare' at each other in male dominance and they arent conditioned and fat and super healthy. (they just arrived in transit)

But they're eating flakes which is a GOOD sign, as they are difficult and picky eaters.
I'm tempted to pick up a pair but I have no room.


----------



## Guest (Jan 15, 2011)

BettaBeats said:


> Stiphidon gobies: the blue kind.
> is not a good description. lol! these stiphodons are not nearly as vibrant as some species of 'blue' FW gobies.
> 
> Although, if she's still there, I saw a female in one of the tanks.
> ...


Actually some of them in the tanks flash blue that is as vibrant as some of the marine neon gobies. You just have to be there when they do. The species is atropurpureus. There are only a couple females if they haven't sold already. They prefer eating Omega algae wafers over the flake food and are doing well on it.


----------



## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

I was in today and I saw a female! I wanted to pick her up. 

The colours will probably be more vibrant when they become accustomed to their new home. I just wish I had the room.
And I said that they were eating flakes more because the 'red fins' that I picked up earlier last year were very hard to get to eat anything that wasnt live algae. So its a good sign they are eating store-bought food.

If anyone has a tank with plants these would be a great addition. Especially when they flash..


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

FYI: Just in case some people may not know, Stiphidons spend most of their lives in freshwater but swim back to brackish or saltwater to breed.

They're an iridescent blue as you can expect from a freshwater fish; occasionally the blue strip will get brighter when they 'flare' at each other.



BettaBeats said:


> Stiphidon gobies: the blue kind.
> is not a good description. lol! these stiphodons are not nearly as vibrant as some species of 'blue' FW gobies.
> 
> Although, if she's still there, I saw a female in one of the tanks.
> ...


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hmmm maybe it's time for you to move to the big city Rebecca!  LOL. I'm sure they'll still have a good selection next week. No worries. If you like bettas, check out the wild types. I started with fighting fish too and graduated up to the wild types. .

Check out my (old) thread on my 'puppies':

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13705&highlight=daisy+bruiser



RebeccaV said:


> I was supposed to go today because I was going to be in the area, but my appointment got pushed back and I didn't have enough time  I'm thinking of going up Sunday, gotta get my hands on some halfmoon bettas!


----------



## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

Great finds for a great shop!


----------



## acropora1981 (Aug 21, 2010)

Menagerie should post weekly stock updates like the marine shops do over at aquariumpros.ca 

Definately going to check out the half moons... been looking for a blue butterfly half moon for a while.


----------



## RebeccaV (Dec 30, 2010)

Just please please please don't take all the good ones!! If I don't get a fish soon I'll cry! Lol


----------



## Guest (Jan 16, 2011)

acropora1981 said:


> Menagerie should post weekly stock updates like the marine shops do over at aquariumpros.ca
> 
> .


We already do that on our website.


----------



## Guest (Jan 16, 2011)

BettaBeats said:


> And I said that they were eating flakes more because the 'red fins' that I picked up earlier last year were very hard to get to eat anything that wasnt live algae. So its a good sign they are eating store-bought food.
> 
> ..


Yeah, those Red Fins are really not a species to import if you don't have a good supply of rocks encrusted with micro algaes. I think you are probably the only person here who would appreciate a tank full of them. I love looking at the pictures Odyssey posts over at loaches.com. We have some Gold Marble ones too but they have shown zero colour.

If you'd like to try a pair of the atropurpureus come and see me during the week I'm sure I can give a special pair price


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

straight up support for the Menag.


----------



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Picked up some things at Menagerie today...some neat floating plant, kinda looks like a cauliflower. My shrimps will love it.


----------



## RebeccaV (Dec 30, 2010)

Well I made the trip to menagerie today and was a little disappointed. The betta selection was not great. Out of the 8 jars of "unusual" bettas, only 4 were "premium half moon", 3 were "fighter type" (plakat), and 1 was a questionable doubletail (I think he just shredded it during shipping). The 4 halfmoons were so-so looking, two were red, one was turquoise and one was a steel blue. As much as I wanted to take one home, I couldn't justify spending $20 on so-so fish, plus they didn't have any halfmoon females. I called a bunch of other fish stores in the GTA and no one has any HM bettas. I'm starting to feel like I'll never find a good breeding pair!  

The rest of the store was nice though, I fell in love with the blue streaked lorie in the back, he/she was just visiting, not for sale. Gorgeous though! And the little black and white loose kitty was very friendly!


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Hey sorry to hear bout your wasted trip. It sucks u had to travel so far and not get what you wanted. I think you need to hook up with a 'bettabuddy' (lol) in the city, someone into display fighting fish as well. That way you'll hear sooner about what store has stock and you might even be able to make some sort of arrangement to buy and hold stuff for you. 

Hope your trip wasn't a complete disappointment. I'll post something if I see any 'half moons' anywhere by chance. Though I admit, I wouldn't know what the difference between grades of these fish are now.


----------



## jon021 (May 19, 2009)

If you're looking for bettas, you could contact Frank at Frank's Aquarium. I know he said he was getting a shipment in from Singapore soon so he might be bringing in some bettas. Aquapets usually has some nice bettas as well but a bit pricier.


----------



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Rebecca...having been a long time Betta lover and breeder (I still have 4 of them, peach crowntail male, cambodian crowntail female, blue mustard gas HM male and Platinum white HM female) I can put you in touch with people who breed gorgeous Thailand bred Bettas.

You will not find anything like these in the LFS, as these Bettas are imported by breeders specifically to breed and show!

Please feel free to join in the fun with these people, they are a great bunch of guys and girls dedicated to these phenomenal little fish 

I am sure you will find someone on this forum to find you what you are looking for.

I would give you my beautiful white platinum HM gal " Pearl " that I bred and raised, but she's too old now to have babies....just lives out her life making faces at my peach crowntail.  driving him to distraction that is...hussy!

You will have to type it all in as this link would not work, but it is still up and running. Good Luck.

http://www.atfreeforum.com/bettaspendens/


----------



## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Do you ever get in any Mwanza flat-headed agama's


----------



## RebeccaV (Dec 30, 2010)

THANK YOU!! This is actually exactly what I have been looking for. I'm on ultimate bettas, it's another betta forum but it isn't really a lot about buying and selling. Thanks so much for the link!



bettaforu said:


> Rebecca...having been a long time Betta lover and breeder (I still have 4 of them, peach crowntail male, cambodian crowntail female, blue mustard gas HM male and Platinum white HM female) I can put you in touch with people who breed gorgeous Thailand bred Bettas.
> 
> You will not find anything like these in the LFS, as these Bettas are imported by breeders specifically to breed and show!
> 
> ...


----------



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

he looks a bit like spiderman!  wow amazing color 


TBemba said:


> Do you ever get in any Mwanza flat-headed agama's


----------



## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

I got some really nice driftwood at Menagerie today... I think they said it was mopani but I have to check that again with them... they had quite a bit of driftwood actually, all different types and sizes. I found the perfect size piece for My small tank  
was in a bit of a rush today so I didnt get to check out the fish too much, but I did see they had some realllly vibrant blue tiger shrimps there for a nice price  
I also noticed they had new T shirts and also New Menagerie tote bags! 
I ended up forgetting a couple things tho so I will just have to make another visit  I love going there so any excuse is fine heheh


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

That made me LOL! You're right, he does! I guess this is what spiderman woulda looked like if lizardman were able to have transformed him lol.



ShrimpieLove said:


> he looks a bit like spiderman!  wow amazing color


----------



## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

ShrimpieLove said:


> will just have to make another visit  I love going there so any excuse is fine heheh


OMG, u live downtown, I live an hour away. That's the only thing preventing me from spending all my money and alot of my time there lol.


----------



## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

ShrimpieLove said:


> he looks a bit like spiderman!  wow amazing color


It's a good one


----------



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Those blue shrimps are NOT tiger shrimps...please read my post on blue tigers!
I bought some of those blue shrimps too, and wondered why they were such a lighter blue color than my blue orange eyed ones, but when I examined them at home, I noticed they did not have any tiger stripes.

One died on me on the way home, so I magnified it and yes it and the others are NOT blue tigers! They are Neo-caridina shrimps....could be one of two that I know of, but definitely not Tigers.

They are a very nice blue and anyone into blue shrimps like ME, should go take a look at them, they would look nice in a tank with CRS as they are not the same species and won't crossbreed (not that I have ever had any that did)


----------



## menagerie (Mar 18, 2006)

bettaforu said:


> Those blue shrimps are NOT tiger shrimps...please read my post on blue tigers!
> I bought some of those blue shrimps too, and wondered why they were such a lighter blue color than my blue orange eyed ones, but when I examined them at home, I noticed they did not have any tiger stripes.
> 
> One died on me on the way home, so I magnified it and yes it and the others are NOT blue tigers! They are Neo-caridina shrimps....could be one of two that I know of, but definitely not Tigers.
> ...


They are definitely not the characteristic Blue Tiger Shrimp. Some of the ones in tank have stripes and some do not. They are naturally coloured that intense blue. I emailed Sunbeam Aquarium (supplier in Singapore) last night and this is their response to the dyed issue.

_Dear Harold

Thank you for your email. Before we put this item on our stocklist, we did 
ask the collectors if they are natural or dyed. This is because some 
importng countries have restrictions on dyed fish or crustaceans so we need 
to differentiate them on our pricelist.

Our collectors confirm that these are natural colours.

In any case, if it is dyed, the colours fade over time. We normally keep 
them for at least 2 weeks and so far we have not experienced any fading 
colours.

Please contact us if you have further query. _

I emailed them back asking about the origin and the identification of them. Sunbeam is 99% dead on accurate when it comes to properly naming the species of fish, crustaceans and plants that they sell because some importing countries require absolute accuracy before they can be imported. If something is incorrectly identified it is usually corrected fairly quickly. I will await their response before I change the moniker conclusively.

@Rebbeca Sorry we didn't have any of the really nice Halfmoons left. We can get really exceptional stock from Europe but no one is willing to pay the price for high quality German bred bettas.


----------



## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Hi Harold, I am not complaining by any means, I LOVE the way they look very cool  but then I am a great fan of blue shrimps. I believe this shrimp is called a dwarf midget shrimp , often called Indian Blue sp, and is one of the Neo-caridina species.

Here is pic of the ones I have (picture is from my supplier, with permission)










also here is a link to a very informative person's introduction to blue shrimps...you can see they look very much like the ones you have. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you will see that they do indeed look a bit like a tiger, but they are not tiger shrimps and won't reproduce anywhere near the unique striping of the tigers.

http://www.petshrimp.com/neocaridinaspblue.php

Many times shrimps are shipped and they are the wrong ones, it happens quite a bit, and often Indonesian suppliers label the shrimps differently from supplier to supplier. I have a colored picture list from one supplier and they actually look a lot like a Matano Blue Bee.

On a good note, they definitely are the same as the ones I have in my tank that I got over a year ago, and these do produce blue babies, unlike the babaulti blue sp which does not.

I have a tank full of blue baby shrimps right now  This new blood will be a welcome cross for my girls!


----------



## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Check out their bodies. Tiger shrimps have more curved shape of bodies than neocaridina species.


----------

