[Coralite]

Hi All,
My name is Jake Adams and I will be visiting the DFW area as a speaker for the DFW marine aquarium society the weekend of Jan. 24th. In addition to authoring for marine aquarium publications I am also and avid aquatic gardener.

I am wondering whether there are any decent planted aquarium shops to visit in the area or if any gardeners would have me visit their aquascape. I am into slower and hard to grow plants such as Erios, Toninas, Crypts, Ferns and Mosses and I would gladly bring some of my rare plants for trades. See my Flickr page for pics of my 'scape and plants. Hit me back

 

[supersmirky]

That's great you are stopping through. I don't know of any great plant shops around town that would be worth visiting.

Crownman has an awesome fishroom. You're welcome to come by and see my tank but all I have setup is just a 130g.

If you have extra Ludwigia Sp. Guinea, I would love to buy some from you or trade for whatever I have in stock.

 

[Tex Gal]

I remember seeing your tank. I love the look of your Ceratopteris_richardii. I also love the L. sp 'Guinea'. I have that plant and it looks great in mass. It is a nutrient hog and loves high light. I'd love to hear you speak - on freshwater aquatics that is....

 

[CrownMan]

Hi Jake,

I've been to only 1 shop in the area that sometimes has a decent selection of plants and that is the Fish Gallery in Dallas on Greenville Avenue near Park Lane. I live in South West Arlington and the only shop near me that carries decent plants is True Percula but they mainly carry fast growing stems, swords, etc. I have heard that there is a shop in Lewisville near Denton that might have a good selection but someone else needs to chime in on that one. I believe it's called Rift 2 Reef.

I would be glad to show you my tank room. I have 10 heavily planted aquariums ranging from 10G to a low light 90G. Evenly split between high, medium and low tech. I would call most of them planted jungles and I would call myself more of a farmer than an aquascaper.

Club members are rather spread out over the metroplex. As Niko says, Tex Gal lives a million miles away from him (McKinney to Joshua). Over the last 2 years, I have seen quite a few planted aquaria at the club meetings in peoples homes and all are impressive and certainly worthy of a visit.

If you are going to be around the downtown Dallas area, you might try to contact MacFan on this forum. He has quite the impressive setup. I don't know how many tanks he has but it has to be over 20 with several large planted high tech tanks.

 

[Tex Gal]

HEY THERE!!!! Stop the vicious gossip about me being a million miles away!!!! I'm very close to you Mike -1/2+ hr. Some of us do live over on the west side of the metro plex. Niko just gets tired of driving because he has to drive for work too!

Don't waste your time at True Percula. Their place has gone down FAST. I was in there last week and it was horrid. So sad. It was so promising at first. I think the owner's heart really lies in SW.

I think we need to have another meeting at my house and we can all hear Jake together. Gas is now down to $1.45 (paid it yesterday) so there is no excuse. We could meet on Sunday. We'd do lunch again- something not so TX this time. Who's in? What do you think?.....

 

[MacFan]

I've got a fish apartment you're welcome to come see...

 

[Cocobid]

Both CrownMan & MacFan have extensive & fantastic fish rooms & apartment. Really!!!
My husband went to DU or University of Denver back in the 60's were up there a few years ago for an Frat reunion.
Karen

 

[Ricky Cain]

I just visted 20+ stores in the DFW area this past week. The best three for plants as of this week are The Fish Gallery, Boutique Pet and Dallas North Aquarium. DNA has expanded their plant section and I was there the day the shipment came in and while there was nothing really exceptional the variety is much improved.

Typically, I go in a store do my Seachem thing and bail. When you see as many stores as I see they all become a blur. This was a rare week as I was looking for various things for the 60cm I just "reset". Hopefully, this was good info but it seems to me historically that the above mentioned stores are the ones I would have recommended of the top of my head without even having been in them.

 

[CrownMan]

I can attend a meeting at Tex Gals house. Maybe Tex Guy has his new tank? I might be able to bring a L. Pantanal offspring for one of your tanks. They seem to be multiplying quicker with the new bulbs I got from Chris at Michaels get together. I don't know if anyone is interested but I have a computer slide show on CD from my recent scuba diving trip to Roatan, Honduras. I took about 50 good pictures with a Housed Canon G9. I used the G9 internal flash. Some of you saw one of my of a Stone or Scorpion Fish laying on top of a coral head during a night dive.

 

[Tex Gal]

I can attend a meeting at Tex Gals house. Maybe Tex Guy has his new tank? I might be able to bring a L. Pantanal offspring for one of your tanks. They seem to be multiplying quicker with the new bulbs I got from Chris at Michaels get together

Now your just plain bragging! You know I have issues with that one! I'm doing everything but spoon feeding it!

Tex Guy's tank had to be shipped back. One side was crooked. I hope they can make another one fast. It takes 3 to 4 weeks to cure. He has everything in stacks ready for the tank. The only thing he needs to get is the stand.

 

[supersmirky]

I could attend too. Sounds like it would be fun!

 

[kris]

i'm in. it'd be great fun and a good opportunity.
i don't have enough plants to bring an offering, but i can bring desserts!
kris

 

[Coralite]

I am very excited to come present to your club. I have been throwing around ideas for a presentation that discusses skills learned in reefing which I have applied to my aquatic gardening. I think it will be a very enjoyable discussion of many broad topics which should be of interest to even the most seasoned "New School" aquatic gardeners.

 

[Kjm]

Count me in if this comes to fruition.

 

[Tex Gal]

I don't know if anyone is interested but I have a computer slide show on CD from my recent scuba diving trip to Roatan, Honduras. I took about 50 good pictures with a Housed Canon G9. I used the G9 internal flash. Some of you saw one of my of a Stone or Scorpion Fish laying on top of a coral head during a night dive.

That sounds interesting. If it's at my house, maybe we could have this running in a loop on the flatscreen while we eat.

 

[kris]

i can also volunteer my house. we had a meeting here once about 3 years ago and i remember people taking cuttings from the cactus garden and the grapevine lake. the cactus garden still boasts cutting-worthy plants, but the lake has had a pollution issue of late.
let me know...

 

[Coralite]

i can also volunteer my house. we had a meeting here once about 3 years ago and i remember people taking cuttings from the cactus garden and the grapevine lake. the cactus garden still boasts cutting-worthy plants, but the lake has had a pollution issue of late.
let me know...

You have freshwater cacti?

 

[kris]

not freshwater, these are the much more common desert variety.

 

[Cocobid]

This January meeting where and when??? I'm in.
Let me know what I can bring!!!

 

[Tex Gal]

Wondering what has been decided too... Any news yet?