Reminder: GCCA swap meet Sunday, Oct. 21st.

[Ryzilla]

the plant guy who SUCKS is a younger man, maybe in his early 30's. He had a small bag full of clado and cald it fuzzy moss. He was charging $15 for it. You will see who I am talking about he always has like a solo crypt plant in a bag and he charges like $10 for it. What a rip off artist.

I also will not be attending because I just bought CRS. That was my swap money.

[eds]

Originally Posted by Ryzilla

the plant guy who SUCKS ...

You are such the diplomat!
Like I said, someone must be buying what he is selling, because he keeps coming back. But just in case anyone here is confused, I was surprised to see single, small portions of plants, esentially vacuum packed in plastic. JMO, but I never saw anything packaged that was that was worth antwhere near the asking price.

In contrast, the couple from WI have a commercial operation growing pond plants and grow aquaria plants in the off season. And the little guy with a beard has decades of experience, and has some crupts I have never seen elsewhere, all for decent prices. Hint, buy the smaller cheaper ones - crypts tend to melt and they'll get bigger soon enough.

Unless you are completely setting up a new tank or something, I've found that the neighborhood of $50 is a decent amount to bring and spend. You can get a considerable amount of fish, food, and plants for that, and the limit keeps you from just picking up everything that attracts your eye. The toughest thing is to decide what to get and what not to.

If you want a huge piece of driftwood or something, you might want to bring more. Danger - the hotel has an ATM machine...

[Ryzilla]

Originally Posted by eds

You are such the diplomat!
Like I said, someone must be buying what he is selling, because he keeps coming back. But just in case anyone here is confused, I was surprised to see single, small portions of plants, esentially vacuum packed in plastic. JMO, but I never saw anything packaged that was that was worth antwhere near the asking price.

In contrast, the couple from WI have a commercial operation growing pond plants and grow aquaria plants in the off season. And the little guy with a beard has decades of experience, and has some crupts I have never seen elsewhere, all for decent prices. Hint, buy the smaller cheaper ones - crypts tend to melt and they'll get bigger soon enough.

Unless you are completely setting up a new tank or something, I've found that the neighborhood of $50 is a decent amount to bring and spend. You can get a considerable amount of fish, food, and plants for that, and the limit keeps you from just picking up everything that attracts your eye. The toughest thing is to decide what to get and what not to.

If you want a huge piece of driftwood or something, you might want to bring more. Danger - the hotel has an ATM machine...

That one couple has LARGE mats of java fern for practiacally nothing. They also have pairs of florida flag fish. Great people to talk to as well.

[joshua969]

I'll have to be extra-selective tonight when I go to Scott's Pet Shop. I would hate to spend all my cash there and miss out on something great at the swap.

[squirrelproductions]

So what did everyone get? I got cories and a BN pleco. I got a school of 5 albino cories and an albino BN pleco from the Asian/Filipino (moustached) gentleman with his fish in the rubbermaid bins. I got another 5 green cories from the father-son with the tank of angels by the doors. As a GCCA rookie, I forgot to ask the scientific names so I only have the common names that I heard/saw thrown around the respective vendors.

I was looking hard for RCS, but did not find them. Besides the one vendor with the red ramshorns (10/$3) and the MTS, I didn't see any vendors with other types of snails. I didn't really see any great bargains on equipment nor on driftwood; there was a sponge filter that I forgot to get after making my rounds . I wasn't looking for any plants in general since I'm still growing out the batch that I got from a Swap-And-Shop here. I did get some Aquadine food to add to the variety during feeding time.

In general, the event was a little underwhelming but still satisfying -- especially since I got the fish that I really wanted. But I could definitely see how the event would be heaven for a cichlid hobbyist!

[eds]

There was a slightly different mix of vendors than in the past, but still a few I wanted to see, so it was a success for me. Of course, knowing what to expect, I didn't need to worry about my expectations being met.

We got there a little late, and while there may have been somewhat less selection, the folks were really willing to deal. Plus, 3 of the 4 guys I dealt with I've bought from before.

That BN guy with the 'stache was they guy I was hoping to see. I think I got 10-12 albino and longfin BNs for $15. I offered him $20 and he said that was too much. He just wanted to get rid of cories so he tossed in 5 or so for free.

Let's see - I picked up 9 silver angels for $15, and 5 bosemanii rainbows for $20. And some ludwigia.

Biggest disappointment, the blood worm guy was out by the time we got there. But he gave me his contact info and I'll pick up what I need when convenient.

So I went there wanting angels, BNs, and bosemanii, and I got a lot of healthy fish cheap. So I got out of it exactly what I wanted.

The couple with the commercial plant operation weren't there. The equipment is hit or miss. Just that a.m. my buddy had been telling me he needed a new HOB filter for his nano, and he happened to get one for $4. So sometimes you get lucky.

Damn room was too hot, tho!

[Mysphit]

This was my first time at a Swap and it was ok. I was hoping to see more of a selection of pleco's but otherwise I thought there were some good deals to be had. I ended up with 2 plants from the guy in the middle with the long crazy beard, 4 angels from a guy on the side that was just selling out faster then I could look, and got some bulk food cheap.

I would of liked to see a few more plants for sale and more Koi Angels, but in the end I'm happy.


The one thing I was really looking for that I didnt get though... A carpeting plant for my 55 gallon. Sooo, if anyone thins out some anytime soon let me know! I was hoping to find something, anything that would carpet. Maybe next time.

[Ryzilla]

The thing is, you have to know what to expect from the swap. For the planted tank perspective there are few but great discounts available to us. BN plecos, angles, discus, driftwood, cories, and food is what we should be looking for. I have also seen in the past full tank setups for a fraction of the cost, such as a 10g with filter, light, heater, and stand for $15. I once saw some awsome 6g tanks fs that were 10g that had been cut in half, it was a 6g with the same footprince as a 10g for $5. The newlife spectrum guy has the cheapest food around. You really have to know what you are looking for.

I am also suprised you couldnt find any RCS. There is usually two guys with some.

[will5]

I have to say that i was disappointed that there was not that many vendors there this time, but this being my second time there i can't say how many of the vendors are there on a regular basis.

On a good note i went there having to get driftwood for my 10 gallon tank and frozen brine shrimp and got them both. I also scored some crypt molenii? or some other mo word, a pair of German Blue Rams, and three Green Cory's.

So all and all it was a good swap meet.

Also if anyone is looking Aquarium adventure has some Hill stream loaches for sale. My friend got a pair for 11 something with tax, but he's on there members list. This place has a good selection of plants for sale as well, but i did not get any because i spent all of what i set aside at the swap meet.

[hoochi]

I too was a little dissapointed. I noticed that Bill Eagan wasn't at the swap this time. Last time he had some nice stuff like cardinals, loaches and plecos. There apisto selection was a little weak this swap, I was hoping for the same selection as the last swap

I did however pick up 5 Corydoras sterbai and 2 Rineloricaria sp. 'red lizard' from the moustached filipino guy. He has great prices, especially on bristlenose.

I never expect much plant wise at the swaps. I prefer to get most of my plants from the swap n shop here. Theres much more variety on the forums anyways.

[crazie.eddie]

I'm not sure what happened to Bill. I haven't received a reply from him for a few weeks not on Simply, nor has he returned my calls.

Being a Filipino myself, I have to make sure I go next time and meet this Filipino guy. LOL