On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 21:27:54 -0500, Greg G. wrote:

I've found it hard to find interesting fish these days. All the
independents have gone out of business, and the Chain's carry nothing
but the same-old-crap. When I was a kid, there was a really cool store
in Lindburg that carried an unbelievable variety of stock.

We've still got at least 3 here in Spokane. One specializes in sal****er
fish, so I don't go there. Another has a good selection of plants, but is
highly opinionated, so I go there only when necessary.

The third usually has a good selection of freshwater fish, and sometimes
live blackworms, but no live plants. They got in a new shipment for the
big shopping weekend and I went down to see them. I bought some panda
cories, but the interesting thing was a tank with 3 bichers in it.

I'd read about them but never seen them before. Supposedly they've been
around since the Jurassic. Pectoral fins that look like fingers,
protruding nostrils, lungs, and some really strange spiky fins on an
eel-shaped body. Altogether a very ugly fish, but I wish I had room for
one :-).