| It really took the introduction of the undergravel filter | | | | up on them, take your thumb off the stem to let |
| to get the idea of cycling started. By then, you didn't | | | | the air out, and the fish would get sucked in. A great |
| want too many fish until the gravel bed got | | | | way to catch fry. |
| established. The first ones I saw came as a set of | | | | * TFH Magazine - always with the subscription page |
| green plastic tubes and elbows, with little holes drilled | | | | with the native guy with the huge plate in his lip |
| in the tubes. I've wondered if reviving the tube | | | | reading a copy. You got a couple loose-leaf pages for |
| system might be a compromise for an undergravel | | | | your giant TFH encyclopaedia, two new species |
| with plants- the roots could steer away from | | | | every month. |
| conditions they didn't like. | | | | * Really Big Livebearers For Sale - the fish farms had |
| A really good pet store would only sell you a few | | | | not yet discovered good business principles, and |
| fish to start off with - usually a pair of guppies for | | | | sometimes messed up and grew fish to spectacular |
| your 10 gallon. The chain fish store was normally a 5 | | | | size. Sometimes the Mollies offered for sale were |
| and 10 cent store. They had pictures of the fish next | | | | healthy and vigorous! |
| to the prices, because the staff knew nothing about | | | | * Lots of fishkeepers were trying to develop their |
| fish. | | | | own strain of guppy, platy, molly, or swordtail. Some |
| Before that "The Balanced Aquarium" was in, if you | | | | would sell their culls to the fish store, but most were |
| were an advanced aquarist. You would put heaps of | | | | afraid that the competition would get the jump on |
| plants in the tank, with the idea that the plants would | | | | them, so they'd have some oscars to act as garbage |
| absorb the fish waste. Incandescent light was what | | | | cans. |
| you got, in stainless-steel hoods. Somehow, people | | | | * "Cichlids" meant angelfish, discus, severums, Jack |
| with a green thumb could raise spectacular plants | | | | Dempseys, "Ports", etc. "African Cichlids" were Kribs |
| without CO² tanks! Maybe the coal furnace | | | | and Egyptian Mouthbrooders. Angelfish were very |
| helped? | | | | hard to breed, and discus were almost impossible. |
| Other "old-time" fishy stuff: | | | | The parents of "domestic" strains were better about |
| * Stainless-steel frame tanks, or even better, the | | | | rearing their young. |
| "lab" tanks with the funky spatter paintjob. | | | | * Killies would occasionally show up in the store, but |
| * Filter Floss - this was spun glass fibers, and you | | | | the "secret society" of guys sending fish and eggs |
| would get the darn stuff in your hands when you put | | | | through the mail was active back then, too. They |
| it in the filter, just like a million cactus thorns. No way | | | | had little ads in the back of TFH magazine to join the |
| to rinse it- when it got dirty you just threw it away. | | | | "AKA". |
| A million whacky filter systems have come and gone- | | | | * Corydoras were "garbagemen", and people didn't |
| some using huge amounts of activated charcoal. | | | | get that excited about them. Sometimes strange |
| * Those antique Chinese take-home containers - | | | | ones would come in that would cost a few cents |
| instead of plastic bags, the fish store would fold up | | | | more- so you could snag some sterbai, natteri, etc. |
| these wax-covered paper boxes with a little wire | | | | The idea was that you would pay discuss prices for |
| handle, with your fish inside. | | | | catfish would have made people faint, back then. |
| * Glass Dip Tubes - for catching smaller fish. Sneak | | | | |