When I moved from Champaign to Chicago for 6 years after getting my
degree from the U of I, I found only one store anything close to
Sailfin and that was the old Noah's Ark, which has since gone out of
business. Now I am stuck in North Central Michigan and there are no
stores even close to the variety of fish and supplies. I was back to
see John and Sailfin at the NANFA conference in Champaign back in '98 or
'99 and after checking out the petshops in the twin cities, Sailfin was
by far the best. I hope you go back and if you do, ask for John and
tell him Joe Gardner recommended him to you. Keep in mind that if John
is still the owner, he has been there since the '70's and survived the
PetCo and those other chains which put so many other individual pet
stores out of business. Joe.
Todd Crail wrote:
>Now now let's go easy on him here... :)
>
>The aquariums in his shop are his livelyhood and if he's spending space on
>fish that won't sell, he's not making money off that space, and that's bad
>business. I had orangethroat and fantail darters, brindled madtom (set up
>so you couldn't miss him), and some shiners for 8 months in my shop (because
>I liked them) and the only interaction I got from customers was "what are
>those?" and then they just moved on. No one asked "Are they for sale?",
>"Where to get them?", "etc etc etc". They would just nod and go on.
>
>People walk into a fish shop looking for something EXOTIC to buy.
>
>Remember... NA Natives are always in the European books as appropriate
>species ;)
>
>>From what you're describing, he was trying to make logical appeals (although
>poorly based ones :) why he wouldn't want to have them in his shop. You're
>probably one of 3 people in his businesses lifetime that's asked about them.
>The other people prolly wanted muskies or alligator gar ;)
>
>And it is in the general consciousness of shop owners (right or wrong) that
>it is illegal to do so in the first place. I guess what you'd have to ask
>yourself is... Okay he felt it was illegal so he didn't... Now to see if he
>has any snakeheads in the shop ;)
>
>Then you can feel free to call him hypocrite and I won't say hum. :)
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Sajjad Lateef" <sajjadlateef_at_yahoo.com>
>To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
>Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 12:35 PM
>Subject: NANFA-- Visit to Sailfin Pet Shop, Champaign, IL
>
>
>
>
>>I was visiting Champaign, IL earlier this week and stopped
>>by the Sailfin Pet Shop on Neil St. This is a large, well-
>>maintained pet (and fish) store.
>>
>>They had a fairly large selection of both salt-water and
>>fresh-water critters. Their tanks were decorated in a neat
>>way that I ought to try. The gravel was sloped at a 30degree
>>incline from front to back (1/4" in the front and about 4" in
>>the back) and a couple of rock piles on the left and right.
>>No live plants. But, they had a colored foil background that
>>was bunched up to provide a "cave" effect. Each tank looked like
>>it had individual filters and was serviced from the back. The
>>tanks were on a stepped stands (lowest was close, middle 4" back,
>>and top another 4" back). Some tanks had a smaller tank put
>>against an opening in the background and stuffed with rocks
>>and branches.
>>
>>That was a change from the usual fish stores near here with all
>>tanks in a straight vertical rack, uniform painted backgrounds,
>>and serviced from the front.
>>
>>That was interesting. Now for the funny part ...
>>
>>I went up to this gray-haired guy who seemed like he was
>>the proprietor of the store and asked him if he had any natives.
>>His response "They're illegal". My jaw drops down and I say
>>indignantly "No way! I am talking about minnows. They are not
>>illegal." The guy is a bit shocked and tries to bluster "But, we
>>can't keep those fish at the tempratures that we keep around here.
>>They would soon get protozoan infections". I am so pissed off.
>>I tell him "You should've told me that before I spent the past
>>five years keeping native fish at room tempratures without
>>losing many". I then walk out. No use spending any more time
>>in a store when they don't know about natives, huh?
>>
>>Sajjad
>>Chicago
>>
>>
>>=====
>>--
>>Sajjad Lateef
>>sajjad_at_acm.org
>>
>>
>--
>
>
>>/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
>>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
>>/ Association"
>>/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
>>
>>
>Association
>
>
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>>
>>
>http://www.nanfa.org
>/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
>/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
>/ Association"
>/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
>/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
>/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
>/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
>/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
>/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org
</x-flowed>