Shops for Apistogrammas and other dwarves in Australia

[wickedglass]

could you please post where your favourite place to get Apistogrammas and other dwarves is or shops that you know regularly stock dwarves anywhere in Australia.

I like to get mine from

All Aquarium and Pet Supplies
8 Dunoon Court
Mulgrave, 3170
Heinz Staude
Phone: (03) 9546 1025

Heinz has been past president of the victorian cichlid society several times since 1972 and founding member. He really knows his stuff! If you have an interest in a special type of fish, he can really be a fountain of knowledge.
Last time I was there (2 days ago) he had several species of Apistogramma there and he's working on breeding a couple, too.
The ones I remember off the top of my head are Apistogramma viejita (which he told me is spanish for "old woman"), A. macmasteri, A. caetei, a beautiful Venezuelan variety of A. agassizi (only one pair left, which he's breeding), A. cacatuoides ... I think there were 1 or 2 other sp. there too which I can't remember, as well as blue and golden rams (both normal and ballooned) and a range of african dwarves. If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, he will probably have something to suit your taste ... like the labyrinth fish Ctenopoma (african leopard bushfish)
anyway, if you're in Melbourne, All Aquarium and Pet Supplies is a great place to check out. He can special order for you as well.

cheers,
Chris

[parkap]

Chris,

Have no idea about non-Sydney suppliers other than I'm pretty sure Kev's mob,Slippery Little Suckers, ships apistogrammas down to Melbourne.

But for Sydney suppliers:
- B&C in Matraville: the owner is mad apisto fan. He's got very good customer service as well. Have only been in there a few times (ie. only started getting abck into apistogramma's in January this year) but he had great qulaity apisto's. He imports them himself.
- SLS in Kensington: Kev gets their import stock for them - enough said. Have been frequenting them quite a bit lately but that's mostly because they've had new stock coming in during this restocking period for me. Brett is always a lot of help.
- Aquapets in Bondi Junction: Great little shop. Always love their tank set ups. I went in there recently after Thomas let me know they had a new shipment in. They had some nice quality imported apisto's.

They're probably the main places I know of. Other LFS's have the occassional apisto but they're usually from the domestic suppliers, Bay and IA. They're not bad quality but they're definitely not as good as the imported one's. But you get what you pay for.

Would love to see if anyone knows of any other really good apisto stockist in Sydney/NSW South Coast regions.

p.

[wickedglass]

no one else gets their dwarves from shops? C'mon, post it, give your favourite shop some kudos and share the lurve

[dreamer]

i believe sls is actually in kingsford :)

another shop to mention is aquapets in bondi junction

[parkap]

i believe sls is actually in kingsford :)



oops, yep that's right. sorry. my sydney geography is shocking.

[Th0mas]

Unfortunately that's about all on the sources of apisto in Sydney right now. No known reliable breeder nor other sources apart from those LFS mentioned.

St. George used to bring in an odd one or two in the past (that's at least 5 years ago) and my recent visits has no apisto.

Sometime Riverside at Campsie has some as well, but quantity and quality is just not there.

Parramatta Aquarium's new owner has some cacs, these are his own and not expensive. However not the same benchmark compared with the German imports, but good for intorduction to apisto as these are more affordable.

Lams at Parramatta is like St. George, haven't seen one for the last several visits but has had some odd ones in the past (borelli, bitaeniata, aggies and cacs - a few years ago). Might have something to do with the change of management (passed on to the sons).

Can't say much about others privateers (Xtreme, etc). But certainly none will ever appear in Strictly at present and future.

We just don't seems to have enough people with their interests. Plenty of rams all around LFS, but apisto is rare. As it's been said before, they take time to settle and grow up in order to show their true beauty, so not really doing themselve a favour in terms of marketing.

Thomas.

[Proteus]

I guess the more word there is about these guys, plus the added exposure can only help things.

[SV650S Rider]

Hi Finn Aquarium in Syndal here in Melbourne generally has a few Rams and Apistos if you look hard enough (so many other nice fish you generally get distracted and dont make it that far into the shop). Blackburn Road if i remember correctly.

[parkap]

Rider, do any of the LFS's down there imprt directly themselves or do they just go through the usual Oz wholesalers? From what I've learnt recently, Melbourne is thriving with apistophiles, so would be very surprised if there weren't a lot more LFS's importing, either as a Co-op of independently.

p.

[cactusboy]

Blackburn Aquarium(Melbourne) on Middleborough Rd usually have some Apistos. They only usually have one or two pairs of each species. The ones I remember seeing are cact, aggazies, nijenssi(?), and a blue head form. I can't say that there are too many stores in Melbourne that stock them. You do see blue and gold rams around a lot more often at other fish shops.

[Th0mas]

In the past I used to visit Boronia Aquarium when I'm down in Melbourne. The fellow who runs it then (5 years ago) used to stock various apistos and rare pelvichromis species. Not sure about recent years.


Thomas.

[Ben]

If buying apisto's in Melbourne and not getting them freighted down from SLS, your best shop is all aquarium and pet supplies in Mulgrave. I believe Heinz Staude has owned the shop for 40+ years and was the first aquarium shop in Melbourne.

Another thing to remember you can always ask the aquarium shop what apisto's they can get it. More often than not there are 15+ species on their wholesale list and special requests can be made.

Cheers
Ben

[Namn8r]

I live in Adelaide :cry: :cry: :cry: Enough said.....

[Grae]

Im in Perth

i have to order in Cacs!!!
and they still wont order them!!

Graeme

[Seaview]

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:03 am Post subject: Perth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Im in Perth

i have to order in Cacs!!!
and they still wont order them!!

Graeme

well hopefully we can sort that out graeme :D. SLS should be sending a list through of prices for the new shipment and we will be ordering of them as soon as we recieve the list.

so if there is anyone else out there from Perth that would like to order of SLS but cant afford the shipping where here to help. hopefully we can keep the prices the same as whats posted here by kev.

[Sime76]

I got some in the past from St Kilda aquarium in the past. Don't think they keep them regularly but if they come accross good quality apisto s they usually snap them up and sell them.

And Yes a big 2 thumbs up for Heinz at All Aquarium. Can't be beaten

[Grae]

Thanks SEAVIEW

I really must be your Fav customer..... :D

Graeme

[Noddy65]

Hi Seaview
Keep me in mind as well.... :D
Dr Mike

[Noddy65]

I'll probably be after some of the 'good' stuff.

Dr Mike

ps.Ill see how I go T :D homas

[Seaview]

Mike ill be ordering hopefully some of the 'good' stuff as long as there not all pre sold before hand! some have really caught my eye and i would love to have some!! :P

[taksan]

St kilda Aquarium in Melbourne has a good range of Dwarfs in their own display area

[Namn8r]

Ha ha did you know we have a Seaview Aquariums in adelaide too!

[Seaview]

Namn8r Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ha ha did you know we have a Seaview Aquariums in adelaide too!

yes we did and there actually named seaview aquarium centre. i have been told that it is a very nice shop. theres also a seaview aquarium pet and reptile centre in melbourne i think??

there are a few wholesalers out there that sometimes get it mixed up from time to time with us and the adelaide store. :ug ahhahah

[arjay]

I got all excited when I heard that Seaview was going to be dealing with SLS. Alas, my excitement was short lived... The Adelaide Seaview is an excellent shop but they've never really bothered with dwarf cichlids... :(

[Namn8r]

Keep in touch arjay,

Im lookn at pickn up some Trifasciata & Double Red Agassizzii & Royal whiptails in this next lot. I really want the pair of Wilhelmi...damn they are HOT but just to put in the community tank a bit risky...id want to be specifically have them in a specialist tank in the hope of breeding them for the price they are at!

[Robdog]

Only just found out about Parramatta Aquarium changing hands. Apparently the old tubby bloke was into some dodgy stuff and skipped the country. Now resides in Malawi.
Didn't have any apistos when I went in there last. Old mate used to have great triple red Cacs and a few Nijjseni here and there. Seen bitaeniata and Breitbinden on occasion but not any more. The new bloke seems interested in getting some Geophagus in so might keep an eye on it.

Have seen the odd Cacs at a Strictly in northmead but not real good qual.
SLS and Aquapets get the Gold and Silver buts its daylight for Bronze in Sydney. Haven't heard of the Matraville joint but could be a goer.

[Th0mas]

Only just found out about Parramatta Aquarium changing hands. Apparently the old tubby bloke was into some dodgy stuff and skipped the country. Now resides in Malawi.
Didn't have any apistos when I went in there last. Old mate used to have great triple red Cacs and a few Nijjseni here and there. Seen bitaeniata and Breitbinden on occasion but not any more. The new bloke seems interested in getting some Geophagus in so might keep an eye on it.

Have seen the odd Cacs at a Strictly in northmead but not real good qual.
SLS and Aquapets get the Gold and Silver buts its daylight for Bronze in Sydney. Haven't heard of the Matraville joint but could be a goer.

Never relies on Strictly for qulity. Good old Rod (ex Parra. Aq. owner) has some apisto in every now and then but they weren't top notch either (better than nothing though). The new owner (Craig) has some cacs, and indicated he might tries to bring in some other species (borelli, aggie, etc - the common ones) in near future.

Eastern Suburb is probably the place for apisto hunting. Three shops have some apisto in stock constantly. Just been to Matraville and they have some nice panduro and agassizi "Alenquer". Surely there are some pullcapaensis, borelli, vejita, etc at SLS and AquaPet has some F0 gibbicep and juruensis, etc.

My guess is the market in Eastern Sydney is a bit different from the rest of Sydney.

Thomas.

[Robdog]

Aquamart in Castle Towers shopping centre is a nice shop too. Sometimes they have some cacas but they always seem to have really nice Rams up the back.
They also sell the little AquaOne 320's for $50 bucks. Good little cheap tanks that I'm using for breeding and growouts. Pity they have UGF's tho

[Robdog]

Bought a great pair of Rams from Aquamart Castle Towers the other day. They had eggs in the shop tank and are looking great in one of my little setups. They look as if they are getting ready to have another go

[Th0mas]

Apisto. galore at one of the local stores at the moment.

Species just arrived are:

baenschi
uaupsei (male heavy, maybe female in there - difficult to sex)
sp. "Rio Mamore" (young juvenile, take time to colour up)
borelli "yellow-blue" (great finnage/colour/size)
agassizi "Tefe" (young juvenile)
nijsseni
panduro
bitaeniata "Shishi-ta" (1 pair only) - had to add the hyphen
elizabethae (male heavy, not sure if female is there)
cacatoides (standard double red strain)
agassizi (standard double red strain)
iniridae (single male only)

Thomas.

[Robdog]

Address address???

[Th0mas]

PM sent.

[Robdog]

Saw some apisto's at Kellyville today. They were the biggest, ugliest, dwarfs I've ever seen. Aggies that were about 7-8cm long, all huge males, with big lumps on their heads like big Frontosa's.
Huge male Cacas with multiple deformities and extremely lifeless. There were two females that looked fairly normal size and shape but the males all just sat there literally on top of each other. Unlike the Aggies which were all male and all flaring and competing for the only hiding place in the tank.
They also had "Blue Heads" and "Golden Apisto's". Rubbish :roll:
I wouldn't touch any of them

...and don't get me started on the torn, fungused discus!
:? They used to have really good quality. :?: :?: :?: :?:

[Th0mas]

Not to my surprise - found similar specimens at Parramatta over the weekend. Probably from the same source.

Thomas.

[Robdog]

Thomas,
Why do we bother travelling so far for such crap? :lol:

[Th0mas]

Thomas,
Why do we bother travelling so far for such crap? :lol:

Isn't Kellyville further :P

[Robdog]

Sooo your saying I'm dumber than you!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's probably true. I get to kill two birds with one stone when I'm out there as I can go to my parents house at Baulkham Hills and see my dog and that makes it all worth it.

And I get to kill two birds with stones and that makes me feel like a man!

[namezmud]

There are a couple of new places in Melbourne that have had apistos in the last couple of weeks.

TVS Aquatics (opened a month or so ago). Burwood Hwy, Ferntree Gully. Had a few species incl aggies, cacs and wholesales SLS I think.

Staunch Aq, side street off chapel st opp Jam Factory south yarra.

As said, Heinz has by far the best range tho.

Dean
cacatuoides, trifasciata, viejita, borelli F0.

[tim]

Last time I looked (last week), St George Aquariums had a few tanks of apistos. These where the tanks in the inner rooms. The staff there did not seem to know that apistos were dwarf cichlids.

[gingerbeer01]

so what about in qld. I just picked up a pair of aggies at LFS, but whetr is known.

Steve

[TW]

Apisto. galore at one of the local stores at the moment.

Species just arrived are:

baenschi
uaupsei (male heavy, maybe female in there - difficult to sex)
sp. "Rio Mamore" (young juvenile, take time to colour up)
borelli "yellow-blue" (great finnage/colour/size)
agassizi "Tefe" (young juvenile)
nijsseni
panduro
bitaeniata "Shishi-ta" (1 pair only) - had to add the hyphen
elizabethae (male heavy, not sure if female is there)
cacatoides (standard double red strain)
agassizi (standard double red strain)
iniridae (single male only)


Thomas, I know you made this post a while back & probably most stock now gone, but I don't suppose you could give me the address of this shop. I'd love to go look at what might be available.

Thanks

[tim]

Been to Auburn Aquariums last weekend (115-117 Parramatta Road Auburn) and as they normally do, there were several varieties of apistos.

[wickedglass]

Ravi at
Fin Land Aquarium
123 pascoe vale road
moonee ponds
victoria
imports apistos regularly

[pencil]

Melbourne- Fin Land aquarium seems to get new wild causght apistogrammas as well.