A Walk Down Memory Lane

[Old Dave]

Hi all,

with Riverside taking a new direction, St George calling it a day and so many others finding things just too tough I thought we might like to ponder some of the local LFS history.

Some of my personal memories include Bestic St Brighton le Sands, and one on Botany Rd in Redfern.

I'd be interested to see if the history of Riverside aligns with my memories of 30 odd years ago.

So, recollections anyone?

[Andrew]

My father's parents bought him his first childhood aquarium from Riverside in its original location - long time ago! He kinda passed the addiction onto me, when I got my first tank from St George in 1989. We lived at Castle Hill then, and the best in our area was Baulkham Hills Aquarium (I think his name was Brian) and I often used to hang out at Lam's in Parramatta.

I have loads more stories, but have to dart off for now. Will top up later.

Andrew.

[gillsysyd]

When I first moved to Sydney I was 18 didn't have a license and most of my friends and I lived in Sydney CBD so had no car. I use to catch a train out to St George and Lams to buy Malawi's and then lug a foam box on the train back to Central.

[gianniz]

train, bus, push scooter was my transport back in the day.

from penrith to parra, city, st george and to Anita Oz fish. (The First Lady of Cichlids).

[fishguts]

my first memory of cichlids was me and "banger" (tony from clearwater in corrimal) catching a bus to LIN TOY PET CENTRE

on top of the hill in Woonona.... we swapped a blue tongue that we caught for a tangerine zebra.

i was 9 and bang was 10.

He even let me carry it to his house in the bag!!

i was so jealous cos he had a 3 ft tank that his mum let him have on the floor in his loungeroom.

no stand no light no nothing! he also bought a black shark that he had for about 30 years!!! he may even still have it.

i turned 50 this year...ive been "tangled up in cichlids" ever since.....those were the days!

[Andrew]

When I was 5, my parents took me to St George to buy me a goldfish. I remember throwing an almighty tantrum because the entrance looked too small and I didn't believe the shop would be any good. I got that wrong. Now I can't believe it's gone!

Who else got teary when the place closed?

[Gav]

Who else got teary when the place closed?

I did for one when saying thanks to Carol and goodbye. it was sad to see such an icon go.

my first fish experience was at pauls petshop on Burwood road in Burwood in the late 70's. i used to get my goldfish there. in the early 80's i started going to an aquarium at belmore rd in riverwood, before hearing of st george and convincing my parents to take me there. then once my mates got their licence it was fornightly treks around sydney, first to discover all the aquariums we found in the yellow pages, then to revisit them, then to visit those that didnt advertise. its amazing how many have gone, i just fear more will follow and follow soon.

[Link2Hell]

the usual start with Goldfish from the local pet shop

then the old man takes me over to Toy Fisheries at Homebush 1960 something

WOW they had everything even freshwater crocs

by the time I had a license they were gone

roll into the 70's and I found Cichlids

working at Roselands it was handy to drop into Marine Life Aquarium @ Punchbowl

bought a pair of Tilapia mosambique and found not a good fish to have with an undergravel

after the usual ribbing about "you keep fish" one of the mates started to be interested in Cichlids

so the weekend was usually driving around to any LFS and backyarder to see what they had

the girls only complained a little bit but eh who cared this was boys stuff

there was a guy at Smithfield that had the first serious Africans we saw Frontosas and Haps and Mbuna

etc etc etc selling out of his garage

there was also Norm Halliwell selling from his garage at Moorebank (where I first met Sorroz)

another guy that backyarded was in Hawthorne Pde Haberfield and he had Snakeheads in ponds under the

tanks and the some of best looking Nicraguense I have ever seen ........... I can still picture my mates face

when he was pointing at the pond and the guy got out a piece of dowel so we could see the Snakehead

bit it in two "keep your fingers out of there"

Ashfield Aquarium where I found a Chaca Chaca

Riverside when it was on the river at Marrickville

St George the "Tardis" soooo many tanks

Crystal Palace at Five Dock

Auburn Aquarium where I use to work weekends in the 80's

Wet n Dry at Kingswood .......... Wally was a fun guy just to talk to

and find some unusual stuff Zebra Plec Royal Plec and Blue Eye Plecs

Wetpets at Bondi Junction ... Horst the amazing so may catfish

you would never find anywhere else

to be continued

[cobaltcraig]

My first visit to a aquarium I was around 9 We went to lams on Canterbury Road and If they didnt have the fish there was a old guy who lived in Quick st Lakemba Lams would send you to if they didnt have it

There was also a aquarium near to The Beverly hills Stickly aquarium I forget the name but it was great and then we would go to St George My first fish were a pair of tiger oscars 2 tin foil barbs and 2 fire eels and a couple of weather loaches

Got out of fish for a few years after finding women more interesting lol

Then I got back into fish once going to my local aquarium in Riverwood who told me about these great fish called cichlids I was now married and needed something to take up my time as my previous hobby chasing women was now over

The owner of Riverwood Aquarium told me to go to the auctions at the nswcs as they were a great day and he said they even sold pies which really made me want to go

now I have 40 tanks and I am fat

Cheers

Craig

Edited August 23, 2012 by cobaltcraig

[pat williamson]

Not sure if I want to play this one. It all started with a mates big brother who has a massive 4ft tank with Dempseys and Port Acaras ?. My first tank was a 10th birthday present ( 1980 ) , it was 2ft and I had 2 red tail sharks and kulli loaches.

I have a memory of going to a house which I think was Riverside maybe in early 80s, but it was St George for me.We would catch the train from Gymea and spend hours there and more often than not leave with nothing ( because we had nothing). I have foggy memories of an aquarium in Miranda on the Kingsway and another one towards taren point past the five ways in a little set of shops.

First cichlid was convicts which kept all my other fish pinned under a rock. I have pretty much always had a tank , but for about 8 years it was a one fish only thing as I had a red devil which would not allow any other living thing to even think of entering his domain.

I could go on for hours about Lams and Riverside etc , but I wont.

[brucem]

I remember the big aquarium in Cronulla. I was into birds when I was younger and a mate had fish, so I wasn't too sure what we were looking at at the time!

[Link2Hell]

mate of mine used to run the Cronulla shop for a while then he went on to manage

Auburn when they were underneath Joyce Maine shop that was a fun move when

we shifted everything up to street level

I remember the one at Conulla had a freshwater sawfish in a pond and they called

it McCulloch because the bill looked like a chainsaw

[Neolamprologus]

what about silver with the besser block tank and shovelnose cats

[GundamCichlid]

Who else got teary when the place closed?

I still can not believe its gone :shock:

Thanks a lot for all the support when i was building my waterparadise in my garage

You are legend :thumbup:

[Link2Hell]

Ron Silver's shop at Brookvale opposite the bus depot

ahhh yes the big besser block pond oh the monsters in that bin

he use to put on his scuba gear to service it

nice one Neolamp

did you ever go to his house at Greenich before he started the shop

[pat williamson]

I believe it was called acclaim aquarium .I seem to remember a giant gourami as well ?.

[klw]

i remember back in 1980 something,selling my electric yellow fry to carol at st george,and all the staff were crowded around all looking at them and asking me how i bred them,can you believe that!! they were paying me $8 a baby,they werent popular then,i made some good pocket money back then,much later i worked for norm at riverside,and me and the halliwells and carol & hubby went to singapore one year for aquarama,that was great,i'll always remember that,those are my stand out memories from the past.very sad at the end of era x 2 (st george and riverside)

[Neolamprologus]

Chris, its Euan so if I went there you took me

My brain is fuzzy, malaria does that to you

Not a shop but remember that old guy I'm sure you took me there, down by Kev's place, keep thinking Barry, greenhouse.

I was gobsmacked by the fish.

Starts you remembering all the species that come and go then hopefully reappear again.

I know I digress, but spp maintainance is vital.

[Old Dave]

Chris, oooh what you said...um.. er.. wrote

The old man takes me over to Toy Fisheries at Homebush 1960 something.

I came to Sydney in the early seventies, Probably didn't get involved with fish until mid seventies but I remember the Toy Fisheries name.

The bloke at Smithfield that had the first serious Africans we saw Frontosas and Haps and Mbuna etc etc etc selling out of his garage.

Likewise.

Another guy that backyarded was in Hawthorne Pde Haberfield and he had Snakeheads in ponds under the

tanks and the some of best looking Nicaraguense I have ever seen ..........

Bought several of those parrots but didn't really get to keep them for too long. Something to do with not having a good enough nitrogen cycle, Never was much good at chemistry.

I can still picture my mates face when he was pointing at the pond and the guy got out a piece of dowel so we could see the Snakehead

bit it in two "keep your fingers out of there"

I got told off for calling them Snakeshead Gouramies, On the other hand he later offered to sell me the house & fishfoom when he was closing down.

Riverside when it was on the river at Marrickville

I remember custom tanks with a swim bridge between them at a shantytown type aquarium down by the Cook's river. The original Riverside right?

And the tardis at St George. How many times did it expand? And, of course, there was that very pretty little blonde. Ooops. Sorry Carol . Very knowledgeable petite salesperson.

Crystal Palace at Five Dock

Frequent visitor, but mostly tyre kicking. I remember buying some very large silver sharks hoping they might breed .

Auburn Aquarium.

One of my favourites still. I have a vague memory of downstairs in Joycies. Definitly upstairs.

Anyone remember a large aquarium store on the western side of the Princes Highway just north of the Tempe bridge? I have never seen such magnificent radicans and swords since.

(but I haven't been up to see Andrew yet, either.)

Was it Paul who owned Bestic St Aquarium at Brighton? I remember he always had a few killifish. Moved to Qld if I remember correctly.

And LAM's was on Canterbury Rd. So many favourites.

Like most of you I am guilty of many an "Aquarium Crawl".

My wife is often happy to share my indulgences, as long as we stop in at a few places more in line with her shopping preferences.

Old habits die hard .

Keep the recollections coming,

Dave

Edited September 29, 2012 by Old Dave

[Link2Hell]

found this in the old posts and thought it needed a rebirth ………… so what are some of your starting memories

we all know where Andrew ended up nice to have Labyrinth (Riverside from the old days) as a sponsor

[adamgatt]

I have only been keeping cichlids since the beginning of the year but I have family that's had them for years. My uncle and cousins had cichlids throughout my early childhood so I used to see their fish often. Only thing I can remember though is my uncle's big red devil. I also remember going to Campsie aquarium a few times and seeing some massive fish in a display tank.

First fish I got as a kid were some goldfish, shubunkins and koi in a pond my old man made in the backyard about 25 years ago (it's still running). I remember going to a house in Granville just off Woodville road. An old bloke lived there and had concrete ponds everywhere. We stocked the pond from there.

About 12 months ago I decided I wanted to setup a fish tank so I got a cheap tank off gumtree and bought some peppermints, neons and german blue rams. That kept me happy for a couple months until my uncle and cousin talked me into going to the February meeting with them earlier this year and I learnt about tanganyikans. I've now got 17 tanks running in the garage. 

[noyd]

Neptune Aquarium in Blacktown, they had pretty good supplies and stock levels. Fish was not bad either.

[Momo]

You old blokes are starting to lose your memory....

As if Rod? @ parramatta aquarium wasn’t part of the rounds, on Harris street.... filthy shop but had some hidden gems.

 

heaps of memories, been active In hobby now for about 30 years, starting as a 6yr with my mum doing a weekly run to trans at canly vale to top up the goldfish tank that I’ve killed again, whether it be from using multi cure as ager, cleaning tank with dishwashing detergent, or flushing tank with tap water.

Lots of highs and lows over the years, hobbies in a dying state that’s for sure, I can only hope now that my kids show some interest. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Momo

[Old Dave]

Happy New Year to everyone 😎

Dropped back in when I saw Ace Forum mentioned on a FB site. Haven't been on here for a while. So many great memories.

Can't believe my original post is 10 years old. 🙃

I suppose Facebook, GumTree and eBay have taken a toll on the sales pages.

There are so many tanks being sold it must be having an effect on the hobby, and electricity.  

 

So, what changes have you seen over the last 10 years??  Best aquarium stores? Changes in technology?

Please comment,

 

Thanks, Old Dave

[MattG_Sydney]

Hey @Old Dave

Forum is very slow these days. Good to see some of the longtimers posting again. I have seen a few pet shops open and shut in my time keeping fish (around 15 years as an adult) .. Biggest shock to the system was when Andrew decided to close his shop. It was a sad day for any serious fish keeper. The other change I have seen is most of the breeders downsizing or shutting down their setup. Some of fish that were easier to find 10 years ago are no where to be found! Cost of living is having a big impact on fish keepers. Hope things change for the better some day !