Holland 2003

This is the 17th year in succession that Strood and District Aquarist Society has visited Holland to purchase fish. What started to be a two day, two shop, event has gradually expanded to three days and as many shops as possible.

Friday the 10th October Five am. saw the gathering of members starting their annual visit to some of the fish shops in Holland. By Seven a.m. we were on board the Sea France vessel Manet about to sail for Calais.

Once on French soil, we headed towards Breda to pick up Tony. From there it was full speed to Delft to visit AQUARIUMHUIS ROMBERG. Delft is a wonderful old city and we saw most of it in our efforts to reach the shop.( Autoroute unfortunately does note indicate one way streets) We almost admitted defeat when we encountered a low bridge with 2.7M headroom, our minibus being 2.82 M. After an hour or more, we reached our destination – parked quite illegally and went in the shop. Having made ourselves known, we were plied with the customary coffee and tea whilst viewing the tanks. The tanks were absolutely immaculate. It seemed to be that as soon as they took a fish from a tank, any surplus water was immediately mopped up and the 'front glass' polished. All of the fish were in prime condition. The 'double red' Nannostomus mortenthaleri were absolutely gorgeous. (if somewhat expensive). Romberg has a good selection of tropical freshwater fish and marines. Their reef tank is about 15 feet long and is absolutely beautiful. The two pictures below do not do it full justice.

After loading up our purchases, we headed back towards Rotterdam, our intention being to try to get to Verduijns before they closed. That was not to be, so we were off to Utrecht for our overnight stop.

Saturday saw us heading towards Arnhem to visit 'Biotopia'. This is a compact shop but with a lot of tanks. They specialize is finding the newer / more unusual fish. He had just had in a delivery of very small gobies, which he understood to be fully grown (about 1cm S.L.) We spent ages deciding what to buy, over the inevitable cups of coffee. In the middle of all this, a delivery of aquarium plants was made to the shop. He is furnishing a 22,000L! tank and there were tray upon tray of Amazon sword plants all over the place. The owner of the shop also makes very realistic tank backgrounds from bog wood stumps and large amounts of polyurethane foam coated with a sandy epoxy glue. The resulting 'biotope' is planted and looks incredibly realistic. Numerous bags of fish were eventually placed in poly boxes and we took our leave.

From Arnhem we headed towards Best to visit Aquarium Coenen. This shop has a marine floor with many tanks of beautiful fish and animals. The freshwater plants are in good condition and in great variety. There were probably at least ten different species of Amazon sword for sale. In total, there were around 60 to 70 different species of plant in stock. Again, we bought fish and some of the plants. From Best, we headed to Duerne to visit De Waterman. Unfortunately, stocks of fish were low as Jan was expecting a large shipment from Singapore and S. America some days later. That's the luck of the draw! Saturday evening saw us into the Hotel de Hoefpoort in Gemert. This is a regular stop over for Strood and as ever, the rooms were extremely comfortable. (Must remember to shut the bedroom window as the cockerels/ducks/peacocks etc in the castle next door start their dawn chorus at 5 am. The evening was spent in de Kroon and little needs to be added.

Sunday we were able to visit our good friend Pierre Snijders at Royal Blue. It was good to see Pierre looking so well as he has in recent years been quite ill. Again, stocks were a bit low but there was still quite a lot to interest us. Graeme was particularly pleased with a large pair of Severums which had quite spectacular colour. We left Helmond around mid day to begin the long drive home. Unfortunately, the motorway between Helmond and Eindhoven was closed so it was a case of taking the scenic route. We arrived back at Calais in time to stock up with cases of falling down water thence on to the 6.15 boat. Arrival home entailed sorting out boxes of fish and then finding tank space for them. I am pleased to report that all fish arrived back safely although two rummy nose tetras succumbed to the stress of the journey the next day. The final job was to take the hired mini bus back

The verdict on our trip. "Great must repeat it next year"!

© Pete Cottle, 2003.