Holland 2005

05:15, is an unearthly time to be away, but that was the time the 19th annual expedition to Holland began. By 0700. the Sea France 'Manet' was out into the channel and we were devouring our 'full monty' breakfast. Landing at Calais, after the 'David Bailey' of the party aka Dick Mills had videoed the beautiful sun rise, it was full speed ahead for our first shop; Eurofish in Rotterdam.

The best buy, had to be by Allan Best who grabbed two ginormous Crossocheilus siamensis for the paltry sum of less than €5 each! Various other purchases were made and we headed to Aquarium Romberg in Delft.

The first time we visited this shop, we spent hours looking for it and finished up faced with a low bridge that the mini bus could not negotiate. This time, apart for one small error, we were there within minutes of arriving at the required motorway junction. As ever, the hospitality in this shop and all others was superb. No sooner were we in the shop and orders for tea and coffee were being poured. This shop is a credit to the staff. Tanks are immaculate and the fish were in a similar condition. A good selection of some of the more uncommon species were available and they were eagerly snapped up. A minimum of two hours was taken to decide on the fish wanted and for them to be caught and bagged. By this time, it was nearly five pm and the hotel beckoned. This was the Hotel Campanile in Delft. Rooms had been pre booked as with most hotels in Holland, during the week, they are full to overflowing. After a disagreement with bar staff over the arrangements for the evening meal, it was time for the traditional glass or three of the local 'dunkel' beer and on to eat. One of the significant parts of the evening was right at the end when a certain gentleman??? who will be nameless tried to join four other people in a lift with a capacity of eight! The over weight buzzer sounded twice before he walked up the stairs. That should give our VP some 'food for thought'!

First call the next day, was to Verduijn's Cichlids in Zevenhuizen.

We rarely miss out Verduijns though few are 'cichlidophiles'. The dwarf cichlids were superb quality and quite a few pairs were soon being caught and bagged. I was particularly pleased to find a couple of 'odd' loaches, one of which was an Aborichthys species. After final 'goodbyes', we headed to our next shop: De Riftwachter in Hilversum.

This is one impressive shop with a capital I. Built in the remains of a WW2 German erected store for salt and gravel this was declared a national building of historic interest i.e. a listed building. Having lain derelict for many years, the current owner developed it into a most impressive aquatic shop. Many tanks of tropical fresh and marine water fishes are superbly maintained. Keith was able to find some unidentified (to us ) barbs which were soon sorted out from the fifty or so B. rhomboocellatus in the tank as well. Further work is underway to make a new themed tank show room. Definitely a shop to make a return visit.

Our last shop of the day was Aqua Ferrytale in Amersfort.

This is another shop which tends to specialise in Cichlids but also has a good selection of other fish. Probably our best buy was a group of good sized Uaru fernandezyepzi. They were advertised at €60 but by taking the whole group, the price was considerably reduced. At this shop we also met with Stefan v d Voort - a keen Badis collector and breeder. Stefan gave me the details of both of the last two shops. More about Stefan later. Off then to our overnight stop at a hotel close to Arnhem.

Day three saw us take a short ride into Arnhem and Biotopia.

This is a small shop but it has an amazing selection of fish. One of the 'best buys' was probably some enormous Betta pugnax, the males in full breeding colour and only £3 each. They also had nice Corydoras concolor and caudimaculatus. We spent well over two hours in Biotopia so it was reluctantly decided to forgo our last scheduled shop and head for Calais. The four hour journey was completed with just one short 'snack' break and that left us just enough time to get some small stocks of wine and beer. It was all just a bit too much for Sandra & Keith Sollitt!

As you can see from these pics, we had just a few boxes of fish with us.

On arrival at the port, we were informed that the sailing was delayed by about one hour so. Bit of a come down after such a pleasant few days but it gave us time to discuss the arrangements for 2006 tour! The round trip was 845 miles.

Devario pathirana.

I was contacted by a friend in Thailand Mr Kamphol who was coming to the UK on the 23rd Oct to see two of his children who are at school here. He wanted some D. pathirana to take back to Thailand on the 30th. That should have been an easy request to fulfil. But as that well known law says 'If anything can go wrong it surely will' it did! No pathirana in any of the shops I contacted. So put into action Plan 2! Contacted Ilse & Guido at Fischhaus Zepkow who are breeding them. How to get them to the UK proved to be a bit of a nightmare. So then next part came into action. Contact Stefan ( who also knows Mr Kamphol) to see if he could accept the delivery on the day prior to our visit to Aqua Ferrytale on the Friday. Yes that was not a problem so the fish were duly despatched on Wed 26th to arrive in Holland on the 27th. Mr Kamphol in the mean time, knowing of Stefan's deep interest in Badis species, brought over a trio of Badis kyar. These are very rare fish and are probably the first ever in Europe. I looked after them just prior to our trip and they were handed over at Aqua Ferrytale in Amersfort. The look on Stefan's face was just unbelievable! He was so excited his hands were shaking. Meanwhile, the pathirana were brought back to the UK on the 29th and handed over to Mr Kamphol on the 30th . Then onto the night flight to Bangkok arriving some 12 hours later. All 12 fish were in superb condition on arrival - a tribute to the quality of the stock bred at Fisch Haus Zepkow and the care and attention paid to the packaging. By the time these fish reached their new 'home', I reckon that they had travelled around 6,500 miles! And all on one bag of air!!

Where there is a will, there is a way!!!

© Pete Cottle, 2005.