Guppy Trip

I visited with Jack Mertz, president of Gateway Guppy Club in St. Louis. He would be available to share his fishroom and sell some stock the weekend of Jan. 12 or Jan. 19. The CAFE auction in Champaign is Saturday, Jan. 19 so we could go Jan. 12, 13 or 20. If you are interested in going, reply with which of the dates you would go. Jack raises half-black reds (HB reds), HB pastels, "any other color" (AOC) albinos, and HB AOC. I'm working on other breeders who do other colors. If you have other color strains you are interested in, let me know. I need to know if you want to go fairly soon so I can let Jack know how many will come.

I am interested but I will have to wait until Monday to see which weekend I am off.

Mark

Checking dates..

Any weekend in Jan would be ok with me.

Mark

I could go the 12th or 26th, but cannot on the 19th.

Let me know if that works.

DZ

I used to have a strain of guppies, they had bright blue bodies and red fins. I think they were called Japanese fire fins, wish I still had them. Haven't seen them for sale in a long time.

I found a breeder in Granite City ( this will be on the way to the St. Louis area)that has several diffrent types. I am waiting for a e mail regarding types and price.

Mark

We're all set to visit Jack Mertz on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 12. He said his price for a trio would be $15 to $20. depending on the strain. He lives in O'Fallon which is a more distant side of St. Louis so I thought we could meet at the Route 9 Walmart parking lot about 8:30 am. Do we want to stop in Granite City for a breeder there, Mark? I'll try to figure how much time to allow for each if you'll send me an address.

Also, I would like to be sure how many wish to go so be sure to sign up if you want to be included. My van will take 6 so we need to allow for more vehicle space if many more people wish to come. Should be fun and a chance to see some show quality guppies.

Please cut and past this list and add your name if you plan on going to the St. Louis guppy trip

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I sent the guy from Granite another e mail. I want to see how many varieties he has in order to see if it is worth our time.

Mark

Mark,

I'm not going to be able to go in January. I am going to be in St Louis this weekend for other things so I made arrangements with Jack and Cathy to vist them Saturday.

I'll let you know what they have.

DZ

I plan on going but I won't know till that Friday about my work schedule.

The guy in Granite said he has aoc snakeskins, green deltas, black moscows, cobras in addition to Brisstle nose plecos, shrimp of all kinds, some PB discus. Granite would be on our way to Ofallen, It may be worth a quick stop,

His address is 3135 colgate pl Granite city, IL.

I met Jack and Cathy this afternoon and there couldn't be nicer people.

They have several dozen tanks and all sorts of guppies. Jack really gave me a lot of great information. I picked up 3 different strains and they are just great.

Jack has several dozen awards on the wall going into the fishroom so he must really know his stuff. He sure seemed to, couldnt be nicer.

They are having their show and auction in April and I plan on attending. They live in a neighboehood that has the craziest layout I have ever seen so take a GPS or you'll never find your way out. Beautiful house though.

DZ

What strains did you buy?

Mark

A couple different half blacks and some purple ones. Forgot what he called them. lol

The Granite City locati0n looks very convenient to get to so I think we should plan to go there too. It also sounds like they have strains different from Mr. Mertz. Does anybody object to the stop there too? Let's stop there on the way back???

Everyone is invited even if you don't want fish but would just like to see the layouts. Jack Mertz has been successfully showing guppies in serious competition for many years so the stock I saw was top notch.

Sounds good, I've got cabin fever. Nothin goin on in the fishroom....boring. Tired of looking at overpriced fish on ebay, one guy has a single male guppy priced at 19.95 and you don't even get a female. Not even show quality!

http://hcaaquatics.weebly.com/guppies.html

this woman sells some interesting lines of guppies as well, and is located in Staunton IL, down hwy 4 close to St Louis, just in case you are interested.

Ok, are we still going to meet at the Route 9 Walmart parking lot about 8:30 a.m. ?

We'll meet at the rte. 9 Walmart about 8:30 tomorrow. I have a tan colored minivan that I'll have out close to rte. 9 in the parking lot for our gathering. We'll leave as soon as possible and plan to have a quick lunch with Jack and Cathy Mertz before going to their house to see and/or buy guppies. After that we'll make a quick trip to another nearby guppy person who also does discus. Then we'll head back toward Illinois. Mark: can we stop at the guppy breeder at Granite City between 3:00 and 4:00? Then home. Did I miss anything? There's still room if someone else wants to go. See you at 8:30. Pops

The guy in Granite is not sure if he will be off work. He would like us to call about a hour ahead of time.

Holly and Kevin, from Stauton ( not far off of the interstate) has the following:
American Whites

Aquamarine Snakeskins

Jade Snakeskins

Berlin Buttercups

Double Sword tail Japan Blues

Double swordtail Japan Coral Reds

Full red / red Moscows

Red Glass

Endlers.....

Black Bar

Tiger

hi reds

pink and black

pink n black opalines


Should I make arrangments to stop by their house?

Mark

So what did everyone get? What was the other place like?

can't wait to hear what happened, hope everybody comes to today's meeting. I am bringing many fry and youngsters from my multicolor cobra/snake lines.

For those who didn't make the guppy trip, it was a real experience meeting Mr. Mertz and seeing his fish room. I have to admit his half black AOC guppies were the biggest guppies I had ever seen. Unfortunately he was downsizing his strains and fish room due to his age. There was so much knowledge there, I should have taken notes on what he told me. The Gateway Guppy Association is have an IFGA sanctioned show in April for those that want to go. Unfortunately I cannot commit too many weekends this year because I'll be busy with goldfish shows. All the information is on their website. http://www.gatewayguppyassociates.com/2012%20July%20Show.html