The aFISHionados

01/22/2025

Good morning,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

As we slowly keep firing up new tanks of our expansion we will have an increase in variety available. With that in mind...we have received a few new orders including the latest Sera order, Glofish, more nano fish, livebearers, shrimp, snails etc. Highlights of which are;

▪ More of the cool hairy puffers
▪ More of the ever cool clouded archer fish. A full freshwater archer!
▪ A number of snails this go around
▪ More of the bamboo shrimp seeing they lasted all of 20 hours last time
▪ A number of livebearer species including a host of Limia's. All of which running nice
▪ A number of glofish varieties
▪ Three species of Boraras - great nano fish
▪ Nice condition Botia rostrata
▪ First time in forever - Clown knife fish, one of my personal favourites from childhood.
▪ Pea puffers
▪ Black tiger scarlet badis
▪ Dadios - have not had these in at least 8 years
▪ Very nice White and Orange rice fish
▪ More of the evercool serpent loach

Next up we are anticipating more South American fish and Plants to arrive.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask

Spencer

DFO

We have confirmed the next gathering of the DFO as well.

Sunday, February 16th - 5PM doors open

Jeff Cardwell - Kokomo, Indiana

Return to Santarem - A 25th Anniversary trip back to the Rio Tapajos, Brazil

His second talk will be a summary of his most recent trip to Lake Tanganyika that he just got back from. I have seen some of the videos it will be a treat!

Two topics about as diverse as Jeff!

Tickets will be $30.00 and available now. We are limited as always for numbers so if you wish to go I do suggest getting earlier then later as this will sell out prior to the event. This also will be the day we use for Spence's annual Birthday Sale in the warehouse. We are more than two thirds sold out now!

We also will have some fun announcements of future meetings at this event. Those in attendance will get first shot for the future ones as well.

01/11/2025

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

We have had a number of cool new fish come from over seas, as well as a South American order, Plant order and a Florida order. So needless to say there is a number of highlights this week;

▪ Latest plant order has arrived. Is a number of nice sized species especially on the loose Anubias
▪ A number of cool livebearer species including wild types
▪ Finally a bunch of species of loaches including some smaller species
▪ Hairy pufferfish!
▪ Some of the exotic coloured rice fish
▪ Glass catfish the first time in forever
▪ Very nice glowlight danios - Danio choprae
▪ Pea puffers
▪ Unicorn catfish
▪ Pinecone plecos - Pseudorinelepis grenibarbis a cool pleco that is not only good at eating algae but quite sociable for a pleco. (also will school together!)
▪ Nice size L102 inspector plecos
▪ Very nice Altum angelfish from Rio Vichada
▪ Nice condition Chilodus gracilis - Headstanders
▪ Bujurquina mariae - one from our collections in Colombia. A fantastic moveable platform spawner seldom seen.
We have received the latest Sera order as well. We do not have it on the list yet but once we have time to sort and store it all it will appear on the lists as well.

Next up we are anticipating glofish to arrive and more.

Spencer

DFO

We have confirmed the next gathering of the DFO as well.

Sunday, February 16th - 5PM doors open

Jeff Cardwell - Kokomo, Indiana

Return to Santarem - A 25th Anniversary trip back to the Rio Tapajos, Brazil

His second talk will be a summary of his most recent trip to Lake Tanganyika that he just got back from. I have seen some of the videos it will be a treat!

Two topics about as diverse as Jeff!

Tickets will be $30.00 and available now. We are limited as always for numbers so if you wish to go I do suggest getting earlier then later as this will sell out prior to the event. This also will be the day we use for Spence's annual Birthday Sale in the warehouse. We are more than two thirds sold out now!

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

FISHMAS 2024

For those of you within the Fishmas raffle draw for $100.00 gift cards I drew five names earlier today from the sign in list. I also was going to give $100.00 gift cards to everyone who shared my favourite fish I asked you for on the sign in sheet (Frontosa) of which there were none. So I then used my favourite number to pick a bonus one (10). For the winners of the draw you have been already emailed by me before this email. So if you got an email from me congratulations, if this is the only email you get from me... well Merry Christmas! :)

Fishmas still has three days left it will be running. Being December 26, 28 and 29 in the warehouse. And all orders shipped prior to January 1st will

also have the following...

▪ All shipments on Air Canada will have free shipping for orders over 600.00 before shipping and taxes.
▪ All plants on shipments will be 20% off
▪ Orders on Westjet will receive free box charges and heat packs for orders over 400.00 before shipping and taxes.
▪ All Sicce, Northfin, Eheim, Sera and JBL products will be 10% off. Many of their products we can send with fish orders as well.

With the coming new year we also will be raising box charges from 15.00 for single boxes to 20.00 and double boxes will rise from 25.00 to 32.50. Heat packs will rise from 1.50 to 2.00 as well. We have been attempting to hold down the costs as long as we could but the nose dive of the Canadian dollar this year really was the last straw of combating the rising costs of freight and supplies. We are for the time being holding our flat rate shipping of 50.00 for Air Canada, 70.00 for Westjet and Fedex (most locations). The new charges will start January 1st, so still a few days left to ship with the old rates.

We potentially have two new countries worth of fish on the horizon for 2025. So hopefully even more diversity to come to our lists of fish!

Wishing you and your family the best this holiday season! Don't forget to feed the fish, just not as much as you all are bound to eat these days :)

Spencer

DFO

We have confirmed the next gathering of the DFO as well.

Sunday, February 16th - 5PM doors open

Jeff Cardwell - Kokomo, Indiana

Return to Santarem - A 25th Anniversary trip back to the Rio Tapajos, Brazil

His second talk will be a summary of his most recent trip to Lake Tanganyika that he just got back from. I have seen some of the videos it will be a treat!

Two topics about as diverse as Jeff!

Tickets will be $30.00 and available now. We are limited as always for numbers so if you wish to go I do suggest getting earlier then later as this will sell out prior to the event. This also will be the day we use for Spence's annual Birthday Sale in the warehouse. We are more than two thirds sold out now!

12/17/2024

Good morning,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

New this week we have had the latest plant shipment arrive. There also are a number of the ever cool L397 tangerine tiger plecos on hand again. We also received the latest shipment of African cichlids, angelfish and a few Rainbow fish.

FISHMAS 2024

We are one week away from the start of FISHMAS!

Saturday, December 21 - We will start Fishmas with a customer appreciation day where we will open up the entire warehouse for one day only. We plan on having food and snack stations throughout. We definitely encourage if you are to come for just one day this would be the one. We also will be having a draw for 100.00 gift cards as door prizes you can enter on FISHMAS. We will draw the winners and notify them via email on Christmas day. Of which I plan to have a number of them.

Fishmas will run on December 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 29 this year in the warehouse.

Again if you are to come to just one of the days of FISHMAS it would be the 21st to aim for. We typically have different sales each day of FISHMAS.

For out of town folks we have not forgot about you either. Starting this Monday and for the rest of the month you get a head start on FISHMAS....

▪ All shipments on Air Canada will have free shipping for orders over 600.00 before shipping and taxes.
▪ All plants on shipments will be 20% off
▪ Orders on Westjet will receive free box charges and heat packs for orders over 400.00 before shipping and taxes.
▪ All Sicce, Northfin, Eheim, Sera and JBL products will be 10% off. Many of their products we can send with fish orders as well.
DFO

We have confirmed the next gathering of the DFO as well.

Sunday, February 16th - 5PM doors open

Jeff Cardwell - Kokomo, Indiana

Return to Santarem - A 25th Anniversary trip back to the Rio Tapajos, Brazil

His second talk will be a summary of his most recent trip to Lake Tanganyika that he just got back from. I have seen some of the videos it will be a treat!

Two topics about as diverse as Jeff!

Tickets will be $30.00 and available now. We are limited as always for numbers so if you wish to go I do suggest getting earlier then later as this will sell out prior to the event. This also will be the day we use for Spence's annual Birthday Sale in the warehouse. We are more than half sold out now!

Cheers

Spencer

Send a message to learn more

12/07/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Freshly back from Colombia we have started importing again. Highlights of the new arrivals are;

▪ Laetacara araguaia - One of the cooler smiling acaras, for those who have issues with Rams these are great substitutes. Not as aggressive and great with handling snails too as an added bonus.
▪ All three types of gold nugget plecos - L18, L81, L177
▪ L47 - Mango plecos one of the more visually striking and unique plecos
▪ Nice L121 - Wormline peckoltia
▪ White seam ancistrus - L183
▪ Nice condition snowball plecos - L142
Next up we are anticipating JBL products, plants and African cichlids to arrive.

Now for some other random facts....

DFO

We have confirmed the next gathering of the DFO as well.

Sunday, February 16th - 5PM doors open

Jeff Cardwell - Kokomo, Indiana

Return to Santarem - A 25th Anniversary trip back to the Rio Tapajos, Brazil

His second talk will be a summary of his most recent trip to Lake Tanganyika that he just got back from. I have seen some of the videos it will be a treat!

Two topics about as diverse as Jeff!

Tickets will be $30.00 and available now. We are limited as always for numbers so if you wish to go I do suggest getting earlier then later as this will sell out prior to the event. We are more than half sold out now!

FISHMAS 2024

Just 2 weeks till the start of Fishmas!

Saturday, December 21 - We will start Fishmas with a customer appreciation day where we will open up the entire warehouse for one day only. We plan on having food and snack stations throughout. We definitely encourage if you are to come for just one day this would be the one.

We are anticipating Fishmas will run on December 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 29 this year in the warehouse.

11/09/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the new arrivals are;

*A number of lesser seen rainbow fish species including a few that become stunners
* A wide array of Bichirs, many of which are at a grown out size
* a number of nerite snails
* Very nice L236 and Super white L236
* Nice sized broadstriped zebra plecos - L450
* Albino silver Arowanas
* A couple of different type Borneo suckers in red fin and blue fin
* Some more of the Chilli Red Oscars

Next up we are anticipating plants to arrive.

Also starting to get the plans for this year's Fishmas, by far our favorite event of the year. With our 20th anniversary we are trying to make it a bit more special. The schedule so far is as follows.

Saturday, December 21 - We will start Fishmas with a customer appreciation day where we will open up the entire warehouse for one day only and have food and snack stations throughout. We definitely encourage if you are to come for just one day this would be the one.

We are anticipating Fishmas will run on December 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 29 this year in the warehouse.

Spence

Send a message to learn more

11/02/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the new arrivals are;

*A number of peacock males in full color
* Inkfin calvus which have not had in a long while
* Lepidiolamprologus kendalli one of my personal favourites from Lake Tanganyika. Sorta like a big Julidochromis with a whole lot more personality
* Breeder Melanochromis baliodigma
* More Tanganyikan gobies this time from Kipili
* All of the feather fins are nice size
* Ilangi Tropheus
* More young red Bulu Petrochromis
* A number of rainbow fish some being fantastic sizing!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

48 Days and change till the start of Fishmas!

Spencer

10/25/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the new arrivals are;

▪ We have been restocked on Sicce products. There also are a couple new items including their nano shark internal filters for smaller aquariums on the list.
▪ Latest round of glofish have arrived including some more of the new glosharks
▪ Latest plant shipment is in today and many of the varieties are of nice size. Also have a few new varieties on the list as well this week.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

10/17/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

We have now entered our busy season and with that in mind...a tremendous amount of new fish are in, highlights of which are...

▪ A huge number of plecos are in from multiple countries
▪ Same can be said of Corydoras species (or their new wonderfully confusing names!)
▪ Ladder pikes - Crenicichla sp Atabapo II
▪ Rio Vichada Altums! (The easiest of the Altums to maintain in the aquarium)
▪ A nice angelfish from Rio Putumayo while on angelfish
▪ Amazon puffer fish
▪ A new severum I have not had before from Rio Inirida. Looks like it will be good
▪ A very nice Chilodus from San Felipe, Colombia
▪ Flagtail prochilodus
▪ Marble rubbernose plecos from one of our collecting spots on the last Colombian adventure we found
▪ Very nice sized chameleon whiptails!
▪ Nice sized pygmy corys
▪ A cool banjo cat at a great size in Xliphius lepturus
▪ Nice sized silver arowana
▪ More of the cool flameback bleeding heart tetras
▪ Enormous cupid cichlids
▪ Black ghost knives

As you can see by the website as well the Fishmas counter has started. We are planning some fun things for our 20th Fishmas year to watch out for. (And yes we have started the decorating process!)

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

10/04/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the newest arrivals are;

▪ Latest round of plants are now in stock. Many of the species are of particular nice size and condition. Also a few new ones too
▪ Latest round of glofish have arrived including absolute monster sized blue glosharks
▪ The newest driftwood and rock order is arriving this week and we should have it sorted and listed on the website at some point this weekend or early next week

Next up we are anticipating Brazilian plecos to arrive.

A reminder that all dry goods say from the 1L size and down can ship with live fish orders as well if looking to kill two birds with one stone.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer. All of which my new talk on Colombia.

October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society.

09/24/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the newest arrivals are;

▪ At the least a new geographical variety of red hump Geophagus from our latest DFO speaker Lee Newman from our last trip to Colombia
▪ Red pencilfish
▪ Nice laser orange and laser red Corys
▪ Nemadoras elongatus and Tenellus trimaculatus - fantastic small catfish that make for a great addition to many aquariums
▪ Elongated piranhas. A great solo piranha for smaller aquariums
▪ The fantastic spotted Rio Nanay angelfish
▪ zebra otos at long last again
▪ Ultra cool zebra knife fish

Next up we are anticipating glofish, fluff, driftwood and rocks.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer. All of which my new talk on Colombia.

October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society. (I will be bringing orders for members attending this event)

09/07/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

It was 20 years ago this month that the Afishionados was started. We have come a long way in 20 years with of course the help of all our customers who we can't thank enough. You have allowed me to live my dream and work with my passion in life every single day. With that in mind we are planning a series of events this coming year to help celebrate and thank you all for the support.

First on the list we are excited to announce two weeks from today we will be hosting the next DFO gathering at the warehouse. We will have a mystery guest speaker in town from one of our hallowed alumni of past gatherings!

For this event we will roll back the price to 2013 to help celebrate the anniversary. Tickets will be $20.00 to attend and space as always is very much limited. Email us directly to secure your spot for what will be a fantastic evening of fish, friends and of course food!

Saturday, September 21. Doors open at 5PM.

Some of you may notice as well a pending Air Canada pilot's strike coming this week. We are under full live animal embargo due to this starting Tuesday with them. We will get out as many orders as we can prior to this for folks on Air Canada only routes. We of course will be able to ship with Westjet and Fedex in the through this disruption if it occurs.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer. All of which my new talk on Colombia.

September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

Send a message to learn more

09/01/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

We are in the midst of a 7 thousand gallon expansion at the warehouse and some of it is now starting to come online. With that in mind we are anticipating an increase in stock levels coming up. This week definitely that is the case. Highlights of the newest arrivals are;

▪ Red Bulu Petrochromis from Lake Tanganyika at by far the cheapest price we have been able to sell them at.
▪ Years after losing our breeders some of the first young Enantiopus sp. kilesa - Dream cichlids from Lake Tanganyika
▪ Mozambique demasoni- while technically an elongatus this small mbuna is if anything even prettier then demasoni and nowhere near as aggressive.
▪ Tanganyikan gobies - Eretmodus cyaenostictus. A fantastic bi-parental mouthbrooder!
▪ Geophagus sveni - definitely one of it not the most colorful of all the Geophagus. Even at this size is starting to fire up.
▪ Large cardinals are at long last back in stock
▪ Altum angelfish from Rio Vichada. Unlike the ones from Atabapo or Iniridia these ones can handle harder water and are a lot easier to care for.
▪ Leiarus pictus - the fantastic Sailfin marble catfish. Have not had these for a couple decades! Came in fantastic size as well
▪ A number of rainbow fish and livebearers were also along for the ride!

A reminder again as has come up a few times this past week. Most dry foods, smaller pumps, heaters etc all can be shipped with the livestock orders. If it can fit into the boxes and is not heavy like gravel it can fly with fish for those looking to stock up all at once.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer. All of which my new talk on Colombia.

September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

Send a message to learn more

08/08/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

We have received a few more GloFish as we try to stay stocked on them. Glosharks came and went pretty quickly so hoping early September for the next wave.

As one who has his birthday in the dead of a Winnipeg winter in February I always celebrated with friends on my half birthday in August. So seeing it falls on a Saturday this year we will be holding a half birthday sale in the warehouse this Saturday, August 10th. Warehouse only.

Out of town folks we will move free shipping on Air Canada till Monday, August 12th to orders 600.00 or more before taxes on all live stock and small dry goods.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer. All of which my new talk on Colombia.

August 16 - Milwaukee Aquarium Society
August 17 - Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists
September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

07/31/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

At long last GloSharks are now legal in Canada as of this week. We have received all 4 colour varieties. GloSharks are genetically modified with Jellyfish DNA just like the other GloFish. Their base fish are rainbow sharks which are very hardy and capable of handling a diverse set of tank mates. Below are some quick shots. I apologize in advance for the quality of the photo.

Next up we are expecting plants to arrive after the long weekend this week.

Any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live!

After 5 years of monkeying around in Colombia I finally have the presentation ready to go (in-fact 3 worth!). These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer with it.

August 16 - Milwaukee Aquarium Society
August 17 - Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists
September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

07/27/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

We have had another run of African cichlids (my favorite fish for starting up new tanks is the main reason!) highlights of the newest arrivals are are:

▪ Very nice sized OB Trewavasae / Orange female
▪ OB Gold zebras
▪ Big eye biters - Dimidiochromis compressiceps
▪ More of the adult Cynotilapia afra "Cobue"
▪ Pink piebalds a cool Paralabidochromis that does get almost hot pink as adult courting males. (not overly waspy either)

We are anticipating Glosharks to be available this coming week. We are expecting all four colours of them to be available.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live! After 5 years of monkeying around in Colombia I finally have the presentation ready to go (in-fact 3 worth!). These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer with it.

August 16 - Milwaukee Aquarium Society
August 17 - Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists
September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

07/14/2024

Good afternoon,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the newest arrivals are are...

▪A number of Aulonocara peacock males in colour are in stock. Many of which running large
▪More of the cool Petrochromis trewavasae. Sorta like a duboisi on steroids
▪Nice size cuckoo catfish - Synodontis multipunctatus
▪Tanganyikan gobies - Eretmodus cyaenostictus
▪Red Kagunga Compressiceps
▪Young breeder albino red top trewavasae
▪Nice size electric yellows

Next up we are anticipating glosharks (which become legal in Canada later this month) and glofish to arrive.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer

See Spence Live! After 5 years of monkeying around in Colombia I finally have the presentation ready to go (in-fact 3 worth!). These are the clubs I will be speaking at this summer with it.

August 16 - Milwaukee Aquarium Society
August 17 - Madison Area Aquatic Hobbyists
September 14 - Heart of America Aquarium Society - Kansas City
October 8 - Calgary Aquarium Society

06/27/2024

Good evening,

New Items are listed in red on the list. You can view our latest stock list on our website.

Highlights of the newest arrivals are are:

▪ Very nice orange back afra from Cobue, a fantastic Lake Malawi mbuna
▪ Tomocichla tuba - one of the most unique and cool Central American cichlids (when I was young could only dream of these guys!)
▪ Nice size species deep, the males on the large size are fully switched over
▪ Latest plant shipment has arrived
▪ A number of livebearer species have arrived
▪ White tail acei a rather peaceful Mbuna
▪ Small sizes on Hypostomus laplatae for the first time since before covid. The absolute best of the best of algae eaters (does get big though)

More African cichlids were to be next, but with possibility of a pending Westjet strike again on Thursday this may change.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Spencer