Knowledgable Retailers in K.C Mo????

[crayZlayD]

I called most of the pet stores listed in the Greater Kansas City Yellow Pages today asking for "...Synodontis species catfish..." Even from stores specializing in fish, I got obviously uneducated answers. One guy said "No, all I have is a Lace Catfish." I didn't even bother to query if he could be referring to S. Nigrita. Another wanted me to give her common names but I've seen so many fish mislabled around here, it's rediculous. She said, in a disgusted tone, "I don't have the species names up there!" One store close by was selling either an S. Eupterus or S. Nigrita (hard to tell) as S. Decorus for $30.00. I figured it would be useless to try to correct the owner.
Anyway, enough of my whining. Does everone have this problem? Are we left to buy off the internet when we want something specific?
Diana

[crayZlayD]

If I must resort to shopping for (cat)fish online, what sites do you all recommend?
Thanks.

[Barbie]

I'm not sure how much help I'll be, as it's been a few years since I lived in KC (6 or 7 to be exact!), but there used to be a place called Raytown Pets that had knowledgeable staff. I know there was a new place in Blue Springs that opened and my mother frequented it. The owners name was Doc, but I can't think of the name of the store. Tropical Fish Cove used to have a wide selection of fish, but the only Synodontis I ever saw in their store were the hybrids being sold as S. petricola, which they were definitely not. I tried to get the owner to change the label and ended up on longer shopping there instead ;).

I purchased my first S. petricola fry from Derek Walker in St. Louis. I joined the MASI club and would drive the 4 hours (ok, well it might take you a bit longer than that, depending on how often you touch the ground between KC and there....) for their auctions 3 times a year. It was a great group of people and the availability for species you couldn't normally find was great. There IS a club in KC called the Heartland Aquarium Club I think it is. It was just really getting auctions and what not going when I had to move, so I'm not sure just how active they are. I know a couple of the members are also forum frequenters, so hopefully they too will see this thread and reply.

Are you looking for any Syno. species in particular? As to mail order, I usually get most of my catfish from http://www.frybabies.com. If it's not on her list, she'll do her best to get it in for me. I know that there are other places that some of the members have had good luck with, I just haven't ever had the need to shop around ;).

Good luck! Sorry I'm not more help.

Barbie

[Silurus]

If it's synos you want, Toyin Ojo of Rehoboth Aquatics has a decent selection of west African species.

[crayZlayD]

Much Thanks to you both!