Cleveland, April 30th, 2000
- As the vendors packed up their displays and prepared to take the supplies and fish that remained home, all could reflect on the wonderful variety that had been on display at the Convention.
Kingfish Lucas represented many manufacturers and publishers.
In the front room, with the exhibition fish, were the displays from the corporate representatives. Tetra was front and center, opposite from the GFSA table. The Tetra corporate representative, who had traveled in from Michigan, had aquarium and pond products of interest to goldfish keepers on display. Across from the Tetra booth, Ray "Kingfish" Lucas had an enormous display, representing a number of different manufacturers. Many of these manufacturers donated dry goods for the auction on Sunday.
Yum yum, Tetra goldfish food anyone?
In the rear, in the substantial auditorium, goldfish importers and product vendors were arrayed around the perimeter of the room. Filters, foods, carvings of goldfish, bags of barley straw to fight green water and many other products were on sale. There were also tanks of glorious imported goldfish, many fully the peers in quality of the fish exhibited outside in the show. Orandas, Ryukins, Demekins, … all the favorite varieties were on hand.
A beautiful group of imported goldfish in a watering trough.
Rick Hess' Goldfish Connection booth saw a lot of activity.
Two views above of more beautiful imported goldfish for sale.
In the front of the auditorium were sets of tanks, containing fish from a number of US goldfish farms. These farms normally only sell wholesale to garden centers, pet shop chains, and other commercial operations, so this was a rare opportunity for hobbyists to see first hand what the different farms raise. It might surprise many hobbyists to know that there are a number of large commercial goldfish farming operations in the US. And that they raise much more than just Comets!
Above are some views of the tanks are US-bred farm goldfish.
The vendors are always an important component of any goldfish show or convention. They both help to directly underwrite the costs of the event and also to attract an enormous number of attendees. The opportunity to see tanks full of top quality goldfish for sale is, outside of China, very rare. For someone looking to start a collection or round one out with some particular specimen, a trip to a convention and the chance to see the top fish from five or six importers in the same room is a great opportunity. The GFSA offers its heartfelt thanks to the vendors for their support in making Convention 2000 a success.