That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

I spend a few minutes each day looking for news and other information that might be of interest to blog readers and hobbyists. While perusing one of my favorite websites, Underwatertimes.com. While it was a slow day in respects to fish and aquarium related news, I did come across an entertaining article about a group of Florida Keys Divers who are attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Records for extreme underwater ironing.  That’s right, extreme underwater ironing. I am not sure what is more interesting, the fact that there is such a thing, or that there is a Guinness record for it.  All you need to know about the sport is on the Extreme Ironing Bureau website, “Welcome to the home of extreme ironing – the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt”.  Man, I thought fish geeks were a weird bunch.

I love being on and in the water, diving, snorkling, and watching what goes on down there with fish and other reef inhabitants, but I’ve never come across anyone pressing their laundry! This got me to wondering what other weird underwater activities have I missed out on, and all I can say is WOW.  Here’s some of what I found:

Underwater Hairdressing –  David Rae recently set the Guinness record for underwater hairdressing, cutting 33 peoples hair in one hour, in 3 meters of water.

Underwater Juggling – Hannes “kann es” Neumann from Hannover, Germany owns the record for underwater juggling, in 2009 Hannes juggled underwater for 49 minutes, 53 seconds.

Underwater Tic-Tac-Toe –  Divers in Melbourne, Australia set out to break the record for consecutive hours of underwater tic-tac-toe playing of 24 hours.  The goal of the diving crew was to play for 36 hours strait.

Underwater Hockey – who needs ice to play hockey?  Yes it is serious, very, very serious.  For more information click here.

Underwater Pumpkin Carving – right here in our neck of the woods, the York Divers held an underwater pumpkin carving contest in 2009 to celebrate thanksgiving.

Underwater Mail Service – the tiny South Pacific Island paradise of Vanuatu, has what they claim to be the only underwater post office.  Located 9 feet 10 inches underwater, patrons can snorkel or scuba dive to the fiberglass hut on the seafloor to purchase and mail waterproof postcards!

Maybe people have a bit too much time on their hands…Thank God for the internet, so they can share their fun with us.

Until next blog,

Dave

This coming weekend, That Fish Place/That Pet Place will celebrate its 37^th year.  Our Anniversary sale is more than just great specials and deals.  One of the great features of our spring event are the free seminars and workshops that we have offered over the years.  This year Julian Sprung, renowned author and aquarium expert, will be here on Saturday April 17^th to do two presentations for us, and on Sunday April 18^th our very own Cory Shank, will host a workshop for our customers. Read More »

Hi, Dave again. This past week I attended the annual Global Pet Expo in Orlando. Global is the biggest pet trade show in the U.S., where many vendors show of their new products for the year, as well as show off some prototypes for thing to come down the road.
When you think of new products, fish don’t exactly jump to mind, after all we don’t make fish…or do we? Captive bred fish have been the driving force in freshwater aquariums for many years, with many manmade fish on the market, freshwater and saltwater. Fish like the many types Fancy Goldfish, Bloody Parrots, Flowerhorns and more recently the bioengineered “Glo Fish” are common to the freshwater aquarium hobby. Selective breeding and hybridization have resulted in many manmade fish over the years. Read More »

In the first two segments of my LED lighting blogs, I discussed the Ecoxotic and Marineland lines of new LED products.  This third entry will cover an interesting new line of products from Ice Cap Inc.  Ice Cap has long been associated with quality, high standard, aquarium lighting products.  The Ice Cap 430 and 660 electronic ballasts set the bar for performance in fluorescent lighting ballasts. Read More »

Hi, Dave back again.  In part 1 of our LED lighting series, we introduced the new Stunner and Panorama systems from Ecoxotic.  In part 2, I want to tell you about another LED lighting system that we are now offering here at TFP. Read More »