Knowing that we were going to make that quick run to Detroit (30 hours, almost 700 miles counting shop visits) on family business, I had checked  ahead, catching a couple of shops from a list taken from Internet sources and a query left on a mailing list. Almost immediately had a great suggestion from a Michiana Aquarium Society member and a gracious invite from a Detroit area aquarist, for Saturday, which we regrettably had to decline. One draw back was that we had the dog, lacking a house/puppy sitter. (The library book sale was the other.)

One of our stops was at the Anchor Bay Aquarium, NE of Detroit in New Baltimore, MI. (That is also the home town for Wet Thumb Aquatics and means that that one town has more quality fish shops than my whole section of the Chicago 'burgs. On top of that, they both have their own web sites. )
http://www.anchorbayaquarium.com/
http://www.wetthumbaquatics.com/

Initially I was impressed with the shop, but a little disappointed by the "clampy" conditions of a couple of commercial livebearers, though one tank of double-bar platys was just waiting to go home with someone. A gentleman by the name of Casey greeted me, as I ambled among the tanks, with that glassy-eyed, out-of-towner look about me.

As we compared notes on fish and shops, I mentioned that I was quite impressed with not only Detroit area shops, but also with the large number of quality fish clubs and the number of accomplished aquarists in the region. He responded with the name of a livebearer guy and I agreed, noting though that with a small dog in tow, it was hard asking if I could drop by. Shops are a little more accessible and in some cases bringing the dog in is even socially acceptable.

I think he was pleased with my "in the neighborhood rule". Well, I was only 25 (or 325) miles away. They seemed in the neighborhood to me.

As mentioned in miskairal's diary, a far ranging conversation ensued. In time, the subject wandered to importing fish and the difficulties that involved in terms of costs, increased government (fish and wild life) inspections, inspection fees,  red tape (which may be justified), quarantine and the illnesses which fish may bring in.

I mentioned how participating in Guppylog has really increased my understanding of what was out there to afflict fishes and awareness of the vast number of diseases which I didn't even know about, hadn't even heard of. I also noted that probably tons of things had floated through my tanks without me ever, even being aware of them.

He agreed with that latter possibility and asked if I would like to see how they quarantined their fish. Some details were mentioned in a comment responding to miskairal's dairy and so will not be repeated here. However he also rattled of the scientific names off five or six Corys. I allowed (in a serious understatement) that I'd love to see the quarantine area.

These areas also tend to be where rare fish and spawners are kept. In effect, for fish-heads, the back rooms tend to be "the inner sanctums" of the better LFSs.

We had to work our way past a couple and another employee who were ogling several cichlid species. There were also the buckets and hoses all over the floor. Casey apologized for the obstacle course; I allowed as how it all made me feel right at home.

There was a tank of C. sterbai, one of the more sought after Corys in the hobby. They also had wild C. panda and a mostly mid-water Cory whose name I unfortunately forgot almost immediately.  Also there was a tank, with a lot of current and surface agitation. It was inhabited by a bunch of 4-cm fish now called Scleromystax barbatus, formerly Corydoras barbatus.

Barbatus has long presented a bit of a taxonomic problem for Cory enthusiasts. Their genders grow up to look quite different from one another. They are also endowed with cheek bristles (teeth-like structures, which one can also see on the cheeks of the Ancistrus or bristlenose "plecos" too). Those are not typical of most "Corys". They, and what are assumed to be near relatives, also get longer and more angular than most Corys.

Casey pointed out that they were originally out of the Rio de Janeiro area, a region of Brazil so far away from us, that when they were flown to Manaus, Brazil (a major transshipping city on the Amazon) that those fish were still only halfway to the American Midwest. He noted that they hail from a latitude, far enough south in South America, that they are pretty tolerant of cool aquarium temperatures. That was perhaps fortuitous, in that we spent over an hour in a blinding snowstorm on the way home. If we got stuck (or run off the road by the idiot in a white Hummer, who was entirely too much of a hurry to pass everyone in sight), I wasn't sure that even the medical grade (organ shipping?) styro we had would keep them secure until help arrived after we were forced off or skidded off of the Interstate.

A bag of five of those barbatus, hopefully with two females and three males, was assembled. Although Casey offered to fill half the top of the bag with pure oxygen, he opined that Cory-like catfish, with their tendency to gulp air, were not well served with pure O2. It was not hard to thank him and skip the oxygen.

Thought of this right away when Miskairal said her dropping Cory was 2 and 1/2 years old. Casey suggested that if my barbatus were well cared for, that when they had more than doubled their size in 2 and 1/2 years, they might well spawn. (Another exercise in patience!)

By 9 PM, after the six-hour drive, they were in their own 10-gallon aquarium. That will do for now. They seem to be doing swimmingly.

Both my lady and I recently had birthdays. (23 again?) She informed me that the bag of stuff, which followed her home from a local antique shop, would do quite well as her birthday present. (But a couple small, sweet nothings also were wise). I guess I'd better "fes up" that the new book on the Fishes of Mexico by R.R. Miller, et al, is really no longer necessary as my self-directed birthday present. Don't think I have ever paid as much for a single bag of fish. ;)