The Aquarium Store in Havana, Cuba by Howard Norfolk

The Aquarium Store in Havana, Cuba

by Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles

I spent eight days in Havana, in January 2004. I saw many of the multitude of museums, churches, squares, forts, monuments and other historical sights that the Old City has to offer, as well as some of the modern buildings and edifices that have been constructed since Fidel Castro and Che Guevara's 1959 Revolution. I went on an overnight bus tour east to the towns of Santa Clara and Trinidad, and a day trip west to the Vinales region. I didn't bother to go to the popular Varadero resort area - lazing on a beach in the hot sun with a mass of foreign tourists is my idea of torture!

I also wanted to get some insights into the aquarium scene in Cuba. Visiting the National Aquarium was easy enough, it's in all the guide books - just ask the taxi driver for "Acuario Nacional." Then I chanced upon the small freshwater "Aqvarium" when a taxi driver took me there.

But finding an aquarium store, or even a pet store, was not so easy.... The Yellow Pages seemed to list only government-owned businesses, and the government does not bother with pet stores. Various people told me there were no aquarium or pet stores in Havana. Even Armando, the aquarist I met at the National Aquarium, said he knew of no aquarium stores, but that people sometimes sold ornamental fish outside on the street near where he lives. I was also told that fish were sometimes sold at the Flea Market just west of the Monumento a Calixta Garcia. I went there and saw some birds for sale, but no fish.

Then I had some difficulties with my digital camera, so I went to the "Cybercafe" business and computer centre at the Hotel Nacional to ask for advice. I finally struck it lucky when I met Oscar, the manager. Oscar is a computer expert with his own digital camera, and he was able to solve my problem. Not only this, but he said that he might be able to locate an aquarium store for me! He used to keep fish himself as a boy, and was now thinking of setting up an aquarium for his son. I returned later and he said he had made some phone calls and found the addresses of two stores. He very kindly offered to take me to them the next morning, which was his day off...

...We drove along the Malecon waterfront road in Oscar's old Russian car, parked, and threaded our way through the narrow streets.

The Malecon. The aquarium store was somewhere in the maze of back streets about halfway down this picture. And yes, those great 1950's American cars are still going strong along the Malecon! Hundreds of them patrol the streets of Havana. This one is a taxi, but many are still in private hands.

CLICK ON PHOTOGRAPHS FOR ENLARGEMENTS, THEN GO "BACK."

We arrived at a plain storefront with bars on the doors and windows. There was no sign, and a rather disreputable-looking person parking his bicycle outside. It looked like the kind of place I might want to avoid if I was walking around on my own!

Not very inviting on the outside

But, as with many homes and buildings in Havana, the inside was much much nicer than the outside. Here, finally, was an aquarium store. (The address was: Amistad #158, between Concordia and Virtudes).

The owner was a pleasant late middle-aged man, and his daughter was helping him. He didn't speak English, so Oscar translated. The owner was helpful in answering my questions and said that I could take photographs. But he didn't tell me his name, or let me take a photo of himself or his daughter, or of his mechanical equipment.

Cuba is a communist country, where most businesses are owned by the government. Some private businesses are allowed, but they walk a fine line between being legal and illegal. If a business is too enterprising it is shut down by the authorities. Oscar said that this store was operating quite openly so it must be legal, but most private businesses did a few shady things that they'd rather keep quiet about. It's all very devious and complicated, and as a talkative taxi driver told me, everyone is 'on the make' in one way or another, and "only the Russians can really understand!"

As I mentioned, Oscar had been told of two aquarium stores, but the owner of this one said that the other one had been shut down, which is why I call this article "The Aquarium Store in Havana, Cuba."

Let's take a look:

Behind me when I took this photo was another rack of small tanks, and to the left, under the window, were two large plant tanks. The shop was very clean and tidy, and the tanks well maintained with healthy fish.

This large display tank held discus for sale. Discus were by far the most expensive fish in the shop, priced at US$10, $20 and $30 according to size.

Beside the discus tank was a planted display tank with no fish.

These two large tanks by the window contained vigorous bunched plants for sale.

The plants

Two more large tanks, with platies and plants above, and lots of angelfish below.

Three racks of small tanks held the rest of the fish stock. Each tank had a pictorial background. They were clean, bright, and nice to look at.

Here are platies...guppies...tiger barbs

...angelfish...goldfish

...and some cute little catfish that I believe are Hoplosternum thoracatum.

How much were the fish? - It's hard to express in convertible currency. Foreigners in Cuba have to spend U.S. dollars but Cubans spend pesos. Fish such as swordtails, goldfish, and kribs were 85c each according to the official exchange rate, and angelfish were $1.75, but these amounts mean a lot more to Cubans with their very modest government spending allowances.

Judging by the condition of the retail tanks it was obvious that the owner was a fish enthusiast himself, and sure enough, in a room behind the store, he was breeding fish...

He let me into this private area:

There were three rows of large tanks like this.

Most of them contained angelfish, in various stages of growing-out.

All the angelfish had come from these three breeding pairs.

He also bred neon tetras, shown on the left, and guppies and platies, shown on the right.

Seeing this huge quantity of angelfish I asked what he did with them. Did he wholesale them out? - Stupid question - there's nobody to wholesale them to! I can't imagine him ever selling all these fish in his store, so I think he is a genuine hobbyist at heart - he just likes breeding fish!

There were no dry goods for sale. These old ornaments, tucked away on a shelf in the breeding room, must be from the 1950's.

The shop sold fish and plants only, and some landscaping wood. There were no packaged fish foods, mechanical equipment, books, medications, or dry goods of any kind for sale. (Two Hagen heaters hung on the wall of the breeding room, but I think they were for the owner's use). Since this seems to be the only aquarium store in Havana, one must assume that Cuban aquarists are masters of improvisation and self-sufficiency - they make their own tanks, fiddle with home-made filters and equipment, find their own gravel and aquarium decorations, and cook, breed or catch their own fish foods. One might also assume that, just like the cars, aquarium equipment from the 1950's is carefully maintained and handed down from generation to generation. Fish cannot be imported, so even the fish strains must be survivors from pre-revolutionary days and the store's stock obtained from local breeders.

Aquarists like the owner of this store keep the hobby surviving in difficult restricted times.

Postscript: A couple of months after I wrote this article I was contacted by José Vázquez, Director of the Freshwater Public Aquarium. He kindly gave me additional information about his Aquarium and also said, surprisingly, that in fact there are three government owned pet shops in Havana which sell fish. (He is also a Director of one of them).

But nobody I met knew about these stores - including a group of six or seven tourist taxi drivers at the Hotel Nacional, Armando the aquarist I met at the National Aquarium, Oscar and his friends at the Hotel Nacional, and the owner of the above aquarium store.

Government owned businesses in Cuba do not advertise. They don't have signs on their storefronts, and they do not appear to be comprehensively listed in any kind of "Yellow Pages." The only way to find what you want seems to be trial and error, and intimate local knowledge.