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Synodontis angelicus
Pure angelicus, bred in Florida |
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Hey Folks,
Happy January. I guess everyone said rabbit rabbit and ate their collard greens on New Year's Day because it's been a great week of sales. Maybe the best week in the last year, and it's not just because no one ordered the last two weeks. Seeing a lot of orders from customers I haven't shipped in a while (thank you!). I'm going to take this as a good sign, and hope our busy season lasts till June.
Should have been an even better week, but this was certainly a challenging week with getting everything packed. Monday being a holiday means we lose 25% of our pack days, and on top of that incoming days were all screwy from holidays two weeks in a row. If you're order had less fish than expected that's why. Should be in much better shape next week.
Ton's of incoming this week. I have shipments in from Colombia, Indo, Singapore, Bangkok, and Sri Lanka, as well as lots of Florida fish including some crazy rare Centrals and big showy cichlids.
My most exciting Florida fish in stock this week are true Synodontis angelicus. These are real angelicus, not hybrids. If you're near my age or older than you remember this being one of the most sought after fish in the hobby. If you're younger than me you probably wonder why I'm so excited about this fish. These fish are both beautiful, and exceedingly rare in the hobby. They weren't ever common but they were available more often back in the 90s. I'm aware of them being spawned in the US two or three times in the last five plus years, and imports are very limited now. Gorgeous fish that works fine with Africans like any other Syno. Not cheap, but this is a January fish. It's cheaper than a blue-eye pleco and it actually looks good instead of all the value coming from nostalgia.
I have a new community tank tetra in this week that's sure to get your attention. Even if you hate them. I have balloon penguin tetras in stock. My abomination of the week, and sure to be a great seller. The balloon body combined with the long tail, and stripe running down the tail, gives these fish a really neat and unique appearance. Wish I had pics of the last time I had them as this batch is a little small, and they look a lot better as they put on size. It's OK to think these are hideous and also sell them.
Asian needle gar are in from Bangkok. Haven't seen these for a few months. These fish are called gar because they're long and pointy, not because they're at all related to our native gar. They're actually way better fish than our native gar as these fish stay a lot smaller, rarely exceeding 8" in aquariums. Their natural diet is mostly insects falling in the water, which makes it pretty easy to train them to eat things like freeze-dried krill and similar items. While they eat plenty of bugs in the wild they're not opposed to eating small fish so their tankmates need to be big enough to not fit in their mouth. Other than being predatory they're not aggressive and are likely to be bullied by aggressive fish like cichlids.
Please give a call if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Joe Hiduke
Sales Manager
Nautilus |
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| Balloon Penguin Tetras |
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| Asian Needle Gar |
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Florida-bred Colombian tetras got a lot bigger. They're fully colored but they're big and should get more blue over the next few days. Longfin serpaes are still great size with super long fins. Some other tetras that look good include pastel gold neon tetras, highfin black skirts, longfin blushers, albino glowlights, candy cane tetras, and red-eyes.
My Indo order is full of fun tetras, not just abomination balloon fish. Glass bloodfins are back in stock and they're one of the most overlooked community fish. The tails get crazy bright red and the body is almost as translucent as a glass cat. Super neat fish that is cheap and peaceful. This set is small but already showing bright red tails. Small green fire tetras, black emperors, and nice size ember tetras also came in on this order. Some other far-east farm fish that look good include big not-balloon penguin tetras, all-male Congo tetras, and great looking rosy tetras. Might have a couple dozen yellow-tail Congos too, an exclusive for people that read this.
Got in more gold tetras from Colombia. Of course last week's gold tetras ended up under treatment here after I sent a pic and talked them up last Friday. Last week's are looking solid today, and I have a few thousand more now, so I expect to fill them next week. I don't have any other new characins, but I still have a few green neons, red phantoms, and great size ruby tetras. For bigger fish I'm sitting on a bunch of flagtail Prochilodus and some nice red hooks. |
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| Colombian Tetras |
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| Glass Bloodfins |
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| Green Fire Tetras |
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| Penguin Tetras |
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| Rosy Tetras |
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| Cardinal tetras are far-east farm fish and are holding up well. |
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Gold Tetras
If you want the story about trematodes and guanine again go back to last week's email. |
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| Red Hook |
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Red glass barbs came in super high male this week. I can't promise that they'll be this bright all week but you can ask your rep for an update. Rosy barbs are still coming in huge and super impressive. Medium tiger barbs are big. A few other Florida fish that look good include giant danios, gold zebra danios, pearl danios, and brilliant rasboras.
Tons of fun stuff on my Indo order. I'm finally back in stock with galaxy rasboras and the size is great. Probably very limited. If those are too big for your tanks I have more green neon kubotai rasboras. Asian rummynose are also back in stock with absolutely zero color. I also have more red-line rasboras (that won't have red lines).
Outside of this small specialty stuff I have new gold tinfoil barbs that are really nice size with lots of color. Black eyes this time. Gold neon rosy barbs and platinum green tiger barbs are both nice size. Import albino tiger barbs aren't big but they're OK this week, and greens aren't too much smaller. |
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| Red Glass Barbs |
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| Galaxy Rasboras |
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| Asian Rummynose |
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| Checkerboard Barbs |
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| Gold White Clouds |
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| Gold Tinfoil Barbs |
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I still have plenty of assorted import swords and these are the only sword you should be buying this week. They're huge with lots of color and there are a few males in the mix. Out side of that I have nice but small calico sanke swords and very mediocre velvet wags that are more like brick than velvet and all female. On the fancy swords I do have plenty of vampire swords, and a handful of the firecracker swords.
Gold twin-bar platies came in huge this week. Other platies that look good include white mickeys, sunsets, red wags, dawn platies, and sunset mickeys.
Pretty good variety of guppies today but they didn't come in till we were almost done packing this week. Lemons and tequilas are both pretty common but they really stood out as being super bright. Pink tux, blue cobras, and red dragon dumbos are very nice as well.
Gold and green sailfin mollies continue to look great. Big with plenty of color and an even male/female ratio. |
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| Sanke Sword |
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| Gold Twin-Bar Platies |
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| Highfin Mickey Mouse Pineapple Platies |
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| Tequila Sunrise Guppies |
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| Red Endlers |
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Got in a few pieces of 'jumbo' dovii. They are huge and super impressive and are going to want to kill anything you put them with. Awesome pet fish that's smart and responsive, but they're a real challenge to keep with any other fish. I put jumbo in quotes because this fish gets well over two feet long, and these are maybe half that size. Huge and super impressive, with a beautiful blue/green sheen over the whole body.
Got a bunch of nice rare Centrals that I mentioned briefly on the Tuesday email. Cribroheros altifrons are small and colorless but these are amazing when they grow up. I'll save you having to type their name in Google-Images Here. They're maybe 2" now so you'll have to be patient with them, but it's worth it. One of the smaller Centrals, FishBase gives a max size of around 6". Macracanthus are another rare fish that came in this week. They're not as bright, but they do have a neat look to them. These are bigger. Some of them 3-4", so almost sub-adults for a fish that gets around 10". When mature they have a black throat and black bars, with a few scattered pearly spots. I also have new zonatus, trimacs, rare black umbies, even rarer blue ubies, and more snook cichlids. All of these are big, at least 3".
Maybe you prefer fish with color? Got in 5"+ brasiliensis pearly eartheaters. They have pretty good color now and they'll get better as they settle in. Brasiliensis are jerks, they are not a peaceful eartheater like many of the Geos. I have some small redhead Tapajos that look pretty good already, and these are lot better community fish eartheater.
Back in stock with jack dempsys. The size isn't great, but I haven't seen any of these in the last month. Still have nice size pink and black convicts coming in every day. Salvinis are nice, especially the oversized mediums with good color. Electric blue acaras look great. 3" chocolate cichlids continue to look good, but save some money and get the regular size since they're almost as big.
Got in a bunch of new Apistos from Indo this week. I have pandurini, double-red aggies, and orange flash cacatuoides. These are tank-raised fish that typically hold up well. You can treat them a lot like rams, but these are less than half the size of any ram I've had lately. They'll work in a community tank, and defend caves on the bottom of the tank. You probably want some kind of peaceful tetra above them as dither otherwise they'll hide a lot more, but they're so small I wouldn't go with anything bigger or nippier than a neon.
Chili oscars are also in from Indo. This is a super bright red selectively bred color variety. Size is decent, color is amazing, price seems excessive to me but they keep selling. Lemon oscars are also in stock and look good. I'm also in stock with new uaru, and I still have a few pigeonblood discus from Singapore. |
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| Jumbo Dovii |
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| Cribroheros altifrons |
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| Macracanthus Cichlid |
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| 5" Brasiliensis Pearly Eartheater |
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| Medium Salvini |
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| Apisto pandurini |
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| Apisto agassizii Double Red |
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| Apisto cacatuoides Orange Flash |
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| Uaru |
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| Chili Oscars |
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| Lemon Oscar |
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I stuck a picture of the rock kribs in last Friday's email but barely mentioned them. This is a great looking fish from Lake Victoria, and one of the first fish commonly imported from their in the mid 90s around the same time the flamebacks, ruby greens and other early Vics came in. I'm really surprised that 30 year's later they're not more popular. While most Vics suffer from 'peacock syndrome' where the females are all silver these rock kribs all look great. They males get red in the belly and greenish towards the tail. Females lack the red, but all rock kribs have a nice gold ground color with a black checkerboard pattern. They stay small, maybe 4-5" in most tanks, and aren't particularly aggressive. While they're not aggressive they are plenty capable of living with more aggressive fish, and like most Vics they can work fine with similar sized mbunas.
Got in ruby red/German red peacocks last week that I didn't mention because they were pretty drab. What a difference a week makes. The dominant male in that tank is the nicest peacock here right now. Every other fish in the tank is colorless, but if you get these and have a little patience you're going to have some amazing fish.
I still have a few of the XL OB peacocks, large yellow OB peacocks, albino red empress, and red-stratus rostratus crosses that I got last week. Get them while you can, these are always limited and at this time of year I expect them to turn in a hurry. I still have some OB red empress and OB jungle haps that aren't real impressive now because they've been hanging out here for a while. Look for these on my Monday specials. You'll get a good price on a fish that will fire up in a hurry in your tanks.
For smaller haps, I've got plenty of really nice albino comps, venustus, and crazy bright Makobe nyererei.
Best mbunas this week are still the medium acei. They're a little small for my medium size, but they are deep blue, almost purple, with bright yellow fins. I have a few of the medium fancy mix that look great too. For smaller mbunas, your best options are msobos, OB zebras, red zebras, cobalts, gold Tropheops, Chailosi elongatus, and auratus. |
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| Rock Kribensis |
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| Ruby Red Peacock |
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| XL OB Peacock |
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| Large Yellow OB Peacock |
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| Red-Stratus |
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| Albino Red Empress |
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| Msobos |
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| Albino Auratus |
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Got the jelly cats on special again this week. Perfect timing since this is a January fish. And my boss is so tired of them tying up a tub the price isn't a whole lot over our landed.
My Colombian shipment was restocking a lot of staples. That means I have a lot more Colombian zebra and Colombian snowball plecos in stock. The zebras are probably the best value fancy pleco here, and snowballs aren't too far behind. Green phantoms are coming in nice size and they're turning slowly enough that the fins are pretty clean before they're shipping out. Still have limited numbers of galaxias plecos, and I should have plenty of wild bushynose.
Cory selection is going to depend on how they look Monday. I have a lot of cories, and I got a lot of new cories, but what's here today may or may not be good to go next week. Your best bet right now are punctatus and rabauti cories. Pretty good chance I'll have nice size arcuatus and metae as well. Brochis cars are looking good too. Almost certainly have pygmaeus cories next week, they're holding up well and I don't think I scratched any this week even being on special.
Striped raphaels are still coming in good size. Spotted raphaels are a little smaller but still look great. Some other import catfish that look good include farlowellas, four-line pims, and Burmese sun cats.
Albino hoplo cats are one of the coolest things I got in from Indo. This is a (presumably) tyrosinase positive 'caramel albino' type. Instead of being white with red eyes they retain a pattern and all the color is shades of tan, pink, and pearly white. Very neat fish, and also super hardy.
Got plenty of Florida Synos in stock. In addition to the angelicus up top I have nice 2" decorus, oversized 2" angelicus hybrids (labyrinth Syno), and 4" eupterus.
There's a chance I'll have clown loaches this week. I definitely have tiger botias. Borneo sucker hillstream loaches are in stock, but small and limited. |
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Jelly Cat
You may recognize this fish from previous pics I sent in July, August, September, October, November and December. It's January now so it's finally the time of year to buy these guys. |
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| Puctatus Cories |
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| Metae Cory |
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| Colombian Zebra Pleco |
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| Colombian Snowball Pleco |
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| Green Phantom Pleco |
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| Vampire Toothnose Galaxias Dracula 240 Pleco |
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| Upside Down Cat |
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| Albino Hoplo Cat |
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Clown Loach
Don't build your order around these but I'm hoping to enough for next week. |
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The royal clown knives that came in on Tuesday ended up being just as big as expected. They are huge and super impressive but very, very limited. They'll keep getting even bigger and are strongly predatory so watch what you mix them with. I have some standard clown knives in stock at around 3". For unrelated but similarly shaped South American knives, I've got a couple sizes of black ghost, nice size brown ghosts, and lots of great looking transparent knives. The transparent knives are the best species for keeping in groups since they don't hate each other.
Gold giant gouamis also came in good size, although as you can guess from their name they have lot of room to grow. They'll get a foot and a half long (potentially even bigger) and are a popular food fish. In a tank they're a lot like smaller gouramis but bigger. In other words, they're plenty tough enough to hang with relatively aggressive fish, but usually aren't too bad about picking on their tankmates. Good choice to mix with arowanas, big parrots, or big knifefish like the royal clowns that just came in.
For reasonable size gouramis, the red paradise are still one of the best looking types here. Very different than the old Florida strains, if you aren't stocking these you should be. Red body with long black-edged fins, they are super nice. The Florida albino paradise are good size this week with color. Opalines are still the best of the Florida gouramis, with blues a little smaller. Pearls are still small with no color. Import honey gouramis all look good.
Got in new medium boesmani rainbows that look amazing. Noticeably bigger and brighter than the regular size, which already looked good. Deepwater Creeks are the best looking fish here that no one buys. The fired up males are amazing and even the females have color. Yellow rainbows and kamakas are still looking good as well. For smaller types, the feathfins and Celebes are both running big and look great. Skip the neon dwarf praecox this week, they are small and have very little color.
Better goldfish selection this week, although quantities are limited. I have nice lionheads with pretty good conformation. Black ranchus are also in stock and look good too. I may have limited numbers of panda telescopes, ask your rep on Monday.
Some other odds and ends that look good include more archerfish, medium peacock gudgeon gobies, oversized 3" albino rainbow sharks, Florida flagfish, dwarf puffers, panda garras, delhezi and albino bichirs, and new marble morays.
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| Royal Clown Knife |
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| Gold Giant Gourami |
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| Red Paradisefish |
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| Medium Boesmani Rainbow |
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| Medium Deepwater Creek Rainbow |
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Medium Goyder River Rainbow
On Special |
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| Lionhead Goldfish |
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| Black Ranchu |
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| Archerfish |
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| Peacock Gudgeon Gobies |
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| Florida Flagfish |
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| Albino Rainbow Shark 3" |
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Shrimp, Snails & Other Inverts
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Yellow-spot rabbit snails are in stock. They are spotted, although I couldn't tell that they were till I blew up the picture I took. They look black in the tank to my old eyes.
Your best choice for mystery snails are the golds. Because it's the only color in stock right now.
Got in a ton of Indo shrimp. Blue velvets got a little smaller. Red rilis and black rilis both look good. Cherry shrimp are the worst I've seen, skip them. Also have nice Singapore red fires and orange shrimp, and a 'black bee shrimp' that seems poorly named but looks good.
Also have new Borneo panther crabs and they are awesome as usual. |
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| Yellow Spot Rabbit Snails |
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| Gold Mystery Snail |
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| Black Rili Shrimp |
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| Red Rili Shrimp |
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Cherry Shrimp
These are the worst ones I've ever seen. I'm not pushing these, just want to make sure you know what you're getting. Buy the red fire shrimp if you want a red shrimp. |
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| Black & White Bee Shrimp |
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| New Borneo Panther Crab |
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The Saltwater stock-list gets sent out on MONDAY afternoon.
In saltwater, we offer tons of top-of-the-line corals. If you need really nice frags to sell for $10-15, we've got you covered. If you want a $400 show piece unique Australian brain corals, we've got that too. Tons of the coral frags are aquacultured in-house and are named lineage pieces of various SPS and LPS. Import frags that are MADE in-house are also available, and are great options to get slightly bigger pieces that customers want like torches, hammers, blastos, acans, zoas, etc. |
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