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| Red-Striped Liberifer Severum |
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Hey Folks,
I love living in Florida. Sales dropped off a little this week because so many of you up north had weather-related fight issues, and it's 80 degrees here today. I hope you continue to have dreary cold days and lots and lots of fish selling.
One of the heaviest incoming week's I've had in a long time. Got in Sri Lanka, Bangkok, a couple of Singapore shipments, Indo, Colombia, and lots of Florida fish. Enough new stuff that I might be getting this email to you at a reasonable hour. The more new fish I have the fast this goes, and it's been a long week with a real late start on this.
I have red-striped liberifer severums in from Colombia. These were a fun surprise since all I knew about them before they got here was 'severum' on the invoice. They're all decent size, if they were Florida fish I'd call them mediums. The red stripes aren't very prominent right now, but that's a function of size and the fact they just got here. As they get bigger they will have noticeable red stripes. While severums have been bred for decades in tanks and are well known substrate spawners, these liberifer severums are actually mouthbrooders. The only species in the genus that breeds that way. Size and temperament are similar to any other severum, so a good tankmate with other big sturdy fish, but not crazy aggressive like a Central American.
Medium peacock gudgeons are some of the nicest ones I've seen. They're oversized and super impressive. The regular size is very nice but these mediums are outstanding. Often kept in a biotope with small Australian rainbows and/or blue-eyes, they hop around the bottom and rarely bother fish swimming above them. Give them lots of caves they'll squabble over hiding spots but rarely do much damage.
I'm going to close by asking for a favor. If you've been reading this for a while you know I'm a herp guy. If you're peripherally involved with herps or you follow animal people on social media you may know that Brian Barczyk going is in hospice care with pancreatic cancer.
As passionate as I am with fish they're not my first love, and I spent a decade working in the reptile industry. I got to know Brian Barczyk a little bit. A few years later he brought me up to Michigan to kick around the idea of working there. While we didn't come to an agreement, I spent a couple of days with Brian and his family. Brian and Lori were so kind and generous, and it was a great visit. In the years since I got to stay warm in Florida and Brian ended up becoming a crazy popular social media phenom. He's educated millions of people about reptiles and has certainly played a role in their growing popularity. We chatted a few times about the idea of filming on the fish farm, but that's definitely not in my wheelhouse.
Brian is also passionate about fish, and has been working on opening an aquarium in Michigan. I wish I could have seen what his foray into aquatics would do for the aquarium hobby. While Brian won't be there for the opening it's still moving forward under the direction of his family. If you can do anything to contribute to getting this open you can donate here.
If you can donate that's great, but that's not the favor I'm asking. More important than that, keep in touch with your friends and loved ones. My memories of Brian aren't as a YouTube star but as a nice guy, a herp geek, and cookout in his backyard. Someone I considered a friend, and I regret not keeping in touch. Just a reminder to not put off that phone call to an old friend that you've been meaning to get to.
Thanks,
Joe Hiduke
Nautilus |
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| Medium Peacock Gudgeons |
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Diamond tetras got a little bigger and a lot brighter this week. Gold pristellas are still big and bright as well. Some other Florida-raised fish that look good include silvertips (small but bright), longfin blushers, huge red-eyes (on special), and pastel gold neon tetras.
Got in more Exodon bucktooth tetras from Colombia. This is the best display fish you can get, as long as you're OK with your display tanks being species tanks. They are voracious fin and scale (and eyeball) feeders.
Wild red phantoms came in tiny, even for red phantoms. But they're really bright, and look fantastic. Ruby tetras aren't much smaller than the red phantoms which is great size for this fish. They also have exceptional color. For bigger imports, I have nice flagtail Prochs, new pinktail Chalceus with deep purplish pink tails, and good size red hooks.
Got in Indo again this week, as well as plenty of Singapore farm-raised characins. Hujeta rocket gar have been here a few weeks. They're fat and happy and growing like weeds. Some import actual tetras that look good include black phantoms, blue kerris, black palmeri emperors, small but bright ember tetras, limited numbers of glass bloodfins, and some ridiculous balloon penguin tetras. |
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| Diamond Tetras |
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| Gold Pristellas |
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| Pastel Gold Neon Tetra |
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| Red Phantoms |
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| Ruby Tetras |
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| Flagtail Proch |
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| Pinktail Chalceus |
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| Hujeta Rocket Gar |
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| Black Phantoms |
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| Balloon Penguins |
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| I might have 30 pieces of these gorgeous yellow-tail Congos. Don't build your order around these. |
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Got in more Florida-bred red glass barbs that look fantastic. These should be on every order this week. They're pretty good size with amazing color. Large tiger barbs are great size and well worth the higher price. Rosy barbs are very mixed in size, but the small ones don't look bad. Brilliant rasboras, pearl danios (on special), longfin zebra danios, and giant danios look good too. Black ruby barbs are OK size, not colorful yet. Gold barbs are smaller but holding up well this week.
Import cherry barbs are tiny. Don't buy them this week unless you want tiny fish. White clouds aren't much better. Green tiger barbs are OK size, and albinos are actually pretty nice. Red panda barbs and checkerboard barbs are both good size. Pandas need a while to color up but the checkerboards have a nice blue sheen. Snakeskin barbs have been here a few weeks and are solid.
For some smaller fish, I still have a few kubotai green neon rasboras, Asian rummynose that are nothing but silver, and a good number of galaxy rasboras that are big enough that you can tell what they are. |
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| New Red Glass Barbs |
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| Large Tiger Barbs |
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| Cherry barbs got a little bigger than this by the end of the week. Maybe a third bigger. Which I'd still consider unacceptable but maybe you have lower standards than I do. |
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| White Clouds |
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| Gold white clouds are a lot nicer than the standards. |
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| Green Tiger Barbs |
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| Checkerboard Barbs |
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I have decent swordtails this week!. Florida bred velvet wags are back in stock and they look great. A little mixed size but mostly big. Color is great, these are deep red the way all the Florida velvets used to be. I also have Florida pineapple swords that are big and bright. A little light on males, but a lot more males than import swords. For imports, the neons are pretty good size, and the assorteds are huge. For fancier swords, I still have a handful of firecracker and vampire swords.
Bumble-bee platies are back in stock. They're a little smaller than most platies here but they look good and they have a great name. Gold-twin bars are the biggest platy (outside of the gigantic XL assorted). Dawns, blue mickeys, sunset mickeys, white mickeys and red tigers are all nice too. Got in some highfin blue neon variatus that are very pretty. Like the old 'blue parrot' variatus but with a high dorsal fin.
Best guppies are probably in transit from Sri Lanka, but the best of what is in house include red dragon dumbos, lemons, blue mosaic (that are probably blue moscows), and assorted lyretails.
I have all the big sailfin mollies. Large golds, greens and chocolates are all outstanding. For small mollies, the gold sphenops are pretty good size and very bright. |
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| Velvet Wags |
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| Pineapple Swords |
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| BB Platies |
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| Blue Mickey Mouse Platies |
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| Red Dragon Dumbo Guppy |
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| Green Sailfin Mollies |
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I have a few jumbo heckeli threadfin eartheaters that are some of the best looking fish here. Fantastic size with nice color and long streamers on the fins. The 5" heckeli are nearly as nice and a lot cheaper. For other eartheaters, I still have a few 5" brasiliensis, and some medium balzani with good color.
In addition to the wild liberifer severums I have a couple Florida-bred varieties. I have red-spot turquoise and red-spot rainbows that I'm not sure I can tell apart. The turqs have a tiny bit more blue in the faces. As they grow up there will be a more noticeable difference. They're both high-color strains that are going to look great, and they're also the only severums in Florida right now so I'm sure they're going to sell fast.
I have limited numbers of medium EB acaras. They're small for a medium, these would be regulars in summer. But the color is fantastic. I have plenty of regular EB acaras too, and they'll look like the mediums soon.
I finally have some common Florida cichlids back in stock. I have firemouths and green terrors. The size is OK on the firemouths, a little worse than OK on the green terrors. Black convicts are still running big, but pinks got a lot smaller this week. Red devils are still big and nice in every size. Medium salvinis look great, oversized with fantastic color.
A few less common Centrals that look good include oversized trimacs, blue umbies, and small altifrons.
Black rams are back in stock. These are really pretty fish that I wish had a different name. Indigo rams would be a better choice. They do look darker in my tanks than in my pics, but as nice as they are they don't live up the name. German blues are very nice as well, and import Bolivian rams are good size.
Large black angels are gigantic right now. They're not the blackest angels I've seen but the color is good and the size is awesome. I have new blue blushers in stock too. They're also Florida-bred fish. Color is nice, conformation is pretty good, but there are quite a few with missing gill plates. They're listed as veils (I think) but they're not.
I also have import angelfish. I got in a really nice albino pearlscale angel from Indo. I've had these before and they're likely to sulk for a few days but after that they've held up great every time I've had them. About a select size.
I also have import longfin oscars. The fins aren't that impressive now, but I've grown out a few of these. Mostly because y'all don't buy them fast enough. This is a good strain. Color is mediocre, but the fins are super nice when they hit about 4". |
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| Jumbo Heckeli |
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| Firemouths |
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| Green Terrors |
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| EB Acara Reg |
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EB Acara Medium
Size is small (wintertime medium) but the color is way brighter than the regulars. |
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| Red-Spot Turquoise Severum |
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| Red Spot Rainbow Severum |
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| Trimac |
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Blue Umbie
On special this week |
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| Istlanum XL |
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| Zonatus |
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Black Ram
or Indigo Ram if I had originally named it. |
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| Bolivian Ram |
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| Large Black Angel |
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Blue Blushing Angel
I'm not proud of their operculum situation but I want to be transparent about the quality on this fish. |
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| Albino Pearlscale Angel |
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Longfin Common Oscar
Pretty sure this will grow up with more red than previous sets |
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Got some fish pictured below that you saw last week because they're still here and still look awesome. And I sold out of a bunch of stuff that wasn't as nice. Cichlid sales are unpredicable.
I moved a ton of the bigger haps this week but I still have very nice all-male yellow blaze lithobates, and they're on sale this week. I have two or three crazy nice OB lithobates as well. Got a couple XL OB peacocks, a couple large yellow peacocks, and plenty of the Florida mix males. German/ruby red peacocks are the best looking peacock here, although only a couple of them are showing full color. The smaller albino sunshines and red fires aren't much smaller than the mediums and are a great value. Also have nice albino red empress that get brighter every day. Albino comps still look great. The Lake Victoria rock kribs look great, and I have plenty of females holding in the tank. And they're on special this week too.
For mbunas, the msobos are still the best type. Other mbunas that look good include albino auratus, chipokaes, acei, OB zebras, red zebras, and gold Tropheops. |
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| Yellow-Blaze Lithobates |
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| Yellow-Blaze Lithobates in OB |
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| German (Ruby) Red Peacock |
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| Rock Krib |
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| Msobos |
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| Chipokae |
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| Acei |
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| OB Zebras |
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L52 butterfly plecos are in stock this week in limited numbers. A flattened species from high-current area, they have a neat contrasting banded pattern. Blue phantom plecos are back in stock as well. This batch is as blue as I have seen in their first few days here. They're usually more like charcoal phantoms until they've been here a few weeks. Green phantoms are big and bright. Got plenty of Colombian snowballs and zebras. The snowballs mostly have smaller spots with a yellowish cast, almost mustard pleco-like. Plenty of wild bushynose in stock too.
Gold/green cories are the best of my new cory cats. Pretty good color, not too small, and likely to ship next week. Agassizii look really good as well and are probably the best choice for a spotted cory. Metae and arcuatus are big, and hopefully stable by Monday.
Royal farlowellas came in a little smaller. Most of them are smaller than the one in the picture. A few other import catfish that look good include bb cats (very mixy in size), banjo cats, four-line pims, spotted raphaels, big striped raphaels that are still on special, and of course jelly cats.
My coolest new catfish this week are the longfin green cories. Florida-bred fish that are as nice as I have seen. Fins are crazy long for the size of the fish. These are limited and they're going to sell out fast. Florida-bred eupterus/angelicus crosses and Syno decorus are both very nice too. Still have some redtail cats that are, I think, list 2-3" and they're a lot bigger then that. You still shouldn't buy them because they're terrible tank fish but you're probably going to buy them anyway.
Sumo loaches are in stock again. These are kinda kuhli-like but stockier and they bury a lot less. They're still social and super active. They have faint red in the belly now, and as they acclimate that'll get a lot brighter. I also have new Sewellia loaches but the color sucks. They're a lot more brown and less yellow than I'd like. Probably have clown loaches again this week but they continue to be limited. |
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| L52 Butterfly Pleco |
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| Blue Phantom Pleco |
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| Green Phantom Pleco |
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Colombian Snowball
This week's shipment includes a bunch with smaller spots. |
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| Wild bushynose aren't very bushy now but they are big. |
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| Gold/Green Cory Cats |
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| Royal Farlowellas |
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| Banjo Cats |
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| Glass cats look great this week. |
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| Far-east farm-raised redtail cats are well started. Still a terrible choice for most of your customers. |
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| Longfin Green Cories |
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| Sumo Loaches |
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| Sewellia Loach |
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Fire eels are in from Indo. They're on the low end of list size but they have nice color, lots of red. I still have a handful of the Burmese tire-tracks. They're bigger and very nice even if the name is stupid. They have spots, but I guess they got tire-track as a name because people know what a tire-track eel is. Call them Burmese leopard eels or something like that.
Wild panda garras are in stock again. I have hundreds of little panda garras all the time, but these bigger fish aren't available very often and the quantities are always low. Get them while you can.
Gold honey gouramis got a little bigger. One of my favorites, they're small and peaceful. I have red honeys too that are a bit bigger. Florida blues and opalines are still OK size. Florida pearls are really crappy, skip them this week.
Signifer blue-eyes are big and super bright. Way nicer than my picture shows. This is the ideal fish to put with the big peacock gudgeons for your biotope tank. Featherfins are also big and also work in that tank. For the bigger rainbows, the medium turqs and medium boesmanis are still fantastic. Yellow rainbows are very nice too. Ran through the emerald wanamensis in about a day but I should have more on Monday.
Various other stuff that stands out includes both freshwater reticulated BB gobies and brackish regular BB gobies, orange gobies, rhino gobies, albino rainbow sharks, albino paradise, huge royal clown knives, transparent knives, big brown ghost knives, albino bichirs, dwarf puffers, figure-8 puffers, black ranchus, and Asian needle gar. |
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| 6-7" fire eels are a lot smaller than 6-7" Burmese tire tracks but they have plenty of red. |
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| Borneo Tire-Track Eels |
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| Panda Garra Lg |
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| Panda Garra |
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| Gold Honey Gouramis |
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| Signifer Blue Eyes |
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| Yellow Rainbow |
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Reticulated BB Gobies
Not as pretty but freshwater. |
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| Got a few of the regular BB gobies too. These need brackish water. |
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| Got a few more of these giant royal clown knives. |
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| Transparent Knife |
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| Medium Black Ghost |
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| Asian Needle Gar |
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Shrimp, Snails & Other Inverts
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Got in plenty of orange rabbit snails and I still have a few yellow-spotted rabbit snails. Once again, go with the gold mystery snail because I have no other mystery snails.
Amano shrimp are in stock and good size. I have a lot but probably not as many as I can sell. So order early.
Lots more shrimp in from Indo this week. Continue to pass on the cherry shrimp because they're terrible, but I have nice red crystals, blue diamonds, blue rilis that came in as black rilis, red rilis, and orange shrimp. |
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| Thai Red Crab |
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| Amano Shrimp |
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| Indo red crystal shrimp aren't as nice as the Singapore ones but they still look good. |
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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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