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| Starfire Red Pristellas! |
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Current customers can order here at Nautilus Wholesale
If you're not set up for online ordering contact your sales rep |
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Hey Folks,
Starfire red pristellas are available for the first time! This is a gorgeous addition to the product line, and one of the best looking GloFish that's ever been released. I've had these on display at Global and SuperZoo so I think some of you have seen them, but unless you're Canadian they haven't been available for purchase. The pristellas are amazing, especially in a big tank. They school tighter than any of the other GloFish, but you won't see that behavior in a small tank. I've had them in four foot tanks at all the trade shows and they are incredible.
Pristellas have been a fantastic addition to the GloFish lines. Adding red to this assortment makes it even better. If you don't have these in your store you need to make tank space. Don't whine about them being a box-store fish. Pretty sure every brick and mortar out there sells neon tetras, and swordtails, and tiger barbs, which are also in box stores. Set them up right and your going to sell a ton of them even if they're also available at your competitors.
I restocked on a ton of big fancy cichlids this week. One of the few things that rival the GloFish in color, there are some insanely big and bright peacocks, haps, and pea/haps in stock right now. Get them now because they're always at their best when they come in from the ponds.
Been a couple weeks since I bothered your with any legal updates. Hope you enjoyed the brief reprieve, and it's over now. The latest threat that our hobby is facing is the Saving NEMO Act. The name is catchy enough and the purported goal sounds good, so this one may very well get traction. The purported goal of 'saving reef life' is very disingenuous, as the Act essentially shuts down trade, and not just wild-collection but aquaculture as well. Art Parola is a really bright guy that we're lucky to have on our side, and he's written an article for Reef Builders that you can read here. No need for me to re-write what he's already provided, but I'm quoting the last paragraph because this is the part where you take action.
"You can help by contacting your Congressional representative. Tell them to protect the educational benefits, livelihoods, sustainable development initiatives, and coral reef conservation provided by the aquarium trade in the United States and abroad and to OPPOSE HR 6447. To contact your US representative, please visit the NAIATrust.org website, sign up here, find your representative here, and drop them a short note stating your position on this bill."
I know most of you are freshwater stores, but I'm still asking you to help. Lots of reasons to help out, not least of all because it's in your best interest. Much like the Banggai cardinal issue that I asked you to help with, it's not a stretch to expect the AR movement to go on to 'Saving The Amazon' Act or something similar that would shut down freshwater imports, including all of the far-east and Czech cardinals and rummynose, cool Apistos and killis, other other fun stuff.
While this hasn't gotten a lot of traction yet it's very possible that it will. I'd rather start getting the message out now so you're already aware of this if it does blow up. I fully expect to be writing up something similar every year. This may turn out to be much like the Lacey amendments. It's likely to come up every year, and our opponents only have to win one time.
Please give a call if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Joe Hiduke
Nautilus |
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| I want every GloFish in stores to be under blue lights, but you can clearly see that these red pristellas are awesome even if they're under normal light. |
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| Lg Asst OB Peacock/Hap |
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Florida-bred albino silvertips are back in stock. This is a great strain, but this batch is just a little smaller than I'd like but you can tell how nice they'll be from the bigger males in the picture below. Also got some albino glowlights in stock this week. These are bigger than usual, and have an interesting look. You could make a nice display with both of these and the pastel gold neons.
Florida tetras are all over the place on size. X-rays are big and nice, and they're on sale this week. They're also a good choice for fish that will school with the GloFish pristellas. Some other Florida fish that stand out include longfin blushers, red-eyes (on sale), diamonds, and longfin white skirts.
Import rosy tetras are still big and they look fantastic. Penguins are big. Black phantoms aren't big but they look fantastic too. Serpaes and longfin serpaes are both small this week. Black neons are OK. Green fire tetras are back in stock and showing some color. Got about a dozen glass bloodfins and maybe two dozen albino rummynose.
From Colombia, Pink-tail Chalceus came in even brighter than last week. Tails are deep purplish-pink, and they're even getting some reddish spots on the body. Good size and solid. Got plenty of flagtail Prochilodus. Red hooks are still big, and I still have quite a few nice emperor blue hooks. Got in new pacus this week that you shouldn't buy but you probably will.
For smaller fish, ruby tetras are mixed in size ranging from normal small to really, really small. Nice fish for nano tanks. They all have color, with the bigger ones looking great. Plenty of gold tetras (on special) and green neons in stock too. |
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| Albino Silvertips |
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| X-Ray Tetras |
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| Diamond Tetras |
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| Rosy Tetras |
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| Penguin Tetras |
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| Pink-tail Chalceus |
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| Gold Tetras |
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| Blue Diamond Congo Tetras |
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I'm back in stock with chili rasboras that are almost the right fish. They're usually Bororas maculatus. This batch is Bororas brigittae which is really close and they are actually red unlike the urophthalmoides I was getting. These are tiny fish, and this batch is a little small for a chili rasbora. In spite of that they have really good color and are holding up well. If you have problems with these in your store give them live baby brine a couple times a day. This is going to be better for them than any medication you throw on them.
Checkerboard barbs are still in stock and they look great. They're small but have a nice blue sheen and orange fins. These are way better looking than the checkerboards I used to see from Florida farms ten years ago. Gold white clouds, platinum green tiger barbs, neon rosies, and tinfoil barbs look good too. Albino and green tiger barbs aren't exactly big and nice but they are really nice size for imports. Cherry barbs are still terrible, skip them this week. If you order them they'll probably get filled and then you'll complain about the size.
Florida red glass barbs are still the nicest barb and one of the nicest fish on the farm. I'm almost out today but I am expecting more over the weekend. Large tiger barbs got a fair bit smaller but they're still way bigger than regulars and well worth the price. Giant danios are still big and they're on sale this week. Brilliant rasboras are still very nice too, big with red tails. Rosy barbs, gold zebra danios, and pearl danios are all big too. |
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| Chili Rasboras |
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| Checkerboard Barbs |
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| Gold White Clouds |
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| Red Glass Barbs |
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| Brilliant Rasboras |
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Swordtail selection is miserable but what I have is really nice. Kokaku koi swords are back in stock and great size. Very, very female heavy. Pink comet swords are also in stock. Small and also lacking males but the color is really good, and unlike most other varieties. I still have plenty of the firecracker and vampire swords, and it's pretty likely I'll have new neons/pineapples/assorted by Monday.
I still have super gold cobra guppies. This is one of the nicest guppies I've every had here and it makes me sad that they didn't sell out this week. Pay attention to my emails and you get better fish than same types that are in every box store.
Other guppies that suck compared to the super gold cobras but still look good include pigeonblood/multicolor (biggest tail guppy), lemons, blue Moscows, midnights, red dragon dumbos and platinums.
Gold twin-bar platies are still big. Biggest platy other than the xl assortment. Dawn platies are nice size and bright. Got a new assorted mickey mouse that I've been asking for for years. Blue mickeys, sunset platies, and redtail black variatus are all very nice.
Best mollies are the gold sailfins, just like every week. The gold dust panda lyretails are the best of the non-sailfins. Regular black mollies are really small right now. |
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| Kohaku Swords |
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| Pink Comet Swords |
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| Dawn Platies |
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| Redtail Black Variatus |
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| Blue Cobras |
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| SUPER Gold Cobra Guppies |
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| Pigeonblood Multicolor Guppies |
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| Gold Sailfin Mollies |
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Wild oscars are back in stock and they look great. Hard to tell from the pic below but they get a really intricate pattern. Obviously not as bright as the red tigers, but still very pretty, with a different look than the aquarium strains. Still have wild red-striped liberifer severums in stock too.
Florida fish availability is really goofy. I have no firemouths, jacks, or green terrors, but I've got plenty of electric blue acaras which should be a more popular fish. I even have mediums again this week, and I put the regular size on sale. I have plenty of convicts and pink convicts in stock, plus very nice salvinis, and some fancy green color severums.
Came up with a few bigger fish this week. I'm back in stock with 4" Cubans. They're a little oversized with great color (although the fins re a little wonky). Also have some oversized 4" brasiliensis pearly eartheaters. They have great color. They're also going to beat on each other. These fish are don't know they're eartheaters and they are very not peaceful. Treat them like Centrals, not like other Geos.
If you want peaceful Geos I have three or four jumbo heckeli left and they look great. Also have a bunch of regular size heckeli.
Still have some specialty angels. I have plenty of koi pearlscales, gold pearlscales and smokey pearlscales, plus a pretty blue blushing angel. They have some operculum issues but they're otherwise healthy.
Getting a little backed on parrots so you can stock up on platinum and blue tiger parrots. They're both on sale this week. They're hideous but your customers like them and presumably you like to get paid.
Got in a few new discus this week. Pigeons look pretty bad to me but they've colored up reasonably well when I had them in the past. Red turqs look good, I'd recommend these over any of the other strains. They're all Singapore fish and a little over 2".
Going full circle back to oscars, I have some Indo-bred chili red oscars. They're insanely bright, and are probably full of methyltestosterone, but they'll stay bright red if you keep them on a good color diet. |
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| Wild Colombian Oscars |
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| Red-Striped Liberifer Severums |
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| 4" Cuban |
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| 4" Brasiliensis |
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| Medium EB Acaras |
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| Blue Blushing Angels |
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| Pink Convicts |
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| Deformed Pink Convicts aka Platinum Parrots |
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| Blue Tiger Parrots |
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| Pigeonblood Discus |
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| Red Turquoise Discus |
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| Chili Red Oscars |
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Chock full of OB fish. It's an OB bonanza. Real fuzzy line between peacocks and haps on most of these. None of them are pure. The yellow OBs are the peacockiest, the 'large OB peacocks' look mostly peacocks, the others are a little hap-ier. Doesn't matter what you call them, they are all big and bright and beautiful. These are January fish, stuff like this should be selling now.
For some smaller fish, I'm back in stock with ahlis. But they're terrible. Small and inconsistent conformation. Redfin borleyi are small but they look good, get them instead. Still have the turkis peacocks so apparently y'all aren't hip to the latest fishtube trends. Or so I'm told.
Pearl zebras are in stock this week. This is a great looking fish that doesn't show as well in my pics as it will in your tank. Plus they have a great name that your customers won't be afraid to try to pronounce. Marmalade cat fueleborni are big and OB. Msobos, auratus, socos, snow white socos, and red zebras all look good too.
Kribensis came in at a respectable size this week. They're not huge but they're a lot bigger than usual and showing some color in their belly. Golds are still tiny, you don't want those. |
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| Yellow OB Peacocks |
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| Large OB Peacocks |
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| OB Peacock/Pea-hap |
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| OB Hap Red Empress-ish |
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EB Ahlis
No color, size is terrible, and conformation is not consistent. If you order these you know exactly what to expect. |
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| Pearl Zebras |
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| Socolofi |
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| EB Johanni |
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| Kribensis |
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I still have all three cool catfish that came in from Nigeria last week. Giraffe cats are fattening up and look great. Microsynodontis are an awesome dwarf species that's super hardy and great in a community tank. Debauwi cats are a super active schooling fish. A little like a glass cat but not as transparent. A tinted glass cat?
Tiger shovelnose are in from Colombia. They get huge and you need to tell your customers that before you sell them. Not aggressive but strongly predatory with big mouths.
Pleco selection is exactly the same again, but with some cheaper fish. I have blue phantoms and large green phantoms on sale this week. Royal plecos, Colombian zebras, Colombian snowballs, and bushynose round out the pleco options.
Cory cats mostly look good this week. Melanistus, punctatus, arcuatus skunks, and metae bandits are all pretty likely to go out. The spotted ones are good size, the skunks and metae are even bigger.
Spotted and striped raphaels got smaller this week but they're still very good size. Some other import catfish that look good include royal farlowellas, four-line pims, Colombian sharks, and Burmese sun cats.
While wild cories have been a challenge the sterbai cories are doing really well. They're more expensive, likely because these are farm-raised fish. Nice spotted pattern with yellow fins. Also have some local longfin green cories, super-red bushynose, lemondrop bushynose, and import albino gibbiceps.
Ran through all of the Hong Kong 'Borneo suckers' but I'm back in stock with Indo 'Borneo suckers'. Darker and more spotted and a little more heat tolerant. Dojo loaches are great size, gold dojos not so much but they're not brown. Both of them are on sale. Got plenty of tiger botias and redtail botias as well. |
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| Tiger Shovelnose |
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| Some (not all) of my Colombian snowballs came in bigger this week. |
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| Royal Pleco |
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Green Phantom Pleco
These are on sale this week. |
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| Blue phantoms are also on special. |
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| Royal Farlowella |
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| Cory punctatus |
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| Cory sterbai |
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| Albino Gibbiceps |
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| Super Red Bushynose |
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| Borneo Suckers |
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| Dojos are probably way better manicure fish than garras. |
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I still have nothing as cool here as the bloodfish/hingemouth Phractolaemus. They're doing really well. Not selling so well, but I guess my real fish geek customers must have skipped this week. Get them while you can; most importers make better decisions that I do when rare brown fish are available.
I have some ornate bichirs this week. An African fish but not from my Nigeria shipment, these are farm-raised Indo fish. The pattern looks about right, but they're less yellow than I expected. Likely because they had a really long transit time to get here. Still have plenty of delhezis and nice size albino bichirs too, and both of those are on special this week.
Platinum medaka are available again. I keep hearing medaka are hot in the trade now. I hope that's true because they're not very impressive in my tanks. As they get bigger I expect them to be more platinum. These are bred to look their best from above like a miniature koi, so that's probably why they look so crappy in my picture. While the color is lacking, they are active, hardy, and a great outdoor tub fish for most of the year through most of the US.
Medium yellow rainbows are the best rainbow in the category of everything that's not a boesmani. Goyder Rivers, kamakas, and Deepwater Creeks are still very nice as well. The Celebes rainbows are some of the biggest I've seen here and they look amazing. Signifers are still good size and very colorful. Medium peacock gudgeons are the perfect rainbowfish tankmate and they're on sale this week.
Back in stock with red paradise. Somewhat limited, but likely getting more next week. Florida-bred blue paradise and albino paradise both look fantastic. Florida blue and opaline gouramis got a little smaller.
Various other odds and ends that look good include large panda garras (even though they're a lot smaller than last week), gold giant gouramis, doctor fish, tophat blennies, dwarf puffers, elephant nose, dolphin mormyrids, copper whales, silver arowanas, huge royal clown knives, way oversized medium black ghosts, and transparent knives. |
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| Bloodfish aka Hingemouth |
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| Ornate Bichir |
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| Platinum Medaka |
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| Yellow Rainbow |
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| Celebes Rainbows |
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| Medium Peacock Gudgeons |
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| Red Paradise |
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| Blue Paradise |
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| Gold True Giant Gouramis |
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| Large panda garras are a lot less large this week. |
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'Medium' Black Ghost
Way, way bigger than the smalls |
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Still have a bunch of elephant nose.
Schauzenorgan. |
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Shrimp, Snails & Other Inverts
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Finally have mystery snails in stock. I have pretty good numbers of assorted, gold, blue, ivory and black. They're all pretty good size too which really surprised considering how hard they've been to come by for months.
Import orange rabbit snails are nice size. Blue rabbit snails are some kind of not blue Faunus snail. Black racer nerites are big. Red-spot onion nerites are probably going to be scratched next week.
Still have red white and blue patriot crabs. They're big and pinchy.
Restocked on some shrimp last night. I have new midnights, black carbon rili and cherry shrimp. Pretty sure I'm carrying over red crystal shrimp and red fire shrimp from previous weeks. Expecting a bunch of deluxe mix over the weekend. |
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Gold Snails
I have more mystery snails today than I've seen in months. Golds, blues, ivorys, blacks, and a nice mix. |
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| What came in as blue rabbit snails. Not blue and not rabbit. |
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| Orange Rabbit Snail |
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| Patriotic Crabs |
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| Black Carbon Rili Shrimp |
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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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