Reminder-The office is closed on Monday for Labor Day. We'll be treating Tuesday like our Monday, meaning if you want fish shipped on Tuesday your order needs to be here when we get in the office at 9:00.
We lucked out with Hurricane Idalia. No damage on the farm, and we were back up and shipping everything out yesterday. For those of you wondering why we shut down early and end up having little impact, it's because of how unpredictable these storms are. This one was originally predicted to be a category 1 at worst, and ended up being a cat 4 at one point. Fortunately the track stopped veering east after the first day or so, but we all had a lot of anxiety watching the track. A minor adjustment of 50 or even 25 miles can mean the difference between no damage or catastrophic flooding. As evidenced by one my reps who leaves near the water in St. Pete and had almost two feet of water in his house. On top of that, the county shut down, including schools, meaning we'd have a lot less people able to come in and pack fish. Fortunately we did get everything out, and I think the biggest impact to most of you is that you're order might have arrived on a different day than you wanted.
Monday so was crazy hectic with storm planning that I didn't have time to mention some sad herp news. We lost a couple of pioneers of the reptile trade last weekend. Both Bob Mailloux and Ralph Curtis passed away. Bob is responsible for every bearded dragon and White's treefrog that you've ever seen in the US, among countless other species. And yet what I remember most about Bob was how humble and genuinely nice he was. Ralph may not have been as well know as Bob but he goes back way further in the trade as the founder of Wild Cargo Pets long before most of you were born. He was an animal dealer when things like chimps and hippos were still legal and commonly available. Ralph traded that in long ago and was a book publisher and dealer, including many herp books. Much like Bob, my memories of Ralph involve what a nice guy he was, and all of his great stories about the early days of the exotics trade. Both guys that I considered friends, and both guys that I hadn't been in touch with for many years. So I guess take this as a reminder to reach out to old friends more often.
In spite of the hurricane and Tampa airport closing we still got in plenty of stuff, with shipments from Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Also got in some specialty cichlids from Florida breeders and of course all the bread and butter Florida fish that are available.
A quick note about my notes, and the impact of the hurricane. Since we lost two shipping days this week, we had an incredibly condensed shipping schedule, with most orders going out last night. On top of that we're still sending out fish today for Saturday arrival, which we almost never do. So I'll be restocking a lot of fish over the weekend. This means that the fish we're shipping next week may not be the same as what I'm seeing today. Generally if a fish is running big, the next batch I'm likely to get will be running big too, but eventually that pond runs out and we can get into smaller sizes. This can happen any week, but given all the storm complications this week I wanted to explain why you sometimes get an average sized fish when I said they were big and nice.
Wild daemons are in from Colombia. This is a pretty good sized cichlid, but with a mild demeanor. They're fine in a tank with bigger schooling tetras, or with other laid back cichlids, or even fish like gouramis if you're OK with mixing fish from different continents. If you have a pair that wants to start a family they may chase away bottom-dwelling catfish, but or otherwise safe with most fish. FYI, it's not uncommon for these to come in as a mix with juraparis, a close relative. This batch looks like it's mostly daemon, with a handful of juraparis mixed in. But they're small and look pretty similar. Don't order them if you only want daemon, you may get both.
Wild rams came in last week and I barely mentioned them because they came in pretty rough. They settled in very nicely and look great now. All of the German blue rams in trade originally go back to wild fish like this, but that was many decades ago. These wild rams are not as blue as the aquarium lines, but they have more yellow. They are also a lot more aggressive. Decades of selecting for fish that live in glass boxes has apparently made the German blues a lot more peaceful than their wild ancestors. I doubt this extends beyond aggression to other rams, but I can't say I've kept them in a community tank.
Sticking with my wild cichlid theme for the week, I also have some festivums in from Colombia. These are often described as looking like a cross between a severum and an angelfish. They're also sometimes traded as flag cichlids. Not sure why but it's no worse of a name than festivum. If I had hundreds available maybe I'd try to make up a better name, but these are typically only available in limited quantities. I can't say they're anything other than brown, but they do have a unique appearance. Like the juraparis, they're pretty laid back, but if they can be aggressive if they're sitting over eggs. They are smaller than severums, with a max size around 5". Most likely a species complex (and there are some newly described species in the genus over the last few years), you may see some pics of 'festivums' with color, and bigger than 5", but the most common ones in the trade aren't likely to get much bigger.
Please give a call if you have any questions.
Thanks
Bob Mailloux and Ralph Curtis. The herp trade would be a lot different without the accomplishments of these guys, and the world's a sadder place without them.
Wild Blue Ram
Wild Festivums
Tetras and Relatives
Rainbow emperor tetras are in stock again from Colombia. A close relative of the standard emperors but with more color, and they're available now. These are wild fish and very mixed in size but the bigger ones look great and the smaller ones have some color.
New gold tetras are very good size for this fish. A cheap fish that's very hardy, lives in a community tank, and doesn't look like anything else in the trade. New red phantoms are small and washed out, but I have some older ones that look great. They typically take a little while to settle in.
I'm still sitting on a bunch of very nice bleeding hearts. They're not huge but they do have good color. Diptail pencils are still in stock too, and unusual and cheap oddball. Also have pretty good numbers of green neons, pretty but very mixed size. Cheap and a good value.
For bigger fish, I still have plenty of South American gar, some nice red hooks, and lots of flagtail Prochilodus.
Back in stock with Florida-bred silvertips this week. They're small but the bigger fish are starting to get their nice gold body color. Also back in stock with decent size head and tail lights. Some other Florida fish that look good include super nice longfin serpaes, longfin blushers, gold pristellas, penguin tetras, big glowlights, albino glowlights, and nice size bloodfins.
Import albino Congos have been here a few weeks and look great. One of the few albino fish that I think looks as good as the wild types. They keep the bright pearly sheen of a standard Congo on a pink/white ground color. Some other far-east farm fish that look good include big beautiful black phantoms, green fire tetras (small but with color), blue kerris, balloon red-eyes, and a few ember tetras.
Rainbow Emperor Tetras
Gold Tetras
Ruby Tetras
Bleeding Hearts
Silvertips
Head & Tail Lights
Albino Congo Tetras
Balloon Red Eyes
Barbs, Danios & Relatives
Still getting in super nice Florida-bred veil tail cherry barbs, in both normal color and albinos. The albino cherry barbs look good too. Rosy barbs are nice size but female heavy. I'm out of the big gorgeous black ruby barbs right now. Ask on Monday if I got any more.
Import roseline sharks are back in stock. The size is pretty good, and the color is a lot better than my picture shows. Red pandas are decent size but only a few of the bigger fish have any hint of color. They are big enough that I expect they'll color up in your tanks pretty quickly. Snakeskin barbs still look great too, more color than the red pandas right now. Checkerboard barbs are very pretty, with a nice blue sheen. Platinum green tiger barbs are still in stock too. These are a lot bigger than the standard green tigers, and they're also the only green tiger barbs here right now.
Veiltail Cherry Barbs
Roseline Shark
Red Panda Barbs
Livebearers
I'm back in stock with the huge assorted XL Florida swordtails. I assume these were already out of ponds before our heat wave a few weeks ago because that's dramatically reduced Florida swordtail availability. Outside of these the only swords I have are imports. I have neons, pineapples, velvets, velvet wags, and limited numbers of painted swords. As usual, they are female heavy, and a lot of the males haven't grown much of a sword yet.
Some platies that look include bumblebees, blue mickey mouse, and candy cane mickeys. I'm back in stock with black platies (aka green lanterns) but they are pretty small this week. Sunset and especially redtail black variatus both look good.
Black sailfin mollies are in stock and look good. They're big, with a bit of gold edging on the fins. Silver sailfins are just as big. Black lyretail sphenops mollies are nice size as well, with very nice lyretails.
Still have plenty of guppies in stock, and lots more coming on Sunday. A few types that stand out include pigeonbloods, red dragon dumbos, white dumbos (they're more black and white, like a real panda dumbo), blue mosaics, and green cobras.
Asst XL Swordtails Florida-bred and super nice
Painted Swords
Redtail Black Variatus
Pigeonblood Guppies
New World Cichlids
Caquetaia myersi are in stock for the first time! This is a holy grail type of fish for a lot of people. They're available as imports but never come in, and they're almost never available as tank-raised fish. This is the first time I've had them available. This is the rarest and, IMO, the nicest of the basketmouth cichlids. They have a clean banded pattern, and lots of blue in the fins as they mature. This batch is very small, maybe 1.5". They get up to at least 8" and are strongly predatory with huge mouths. Not particularly aggressive beyond conspecifics. In fact, be careful mixing them with more aggressive tankmates as their jaws aren't designed to hold up when they have lip-locking fights with other cichlids.
Petenia 'snook cichlids' are in stock as well. Like the myersi this is a big-mouthed fish-eating predator. Unlike the myersi, these are tank-busters, getting up to 20". This batch is pretty small but they grow fast. Again, avoid more aggressive species as tankmates. They're likely to get into squabbles, and the snook often come out on the losing side even if they're bigger than their tankmates.
A few other uncommon New World cichlids that came in this week include new blue umbees and black umbees, barred midas, Neetroplus, and some fancy Rio Usumacinta salvinis. These will end up being a lot brighter than the standard salvinis, and they're not that much more expensive. I'm still in stock with great looking argentea, Honduran red-points, a few red midas, trimacs, zonatus, and a few big green umbees.
For common cichlids, I'm back in stock with jack dempseys and the size is great. Also getting plenty of EB carpintis and undersized medium firemouths. Select green terrors are the best size because they're the size that's coming in most days. Red-spot gold severums are very nice, good size with great color.
3" heckeli got even bigger this week, a bit oversized and super nice. Also have plenty of oversized 4" and a few 5" heckeli. Medium and 5" brasiliensis are very nice. For smaller Geos, I have altifrons, a few redhead Tapajos, and a few balzanis.
My bigger Atabapo red pikes that have been hanging out for a while are actually turning red. Standard Colombian pikes are decent size and mostly belly-crawler types. I still have plenty of wild oscars with their intricate patterns. And check back on Monday for an update on some very limited and very uncommon wild fish.
Lots of far-east abomination fish here too. Blood parrots are decent size. Blue tiger parrots are pretty small but they're still going to sell. Flowerhorns are back in stock and have a bit of color.
Singapore leopard discus came in Monday and look really good. They're a bit over list size and holding up well. Chili oscars, lemon oscars, and longfin common oscars all look good as well.
Myersi Cichlids
Krausi Cichlid
Snook Cichlid Petenia splendida
Green Umbriferum
Rio Usumacinta Salvini
Redhead Tapajos
Atabapo Red Pike
Wild Belly Crawler Type Pike
Leopard Discus
Apisto agasizzii got even brighter this week.
Old World Cichlids
Nicholsi dwarf cichlids are in stock again. Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi, this is a close relative of the Egyptian mouthbrooder but you have to be older than me to remember that as a common fish. That was the first mouthbrooding cichlid common in the hobby, pre-dating the Malawi fish by decades. All Pseudocrenilabrus are small and not very aggressive. The nicholsi are by far the most colorful variety available in the trade. They're so pretty I don't have to make up a stupid name to sell them. This batch is all or nearly all males which is great for color, not so great if you want pairs.
Turkana jewels are back in stock again. This batch is even bigger than the last. They're going to be stunning once they settle in, with lots of blue and black in the fins and an orange/red body. These are great size, full adults. This is one of the less aggressive jewel cichlids, although they will get more aggressive when they're breeding, and they are jewel cichlids so they do that a lot.
Don't have anything new for Rift Lake fish, but still have lots of nice fish. Best mbunas are cobalt zebras, demasoni, msobos, socos, snow white socos, albino redtop zebras, and albino auratus. Best peacocks are the large yellow OBs. The medium males are very bright and a great value. Best haps are the insanely bright all-male Cop azureus. Large fusco males are bright blue and beautiful, they should have already sold out. If you like silver fish I do have some 5" Rhamphochromis barracuda cichlids. Tanganyikan leleupi are gorgeous, good sizne and bright, bright yellow.
Nicholsi Cichlids
Turkana Jewels
Msobos
Socos
Large Fuscos
Rhamphochromis
Catfish and Loaches
Jelly cats are in stock this week. This is a big ambush predator. They have big mouths and they'll eat everything, but they're not that active so a lot easier to house than a big tiger shovelnose or similar fish.
Got a new pleco this week. Well, not new, and not on purpose, but a fish I haven't had in a while. Smoky Peckoltia plecos are in from Colombia because this is what I got sent instead of Colombian zebras. Peckoltia lujani or something really similar, they're small with an interesting marbley pattern.
I still have a few real Colombian zebras, plenty of Colombian snowballs, and a few super nice XL green phantoms. Plenty of wild bushynose plecos in stock too.
Royal farlowellas came in again this week. I still have some older ones that decent size, but the new ones are pretty small, maybe half the size of the fish in the pic below. These usually do really well for me once they settle in.
Pretty good variety of cories that came in last week so they should be good to go for next week. I have stable julii, nice size punctatus, big Brochis cats, and a few gold/greens. Arcuatus are small. Pygmy cories aren't stable yet, not sure they're likely to go out next week.
A few other catfish that look good right now include large Burmese sun cats, banjo cats, four-line pims, mixed size bumble bee cats, a few giant Otos, and spotted raphaels.
I've got multipunctatus Synos on special this week but they're not pure multis. Or rather, there's pure multis in the tank and some multi-like hybrids in the tank. They got mixed up here and I'd rather put them on sale as an assortment than sort them myself. Whatever you get is going to be very nice. I have some little import petricolas too. They are way smaller than the Florida multis (or 'multis'), but otherwise nice.
Back in stock with both dojo loaches and gold dojos. Among the most personable fish, they'll be eating out of your fingers in no time. Zebra loaches are still in stock and look great. Big with good color. I still have some 2.5" highfin banded loaches. They look great in tanks with their exagerated dorsal fin, and they'll be pond sized by the time next spring rolls around and they outgrow their tanks.
Jelly Cat
Smokey Peckoltia
Julii Cories
Royal Farlowella
Banjo Cats
Mixed Synos that are on sale as multis.
Got a few large albino bushynose late this week.
Dojo Loach
Gold Dojo Loach
Other Fish & Stuff
Ossa knives are in again from Colombia. This is one of the best looking knifefish. Unfortunately they don't do anything, ever. At least not in front of you. They're going to lay on their sides and never move for weeks if not longer before you'll ever see them move. Leave food like frozen bloodworms overnight. Presumably they eat, just never when you're around. They will eventually acclimate well enough to eat in front of you but it'll take a while. They bury in the substrate in the wild so adjusting to a tank takes a long time.
Sunset thicklip gouramis are still coming in. They're not huge but they're close to adult color. Blue gouramis and gold gouramis are both OK size with good color. Pink kissers are out today but they may be back in stock on Monday. Import red honey gouramis are bigger than the gold honeys, but the gold honeys are prettier. Got in more of true giant gourams and black-eyed gold true giant gouramis.
Madagascar rainbows are one of my better looking rainbowfish this week. That's not only because I don't have many big rainbows. This set is getting really nice red fins and plenty of blue/green in the body too. The signifers look really good too. Very yellow already. And rounding out the trio of underappreciated 'bows, the featherfins are great size and look fantastic.
For bigger rainbows, Deepwater Creek splendida, kamakas, neon dwarf, and Goyder Rivers all look pretty good.
Got some gorgeous domestic 4" assorted fantails. Nice mix of calicos, reds, red and black, and red and white fish. They're big with good fins and good conformation. 4" shubunkins are really nice too, oversized with great color and big tails. I also have import black ranchus, lionheads, and the 'oranda pearlscales' which are slightly less spherical pearls with a small wen.
Some other fish that look good this week include marble morays, spotted puffers, a couple sizes of arowanas, albino bichirs, delhezi bichirs, leopard Ctenopomas, clown knives, sparkling gouramis, black ghost knives, zig-zag eels, Burmese tiretracks, and 8" royal clown knives.
I still have Borneo panther crabs. Coolest thing I've ever had here that didn't sell out in a week. You need these in your store. They look amazing, and they've been holding up great for me.
Great selection of shrimp in here right now. Tiger shrimp and bumblebee shrimp are a couple varieties that don't match what I usually get. They're both a little different than the more common Neocaridina types. The tiger shrimp have a neat banded pattern, while the bee shrimp have wide bands. For more color, the red cherry shrimp, blue diamond shrimp, and yellow fire shrimp are all very nice size and bright this week.
Ossa Knives
Gold True Giant Gourami
Madagascar Rainbows
Signifer Rainbows
Deepwater Creek Splendida
Zig Zag Eels
Assorted 4" Fantails
Marble Moray
Borneo Panther Crabs
Tiger Shrimp
Bumble Bee Shrimp
Yellow Fire Shrimp
SALTWATER/CORALS
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.
Effective February 1, 2019 Pictures for freshwater DOA claims are REQUIRED. DOA credits will no longer be approved if there are not accompanying pictures. This is to see the bag sizes, water quality at arrival, if heat/ice packs are present, etc.
Just snap a picture of the bag with your cell phone as you're putting the bags in the tank to float and that will work and should only take literally 10 seconds per bag that contains losses. These will help us to figure out why they arrived DOA and how to prevent it in the future. It is preferred that you email the pictures to your rep, but you can also text them into your rep as well. Thank you for your understanding and assistance.
SALTWATER DOA POLICY: All Saltwater DOA need a clear picture of the fish out of the bag on a cooler lid from your shipment and emailed to your sales rep the day or day after your shipment arrives. Any fish lost in shipment will be credited if you follow that easy instruction. Fish that die overnight are not creditable unless they arrive in very rough condition (basically dead) and you notify us of the condition with a clear picture of the issue the day it arrives.
