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| Florida Gar |
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Hey Folks,
It's Aqua Shella in Daytona this weekend. I'm planning on being there on Saturday. This one is a consumer show so I don't have a booth, but I know a fair number of stores are going to be there. Ask at the Spectrum booth and check out all the GloFish. I'm told the first few Aqua Shella shows were pretty much a glorified frag swap, and a big disappointment after losing Aquatic Experience. But it's got a lot more freshwater now, and a fair bit of industry participation. And it's in Florida so I feel kinda obligated to go. I'm absolutely not the market for the whole social media/influencer part of the show since I'm old and cranky, but I can confirm that you can attend and not get stuck having to deal with any of those folks. Hope to see some of you there.
Incoming this week includes Colombia, Indo, Singapore, Sri Lanka and a few new Florida fish.
Most exciting Florida fish isn't a farm-raised fish, it's wild-collected Florida gar. These are great fish for you customers that have big tanks. They do need to be real big tanks since this fish can get over three feet long. They range throughout the state and into southern Georgia, so they can handle cool temps. They work as a pond fish in southern states. I should say southeastern states, since native gar are prohibited in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah (and native in Georgia, so no sales there either).
Florida 'red dragon' flowerhorns are back in stock. They're big and impressive but have a very different (non-humpy) look than the imports. Basically they look like really high-red trimac. Given how much they look like a trimac I expect they're going to kill everything in their tank that's not as mean as they are. They can work with other aggressive cichlids in a big enough tank, but watch them closely.
Got plenty of different Florida-bred Synodontis cats right now, including some new large upside-down cats. These are full grown, some of the biggest ones I've seen. While a lot of Synos will swim upside down this one really lives up to it's name. Their scientific name (nigriventris) even refers to their dark bellies, since that's the part of the fish that's always facing up. Very laid back as far as Synos go, these will work well in any tank with fish too big to fit in their mouths.
I have a Pike-A-Polooza going on this week, with four different types on sale. The Xingu orange pikes are gorgeous, and they get more brightly colored every week. As breeding adults they get crazy bright, at least the females do. While they lose the bright yellow/orange color they get red fins, and breeding females get a red mid-section, sometimes covering most of their body. Also have some Atabapo reds on special that aren't very red yet, regular Colombian pikes (mostly belly crawler types), and a few compressiceps pikes.
Thanks,
Joe Hiduke
Sales Manager
Nautilus |
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| Florida Red Dragon Flowerhorn |
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| Large UD Cats |
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| Pikeapolooza Xingu I French Fry or Orange Pike |
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| Pikeapolooza Atabapo Red Pike |
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| Pikeapolooza Compressiceps Pike |
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Florida-bred large neons are on sale this week. They're good size and a great value on special. Also Florida bloodfins, big Colombian tetras, H & Ts, red-eyes, and gold pristellas on special. Candy canes are still coming in every week and look fantastic. A few other Florida fish that look good include beautiful longfin serpaes, Buenos Aires, longfin blushers, black skirts, glowlights, and x-ray tetras.
Blind cave tetras are in from Indo this week. They're small and not that impressive (and a lot of them have wonky operculums), but they always seem to sell well. In spite of being eyeless they can still be fin-nippers and are voracious feeders. Some other far-east farm fish that look good include rummynose, cardinals, green fire tetras, blue kerris, red beckfordi pencils, and small but pretty black palmeri emperors.
Nothing new for wild characins but I still have plenty of fish. Bleeding hearts look good and are on special, and flameback (red-eye) bleeding hearts are even brighter. Green neons are decent size for green neons. Ruby tetras aren't real big but but they've been here for weeks and are looking pretty good. Emperor blue hooks get a darker mid-body bar every week as they settle in. 'Large' red hooks aren't a great large but the fins are pretty clean and they look good. |
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| Candy Cane Tetras |
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| Longfin Serpaes |
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| Gold Pristellas |
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| Longfin Blushers |
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| Rummynose |
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| Black Phantoms |
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| Flameback Bleeding Hearts |
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| Pacus |
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Chili rasboras are in stock this week. They've been here all week and are still holding up well, so hopefully that's still the case on Monday. We do best with these fish when they're getting live baby brine at least once a day. You can probably do just as well with Sera micropellets. But it's critical that they get a lot of small meals with something that's very palatable to them. When they're happy they look fantastic, bright red with a blue/green spot. One of the best fish for nano tanks, especially well established planted tanks where they're likely to find microorganisms to graze on.
Checkerboard barbs are in from Indo again. This is always a nice strain, with orange fins, and nice blue sheen over the whole fish that gets better with age. They're a small species that's not aggressive, closer to a cherry barb than a tiger barb. Some other import cyprinids in stock include galaxy rasboras (small), Asian rummynose (very small), roseline sharks, snakeskin barbs, and nice size red panda barbs. Farm-raised red-eyed gold tinfoils are nice and big. Albino tiger barbs are small, green tiger barbs aren't much better, but the platinum greens (on sale this week) are super nice.
Florida-bred large tiger barbs still look fantastic. They're great size and have plenty of color on their fins and faces. The regular size is pretty small right now, a lot of them are as small as the import greens/albinos. The mediums are right in between (which you'd expect, but that's not often the case). Pearl danios are big and bright, very nice right now. Scissortail rasboras are in stock again, very mixed size. Brilliant rasboras are pretty good size and very brightly colored. Veil-tail cherry barbs, albino veil cherries, rosy barbs, and giant danios all look good too. |
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| Chili Rasboras |
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| Checkerboard Barbs |
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| Green Tiger Barbs |
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Regular Tiger Barbs
Florida bred but pretty small this week. |
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| Large tiger barbs are still big and really nice. Mediums are noticeably smaller, but noticeably bigger than the regulars. |
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| Pearl Danios |
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| Brilliant Rasboras |
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| Rainbow Dace |
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Import calico sanke swords may be limited, but they're very nice and actually male heavy for the first time ever. They're small but otherwise look great. Pineapple swords are nearly all female, but there's a bunch of twin-bars, so pineapple comet swords I guess. Firecrackers and vampire swords are big and deep red, they both look fantastic.
Florida XL assorted swords are still the best value. They're huge, and have plenty of males. Marigolds are a lot smaller but still bright. Marigold wags are a little dirtier looking than the marigolds.
Red tiger platies are in stock and one of the best looking varieties. Includes both mickey mouse and twin-bar types. Gold mickeys are huge this week. A little more red/gold than gold. Some other platies that look good include red mickeys, gold calicos, and dawn platies. Redtail black variatus are very nice too with a green sheen over the black.
Red tux are still the best looking guppy today. A few other guppies that stand out right now include Moscow blues, red cobras, gold/red tux, and turquoise blue-tails. The Florida red pastels (I think that's what I called them) are a little less consistent than the imports but the color is nice and they have great big tails.
Back in stock with gold sailfins and green sailfins. They're both big and very pretty (although not all of the males are going to look like the fish in the pic below). Gold dust mollies are nice size, and so are the gold panda lyretails and black sphenop lyretails. The standard black sphenops are small, and the medium sailfins are very mediocre, pass on those this week. |
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| Sanke Swords |
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| Assorted XL Swords |
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Vampire Sword
Still on special |
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| Red Tiger Platies |
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| Gold Mickeys |
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| Redtail Black Variatus |
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| Assorted Dumbo Guppies |
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| Green Sailfin Mollies |
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| Gold Sailfin Mollies |
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I know I just wrote about these on Monday but I'm still going with my lentiginosus as the nicest New World fish here, and one of the nicest fish in any category. If you hate the big humps that the vieja type cichlids get than you want this fish. They are a lot more streamlined since they live in high-current areas. Max size is around 10", probably adult at half that size, so they're a lot easier to manage as well. A rare fish in the hobby, I don't have a lot so get them while you can.
If you prefer the big round cichlids I've got some fantastic fish in here right now. Melanura and bifasciata are both in stock at a small size. You'll have to be patient but these are going to be amazing when they grow up. Already showing color on the fins, these are very nice strains. I have some argentea too that are quite a bit bigger. Another beautiful fish but with a very different color scheme, they are silver but they're not as crappy looking as that sounds. They are silver but with a pink pearly sheen over the whole fish. It doesn't show well in my pics but they are already showing that in my tanks.
For those of you that prefer to predatory Centrals, I have more istlanum cichlids. The XL size sold out in about a day, but I got in more mediums. They're not all as big as the one in the pic below, but I don't think any of them are smaller than 3". Already showing great color, and they just get better as they grow up.
Real trimacs are also in stock this week at an XL size. Kinda regretting getting these at the same time as the new flowerhorns as they are pretty similar, but these are real trimacs, not crosses, and I know some of your customers are interested in pure fish instead of hybrids. At least a couple of them, I hope.
Also restocked on the spectabilis, a really nice basketmouth predator. They'll get more color as they settle in to my tanks. More myersi came in this week too but I don't know how many more are available. Don't sleep on this fish, I've never seen them available as tank-raised fish before.
Cuban cichlids are also back in stock this week. The conformation isn't perfect but it's still going to be great looking almost black and white adult. List 3", and some of them are oversized. They are relatively aggressive, similar to a managuense but they stay smaller so a little easier to manage.
For common stuff that's a lot more likely to sell for you, I'm back in stock with pink convicts, firemouths and Texas cichlids, and I may have limited numbers of green terrors. They're all small. and the Texas cichlids look more like an assorted Herichthys, but they're available and they're cheap. Which seem to be the best indicators of what's selling right now.
Just about all of my wild fish are the pikes that I already pictured up top. Shocked they're all still here, but hopefully they go out soon since we're getting into our busy season. I do still have wild oscars, and I might have a few wild blue rams left as well.
Still have some longfin oscars in here, and they're pretty nice. The color is nondescript (they're wild-type), but the fins are pretty long, and they're small fish, so I imagine these are going to look great as adults. Some other far-east imports that look good include platinum parrots, 2.5" assorted Singapore discus, and double-red Apisto agassizii. |
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| Rheoheros lentigonusos |
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| Melanura |
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| Bifasciata |
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| Argentea |
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| Medium Istlanum |
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| XL Trimac |
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| Spectabilis |
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| Myersi |
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| Cuban Cichlid 3" |
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| Longfin Oscars |
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Albino sunshine peacocks are in stock. They're not all-male but they're heavy males. And way oversized because I think I received them as the wrong size. Get them this week, they're probably supposed to be more expensive. Some of these are just a bit smaller than the medium mix.
Some other peacocks and haps that look good include OB red empress, OB jungle haps, red fire peacocks, and medium male mix peacocks. Ruby green Vics look great, at least the bigger males in the tank do. Tomato haps are a lot smaller but they biggest ones are already showing good color too. Still have my last dozen or so piceatus.
Mbuna selection is the same as last week. Medium socos and OB zebras are both oversized and look great. For the regular size mbunas, best fish include EB johannis, yellow Labs, albino zebras, snow white socos, gold Tropheops, red-head macs, exasperatus, and Chailosi elongatus.
Imported strawberry peacocks look really good. Like all the far-east peacocks, they are are juiced and they will fade but these albino types fade to pink instead of fading to silver so they never look terrible.
Import Tropheus duboisi are very small, but they do look great at this size with their finely spotted pattern. Import frontosas are a little bigger than the duboisi but still pretty small.
Still have plenty of Turkana jewels in stock and they're more red every week.
Also sitting on most of my green-spot bleekeri. The medium size isn't too far away from turning black. Get them now and they'll color up in a hurry in your tanks. If you wait till they're fully colored up here you'll probably miss out on them since I don't have a lot. While they're not closely related, these Madagascar fish are similar to the New World cichlids in temperament. |
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| Albino Sunshine Peacocks |
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Red Fire Peacock
It's a mix of black-eyed fish like this and red-eyed albinos. |
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| OB Jungle Hap |
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| Ruby Green Vic |
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| Gold Tropheops |
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| Juiced Strawberry Peacocks |
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| Duboisi |
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| Frontosas |
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Blue phantom plecos are in from Colombia. Out of the bag for about 12 hours when I got the pic below so they look more like charcoal phantoms right now. These fish always need time to settle in before they show their best color, and until they do they're pretty ugly. Taxonomically they're the same as the green phantoms (the Hemiancistrus green phantom, not the Baryancistrus green phantom (pleco names are interesting)), but with a very different color scheme. When they're settled they'll be bluish-gray with bright blue spots, very unique appearance.
I also have plenty of green phantoms in multiple sizes. They look good in every size bracket but the smaller ones are the brightest. Continuing to get plenty of Colombian snowballs and Colombian zebras, among the best value fancy plecos available. Also have plenty of wild bushynose, and a few L264 sultan/gray leopards from my last Brazil shipment.
Pygmaeus cories came in a little bigger this week, and so far they're holding up well. Skunk cories look great. At least the larger ones do. The small skunks are a little bigger than pygmy cories. Metae and agassizii from previous weeks are nice. New punctatus look good as well, decent size and active.
It's snowing up north so you can sell big fish now. You should be buying my jelly cats. They're back on special this week. They've been getting fat and happy here for about six months. Please give them a loving forever home.
Striped raphaels are mixed species, with a lot of the Orinocodoras long-nosed types in the mix. They're more active than the regular ones and have a slightly different look. They did come in pretty skinny so be prepared to feed them up when you get them.
Some other South American imports that look good include banjo cats, bumblebee cats, Colombian sharks, four-line pims, small gulper cats and pictus cats. Asian import sun cats look good too, especially the larger size.
Plenty of nice tank-raised fish too. I still have a few of the bigger super-red bushynose, which are rarely available at this size. Gold nigrita cats are gorgeous and haven't been around for years, I'm surprised they're still here. A 'false UD cat', they're upside-down almost as much as a regular UD cat. 4" eupterus are oversized with crazy long fins. 3" labyrinth Synos are also oversized and look amazing, black and white maze pattern on them.
Asian farm-raised redtail cats came in a lot bigger last week. I can't talk about this fish without reminding you that you probably shouldn't sell them, and if you do make sure you commit to taking them back when they get too big for your customers. Maybe host an annual customer appreciation fish fry with redtail cats, tiger shovelnose, iridescent sharks and pacus.
Tiger botias are still here. They seem to get brighter every week. They have the red in their fins and the stripes are very green. Should have black kuhli loaches available next week, and I have lots of yo-yo loaches (on special). |
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| Blue Phantom Pleco |
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Green Phantom Pleco
The smaller ones are brighter |
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| Skunk Cory Cat |
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| Jelly Cat |
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| Banjo Cats |
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| Redtail Cat |
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| Gold Nigrita |
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| 4" Featherfin Eupterus |
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| Tiger Botia |
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Florida-bred peacock gudgeon gobies are back in stock this week. This is a great looking fish that works in biotope aquarium with featherfins, blue-eyes and other small rainbows. They'll work equally well in a community tank with tetras and barbs, smaller gouramis, dwarf cichlids, etc. They will squabble with cichlids, catfish, or other fish claiming caves on the bottom of the tank, but if there are enough hiding spots they may all get along. In fact, providing lots of caves is the best way to see these fish more often. If you only have a couple of hiding spots they get shy and don't leave their home as often. If there are lots of places for them to duck into if they get spooked than they're a lot more likely to be out in the open.
Florida-bred opaline gouramis got a little bigger this week. The nicest ones are dark blue with yellow throats. Blue's are smaller than the opalines. Golds are even smaller and very mediocre. Pearl gouramis are equally small and even crappier looking. I might have a dozen moonlight gouramis left although they may be sold out by the time you read this.
Import gold honeys and red honey gourami are both still very nice. The reds are a little bigger but both of them look great. Import paradise fish are small, but still look pretty good. Also got in limited numbers of Florida albino paradise. They're mixed in size, but the bigger ones have great color.
Yellow rainbows (mediums) continue to be the best looking rainbow here. They're big with great color. Reds are back in stock and decent size but it's an ugly tank because the females are so colorless. About a 50/50 mix like it should be, but not a great display. Turquoise are small but have OK color. Boesmanis are small and less colorful this week. Neon dwarf rainbows are small but still pretty bright. Signifers are still fantastic, and featherfins are exceptional too.
The red-cap orandas and pearlscales that came in last week are still looking really good. Red-caps are the bigger of two, pearlscales are rounder. Large fantails are huge and very impressive. 3.5" shubunkins are oversized and on special, very nice.
Various other odds and ends that look good include fire eels in a couple of sizes, a few Burmese tire-track eels, spotted puffers, every size of albino rainbow shark, black ghost knives, daisy rice fish, top hat blennies, orange (not orange) gobies, delhezi bichirs, leopard Ctenopomas, and silver arowanas. |
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| Peacock Gudgeon Gobies |
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| Opaline Gouramis |
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| Gold Gouramis |
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| Albino Paradise |
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| Medium Yellow Rainbow |
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Neon Dwarf Rainbows
They look more blue in the net than they do in my tanks. |
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| Celebes Rainbows |
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| Red Cap Oranda |
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| Orange Gobies |
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| Figure-8 Puffer |
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| Top Hat Blennies |
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| Delhezi Bichirs |
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Shrimp, Snails & Other Inverts
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I have blue rabbit snails in stock for the first time. Unfortunately they're neither rabbit snails nor blue. They look a whole like the 'volcano' Faunus snails that I've had in the past. They're not bad looking, just not what I expected and certainly don't match what's on my stock list.
Got a ton of assassin snails in this week and they're on sale.
Best mystery snails this week are the assorted, they're big and it's a nice mix of colors.
Real light on shrimp again. Probably OK on blues and orange, and I should have limited numbers of black and red cherry. |
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(Not) Blue Rabbit Snails
These look like a Faunus snail to me, close but not the same thing. They also look not at all blue. |
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| Assassin snails are on sale this week. |
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| Assorted Mystery Snails |
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| Red Cherry Shrimp |
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| Blue 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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