A big thanks to the Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS) and the Minnesota Killie Keepers Association (MKKA) for hosting us a few weeks ago. I had a ball talking all things fish. It was a great event with well over 200 pairs of killifish! Hope everyone enjoyed our talks during the weekend!
The big news is that we now have a website, AmazonTropics.com. For simplicity, all new posts will be on our website. So there will no longer be updates posted here. In time, we hope to set up a shopping cart while still providing the best information on Tropical and Subtropical species from South America and West Africa. See you over at the new website!
Monday, October 16, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Major News Coming Soon! And We Are Heading to the MAS Show
We have a big announcement to make in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the guest speaker for the Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS), Jaap-Jan deGreef was forced to reschedule his trip due to Hurricane Irma. As a result, yours truly will be filling in. Stay tuned to the MAS Website, for more details.
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the guest speaker for the Minnesota Aquarium Society (MAS), Jaap-Jan deGreef was forced to reschedule his trip due to Hurricane Irma. As a result, yours truly will be filling in. Stay tuned to the MAS Website, for more details.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Corydoras duplicareus
We blame Rob McLure for our new found obsession with Callichthyidae or as they are commonly known, Cories. While growing up, our family kept a few Cories in a 15 gallon tall and shortly after working at the local fish store, we acquired both Corydoras seussi and a Corydoras "elegans" type.We truly enjoyed watching them feed and interact with each other. We would even bury the C. seussi's food to watch them force their mouths deep into the sand.
More recently, Rob McLure has spoke at several clubs in the Midwest including our local fish club, the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE). His talks have intrigued me enough to start working with a few cories. First, we acquired first generation Corydoras panda, the Panda Cory, from Joe Doyle. Second, it was a group of wild Corydoras duplicareus and Corydoras sp. "Green Laser" from Rob.
One day, a friend was over picking up some fish and he was looking through various tanks in the fishroom. He started observing the tank containing the Corydoras panda. All of a sudden he states, you know you have baby cories in the tank right? We had hardly paid attention to the tank but right before my eyes, there they were, baby cories! Our first cory to spawn in our aquaria. Ironically, it was also my brother's first cory to spawn 10 years earlier.
We quickly moved the group of C. panda to their own tank knowing that the eggs and/or fry would stand a better chance of survival. Over the next few weeks to months, we collected several batches of eggs. While the Panda Cories still have never produced large batches of eggs, they are still very young at a little over a year of age. Cories can live to be 8-10 years or more! Patience is key when it comes to fishkeeping.
Soon after, we decided to move our C. duplicareus to the same 15 gallon tall tank mentioned earlier, now 25 years old! We checked for eggs the next day and sure enough, there were eggs. Unfortunately, most of these turned out to be infertile. This was not surprisingly since the group had just been moved. However, over the course of several weeks, we now have around 20 eggs. Our hope is to start offering F-1 Corydoras duplicareus next year! It is truly a beautiful species of Cory and perhaps our favorite but how can you choose just one favorite? Stay tuned!
More recently, Rob McLure has spoke at several clubs in the Midwest including our local fish club, the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE). His talks have intrigued me enough to start working with a few cories. First, we acquired first generation Corydoras panda, the Panda Cory, from Joe Doyle. Second, it was a group of wild Corydoras duplicareus and Corydoras sp. "Green Laser" from Rob.
One day, a friend was over picking up some fish and he was looking through various tanks in the fishroom. He started observing the tank containing the Corydoras panda. All of a sudden he states, you know you have baby cories in the tank right? We had hardly paid attention to the tank but right before my eyes, there they were, baby cories! Our first cory to spawn in our aquaria. Ironically, it was also my brother's first cory to spawn 10 years earlier.
We quickly moved the group of C. panda to their own tank knowing that the eggs and/or fry would stand a better chance of survival. Over the next few weeks to months, we collected several batches of eggs. While the Panda Cories still have never produced large batches of eggs, they are still very young at a little over a year of age. Cories can live to be 8-10 years or more! Patience is key when it comes to fishkeeping.
Soon after, we decided to move our C. duplicareus to the same 15 gallon tall tank mentioned earlier, now 25 years old! We checked for eggs the next day and sure enough, there were eggs. Unfortunately, most of these turned out to be infertile. This was not surprisingly since the group had just been moved. However, over the course of several weeks, we now have around 20 eggs. Our hope is to start offering F-1 Corydoras duplicareus next year! It is truly a beautiful species of Cory and perhaps our favorite but how can you choose just one favorite? Stay tuned!
Monday, August 14, 2017
Tatia strigata
We have some excellent news! Our Tatia strigata fry from our first batch are going strong and are now approaching 3/4"! These will be large enough to be included in the Rare Catfish Auction at Cataclysm! It is a fantastic fish with, as the name implies, striations across the body. They are sometimes called the Pinstripe Woodcat. Unfortunately only a handful survived from the first batch so there will only be one bag of these available.
In addition, we have had two subsequent spawns and have additional fry that are now free swimming and are feeding! The latest batch were laid just this weekend and appear viable. This is all good news but it has caused us to move some fish around. While the parent fish can handle parameters outside of super soft acid water, the eggs and fry cannot. We now have 2-5 gallon tanks of pure R/O water for the fry of this species with a pH of around 5.5-6.0. The largest fry are now in a 50/50 mix of tap and R/O water making their water a little closer to the 6.5-6.8 range. That said, just look at the photo, they are worth it!
Do not forget to register for Cataclysm and do not miss our talk on Auchenipteridae - The Woodcats on Saturday at 11am! For details, please go to: http://catfish-cataclysm.com/ Happy fish keeping!
In addition, we have had two subsequent spawns and have additional fry that are now free swimming and are feeding! The latest batch were laid just this weekend and appear viable. This is all good news but it has caused us to move some fish around. While the parent fish can handle parameters outside of super soft acid water, the eggs and fry cannot. We now have 2-5 gallon tanks of pure R/O water for the fry of this species with a pH of around 5.5-6.0. The largest fry are now in a 50/50 mix of tap and R/O water making their water a little closer to the 6.5-6.8 range. That said, just look at the photo, they are worth it!
Do not forget to register for Cataclysm and do not miss our talk on Auchenipteridae - The Woodcats on Saturday at 11am! For details, please go to: http://catfish-cataclysm.com/ Happy fish keeping!
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Cataclysm is Coming!
An honor to be a speaker and listed in the advertisement for Cataclysm in Amazonas magazine! More on this soon along with an anticipated availability list.
Monday, July 17, 2017
ACA Detroit, MI
Hope everyone had a great time at the American Cichlid Association (ACA) Convention this past weekend. While we only attended Saturday, it was great to catch up with friends that we only get to see a few times a year. It was a quick but fun trip. Hope everyone had their share of fish, friends and fun! Cichlids and catfish were both well represented at this year's ACA and there was even a guest speaker who spoke on catfish! With that, the next big event is Cataclysm! AmazonTropics.com will be there speaking on Woodcats! Do not forget to register: http://catfish-cataclysm.com.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Tatia spp., Rare Woodcats Spawning Update
Well a week has past since our Tatia strigata eggs first appeared. We are happy to report that they have hatched and are just days away from absorbing their yolk sac. We are still not out of the woods on these but fingers crossed!
In addition to the T. strigata eggs, we just found T. schultzi eggs last night. While the eggs appear to be infertile, it is a step in the right direction. A simple water change with reverse osmosis water (R/O) seems to have done the trick in this case dropping the pH levels. We will continue to providing R/O to see if this can trigger a viable spawn. Our Centromochlus reticulatus appear to not be far off either. We hope to be able to provide some rare Woodcats in the future! Stay tuned!
In addition to the T. strigata eggs, we just found T. schultzi eggs last night. While the eggs appear to be infertile, it is a step in the right direction. A simple water change with reverse osmosis water (R/O) seems to have done the trick in this case dropping the pH levels. We will continue to providing R/O to see if this can trigger a viable spawn. Our Centromochlus reticulatus appear to not be far off either. We hope to be able to provide some rare Woodcats in the future! Stay tuned!
Saturday, June 17, 2017
A Great Time in Akron at the All Aqua Show
A big thanks to the Greater Akron Aquarium Society for hosting us during their All Aqua Show! We had an absolutely fabulous time at this yearly event. This show has been going since 1960 with the show being called the All Aqua Show since 1978! It was an honor to be the banquet speaker, judge and auctioneer.
This is one of the last all species fish shows in the country. This year's show had over 350 entries, up 11 entries from last year. Hopefully this is a sign that some shows may stick around if at all on a regional scale. Showing fish can be risky with moving a prized specimen into a tank that is only set up for a few days. It is not only stressful on the fish but also the owner. The best way to move your prized fish is to use your own aquarium with established water and sponge filter.
A special thanks to Bud White, Rich Serva, Wayne Toven and Larry Secaur for sharing his nearly 400 tank fishroom! Larry had tank after tank of Corydoras, Aspidoras, Apistogramma and Loricariidae. Quite a few people visited Larry's fishroom while we were there including, Roberto Prati, Joe Doyle, Pat Sabourin, Bill Sensor and Robert Lupton of Flip Aquatics. If you were unable to attend, be sure to attend next year and plan to visit Larry and his extreme fishroom!
We now turn our attention to the American Cichlid Association Convention, July 13th-16th. This event isn't always in the Midwest and it is great to have such an event so close in back to back years! This year it is being hosted by the Michigan Cichlid Association. Guest speakers include: Pam Chin, Larry Johnson, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas, Ted Judy, Jeff Michels and local Dale Ernst and are sure to not disappoint. For more details, visit ACA's Convention website at: http://acaconvention2017.com/
Lastly, we had a rare spawning event take place this week of our Tatia strigata. This species gets its name from the striations along the body. It is a very small species of woodcat only reaching 2.5"! The key with getting the eggs to develop is very soft water. We have been using around 80-90% R/O water in hopes to get this species to finally have a successful spawning. Fingers crossed that we can raise this species in time for Cataclysm; which by the way is less than 100 days away! Lastly is a sneak peak at a new Centromochlus species, C. sp. "Rio Itaya".
This is one of the last all species fish shows in the country. This year's show had over 350 entries, up 11 entries from last year. Hopefully this is a sign that some shows may stick around if at all on a regional scale. Showing fish can be risky with moving a prized specimen into a tank that is only set up for a few days. It is not only stressful on the fish but also the owner. The best way to move your prized fish is to use your own aquarium with established water and sponge filter.
A special thanks to Bud White, Rich Serva, Wayne Toven and Larry Secaur for sharing his nearly 400 tank fishroom! Larry had tank after tank of Corydoras, Aspidoras, Apistogramma and Loricariidae. Quite a few people visited Larry's fishroom while we were there including, Roberto Prati, Joe Doyle, Pat Sabourin, Bill Sensor and Robert Lupton of Flip Aquatics. If you were unable to attend, be sure to attend next year and plan to visit Larry and his extreme fishroom!
We now turn our attention to the American Cichlid Association Convention, July 13th-16th. This event isn't always in the Midwest and it is great to have such an event so close in back to back years! This year it is being hosted by the Michigan Cichlid Association. Guest speakers include: Pam Chin, Larry Johnson, Juan Miguel Artigas Azas, Ted Judy, Jeff Michels and local Dale Ernst and are sure to not disappoint. For more details, visit ACA's Convention website at: http://acaconvention2017.com/
Lastly, we had a rare spawning event take place this week of our Tatia strigata. This species gets its name from the striations along the body. It is a very small species of woodcat only reaching 2.5"! The key with getting the eggs to develop is very soft water. We have been using around 80-90% R/O water in hopes to get this species to finally have a successful spawning. Fingers crossed that we can raise this species in time for Cataclysm; which by the way is less than 100 days away! Lastly is a sneak peak at a new Centromochlus species, C. sp. "Rio Itaya".
Friday, May 26, 2017
Trip to Cinci
A big thanks to Jerry Riegel for hosting us today in Cinci. Jerry is from the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS). He and his wife, Sue, opened up their home to us this afternoon. We even were able to enjoy food at a local restaurant. We do wish we could have spent more time with Jerry and Sue but there is always next time. While at Jerry and Sue's home, we picked up two wonderful species of plecos, Ancistrus sp. "Snowflake" and Hypancistrus sp. "L411", the Monte Dourado Pleco. If you ever get the chance to visit Jerry's fishroom, be sure to do so. He sure loves his plecos!
On our way back, we made a stop at Gerber's Tropical Fish in Dayton, OH. We have visited Gerber's before but wanted to check out the larger freshwater section. While they did not have a ton of rare species, they did have one of the largest collection of monster fish I have ever seen including large cichlids like Texas and Jaguar cichlids, pacu that were easily 12-14", silver dollars and two really nice Vulture Catfish, Calophysus macropterus. Surprisingly the two 12" fish were getting along just fine and perhaps have grown out of their terrible twos. We did spot an interesting yellow spotted Ancistrus but there was no location from South America given and only a single male fish. The fish was a stunning and every bit of 6"! Until next time Cinci!
On our way back, we made a stop at Gerber's Tropical Fish in Dayton, OH. We have visited Gerber's before but wanted to check out the larger freshwater section. While they did not have a ton of rare species, they did have one of the largest collection of monster fish I have ever seen including large cichlids like Texas and Jaguar cichlids, pacu that were easily 12-14", silver dollars and two really nice Vulture Catfish, Calophysus macropterus. Surprisingly the two 12" fish were getting along just fine and perhaps have grown out of their terrible twos. We did spot an interesting yellow spotted Ancistrus but there was no location from South America given and only a single male fish. The fish was a stunning and every bit of 6"! Until next time Cinci!
Saturday, May 6, 2017
GPASI Auction and CAFE Swap
We can't express how much fun we had at the recent Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) Swap and Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society Inc. (GPASI) Auction. If you haven't been to a fish event, you a truly missing out! Besides all of the rare and unusual fish species, you have the chance at meeting aquarists from all over the Midwest and beyond. We were even able to snap up some rare fish and plants at each event. More on this below.
With that said, we would like to share that AmazonTropics.com will be speaking at the 2017 Ultra-Aqua Show hosted by the Greater Akron Aquarium Society (GAAS) in Akron, OH. This will be a rare chance to see an all species fish show! Akron has by far the largest all species show perhaps left in North America. Year in and year out they host this great show that starts with a swap meet, followed by a dinner and speaker Saturday night. The event ends on Sunday with a fish auction along with announcing the winners of the show. We hope to catch you at this great event! For details, please visit GAAS' website at: http://www.gaas-fish.net/default.asp?pageName=ultraaquashow
Finally, an update on our fishroom. Chris Benes of Pet Suppliers in Highland, Michigan has been importing fish for various events in our region. With the Emerald Green Otocinclus doing so well, we have decided to acquire a group of Zebra Otocinclus, Otocinclus cocama. This species, as the name implies, has some vibrant black and white coloration. We hope to be able to have these breed in our tanks soon. The fish are in excellent health with fat bellies. They are already eating New Life Spectrum pellets. So if you are looking for some great fish, do not hesitate in buying from Chris. He is often at the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS) auctions. Enjoy the short video below and happy fish keeping!
With that said, we would like to share that AmazonTropics.com will be speaking at the 2017 Ultra-Aqua Show hosted by the Greater Akron Aquarium Society (GAAS) in Akron, OH. This will be a rare chance to see an all species fish show! Akron has by far the largest all species show perhaps left in North America. Year in and year out they host this great show that starts with a swap meet, followed by a dinner and speaker Saturday night. The event ends on Sunday with a fish auction along with announcing the winners of the show. We hope to catch you at this great event! For details, please visit GAAS' website at: http://www.gaas-fish.net/default.asp?pageName=ultraaquashow
Finally, an update on our fishroom. Chris Benes of Pet Suppliers in Highland, Michigan has been importing fish for various events in our region. With the Emerald Green Otocinclus doing so well, we have decided to acquire a group of Zebra Otocinclus, Otocinclus cocama. This species, as the name implies, has some vibrant black and white coloration. We hope to be able to have these breed in our tanks soon. The fish are in excellent health with fat bellies. They are already eating New Life Spectrum pellets. So if you are looking for some great fish, do not hesitate in buying from Chris. He is often at the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS) auctions. Enjoy the short video below and happy fish keeping!
Saturday, April 8, 2017
GCAS Auction and Parotocinclus
We would like to share our time at the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS) Spring Auction. It is a great organization with great people and of course fish! We would like to thank Chris Benes for offering some high quality fish including Satanoperca daemon (which we picked up at the GCAS Swap) and Hyphessobrycon pyrrhonotus, the Flame-back Bleeding Heart Tetra. Both species are going to be on display in our new 120 gallon tank which can be seen as you enter into the fishroom. We also picked up some African Water Fern, Bolbitis heudelotii which is a great looking plant that is easy to grow and attaches to rocks and driftwood.
If you have never been to a GCAS event, we highly recommend their winter auction (or a regular meeting if you can't wait). The auction was packed with aquarists from around the Ohio valley area, over 170 to be exact. Cinci is perhaps the largest auction in the area. It was great pleasure to help read off bags of fish to full house (photos below). We will certainly be at the next big Cinci auction in the fall!
Recently we acquired an undescribed species of Parotocinclus, P. sp. "Bumblebee" from Peru. With our recent success with Hisonotus aky, we took a chance on this species. All arrived alive however one was lost within the first few hours likely due to the stress of shipping. A few days past and a few more passed away from unknown causes. This is not an easy species by any means. It is our hope that things will level off and we can get this species settled in our fishroom. If the opportunity presents itself, we will attempt to acquire another dozen. Fingers crossed that these hold up and one day perhaps they will reproduce!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
CAFE Auction and back to Hisonotus
The Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE), recently had their Spring Auction and what an auction it was! CAFE's New and Rare has taken off and has become a driving force to the success of the event and AmazonTropics.com was proud to be a part of such a great event. We hope you took a chance at our offerings of: Geophagus mirabilis, Centromochlus perugiae, Krobia xinguensis (which could soon be red listed) and Ancistrus sp. "Snowflake".
AmazonTropics will continue to provide new and exciting species for fish events. Do not miss us at the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society Inc. (GPASI) auction on April 30th. For all of the details, visit their website at: http://www.gpasi.org.
One species we hope to offer in the future is of course Hisonotus aky. We have been talking about this species for a while now but we can now share with you the first video of the fry turning green! It has been a journey in raising this species but we now believe we have figured out how to raise groups of fry up. If all goes well, we will be able to offer this awesome species by the end of the year. First though, we must build up our breeding stock. Until then, enjoy this new video!
AmazonTropics will continue to provide new and exciting species for fish events. Do not miss us at the Greater Pittsburgh Aquarium Society Inc. (GPASI) auction on April 30th. For all of the details, visit their website at: http://www.gpasi.org.
One species we hope to offer in the future is of course Hisonotus aky. We have been talking about this species for a while now but we can now share with you the first video of the fry turning green! It has been a journey in raising this species but we now believe we have figured out how to raise groups of fry up. If all goes well, we will be able to offer this awesome species by the end of the year. First though, we must build up our breeding stock. Until then, enjoy this new video!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Hypancistrus spp.
Spring seems to be coming early this year! Our Hypancistrus zebra are back at it after giving us 10 juveniles. The male once again has another female trapped. We will be looking to save some of these back for future breeders but may have some of this fantastic species available soon! The zebra plecos are not the only ones spawning as our group of F-1 Hypancistrus sp. "L-333" Porto de Moz have also spawned. The male is currently guarding the wigglers. These should be released later this month.
If you have checked it out yet, check out Ted Judy's videos on Colombia 2016. Ted is great friend having provided us with many fish species. We look forward to spending time with Ted at Cataclysm 2017 in Madison, WI. Do not forget to register for this great event at: Cataclysm 2017
If you have checked it out yet, check out Ted Judy's videos on Colombia 2016. Ted is great friend having provided us with many fish species. We look forward to spending time with Ted at Cataclysm 2017 in Madison, WI. Do not forget to register for this great event at: Cataclysm 2017
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Geophagus sveni
Just a quick update on our Geophagus. We have had some spawning activity recently but no viable fry. Things should pick up again here in the next month or two. We are going to work on moving some fish around in the hopes of having more spawning. Fingers crossed! Until then, a video of our Geophagus sveni feeding.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from AmazonTropics.com! 2017 is looking to be our best year yet! We have a bunch of things coming to you this year including our new website. Stay tuned for details as we work on constructing our website. A big thanks goes to Dennis Ball of BallAquatics.com for his assistance. Dennis built and designed his website, the current ColumbusFishClub.org website for the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) along with Stephan Tanner's website, SwissTropicals.com.
The website will likely be our way to offer fish moving forward. However, the best way will be to contact us at our email address, jeremybasch@gmail.com. The website will be our home base for fish information but our blog will continue to be your way of staying up to date with the latest in our fishroom. We look forward to sharing more details on our website soon, stay tuned!
The website will likely be our way to offer fish moving forward. However, the best way will be to contact us at our email address, jeremybasch@gmail.com. The website will be our home base for fish information but our blog will continue to be your way of staying up to date with the latest in our fishroom. We look forward to sharing more details on our website soon, stay tuned!
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