Photo by Anne Rokyta: Coleto Creek at US Highway 77 with German Shepherds, Oso and Maya. December 21, 2017 was warm, an occurrence happening more and more frequently lately. The weather was sunny, and temperatures hovered around 80°F (~27°C). It was a perfect first day of winter for ... Read More
Archives for 2017
Lucania goodei, the Blue Fin Killifish
Photo: A group of Lucania goodei, the bluefin killifish, in a sorting jar. While collecting fish in Coleto Creek in Victoria County, Texas (I’ll be blogging about this collecting trip shortly) with our nephew (Darin), his wife (Anne), and three-year-old daughter (Sylvie), Darin picked a ... Read More
Texas Weather – December 2017
Winter wonderland early morning December 8, 2017. Texas weather, especially winter weather, can be highly variable. This December illustrates that. Tuesday, December 5, 2017 It was a warm day. As Susie and I walked from the house to the greenhouses I almost stepped on a coral snake ... Read More
Aulonocara stuartgranti ‘Chiloelo’
Photo of a male Aulonocara stuartgranti ‘Chiloelo’ we are currently selling. We raise a number of species in the Aulonocara genus, including these populations of Aulonocara stuartgranti: Chiloelo, Flavescent, Maulana Bi-Color, and Mbenji Blue Regal. This blog concerns Aulonocara stuartgranti ... Read More
Hurricane Harvey Recovery – September 12th
Photo of damage to the interior and exterior of one of our greenhouses. Before I launch into what we’ve been doing since we finally got commercial power, I need to thank my brother-in-law, Danny Rokyta. Danny came over the day before Harvey hit to make sure Carl and I had properly installed our ... Read More
Update on Poecilia reticulata, McCauley Spring
Photo: a shoal of Poecilia reticulata, McCauley Spring I first wrote about this fish for my column in Tropical Fish Hobbyist, January 2013 issue (http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/expendition-to-mccauley-spring.htm). Here’s a quote from that article about this guppy (the quote comes ... Read More
A Weird Short Ecotour Offer
Photo: A young copperhead in our yard. Photo by Carl Clapsaddle. For three years now I’ve been toying with offering an ecotourism venture at our farm during our copperhead season. This evening cinched the idea for me. Susie and I got home from our volunteer fire department meeting (yes, on ... Read More
Fancy Red Tuxedo Swordtails
Photo: Female Red Tuxedo Lyretail Swordtail. As is typical of our strain, females don’t have as bright red coloration as males. We’ve started working on adding three fancy fin types, lyretail, hifin, and plumetail to each of our commercial swordtail, maculatus, and variatus lines. I’m going to ... Read More
Orange Freckled Swordtails
Photo above is a male Orange Freckled Swordtail. The grid behind him is in inches and shows his size. Those of you who have read many of my past articles and blogs know that a common theme throughout my writings is serendipity (could also be called “luck”). This interesting fish arose from a ... Read More
Blue and Giant Mollies
Photo: A male Giant Sailfin Molly showing his size against a one-inch grid. About four years ago, I wrote an article about my efforts to produce a blue molly. A molly blue enough for my tastes doesn’t exist. This blog will provide an update. First, I’ll summarize the article. In ... Read More