I recently got an email from Dustin Holschuh that gave me the idea for this blog. Actually, under pressure from our web-wizard (Susan Harkey in Austin), I decided to kill two birds with one stone by combining my answer to Dustin with this blog. Dustin wrote, “I've been reading your articles in ... Read More
Blog
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Black Widow
A common spider on the farm is the Black Widow (probably Latrodectus hesperus, the Western Black Widow). The pictured spider has been paralyzed by a Spider Wasp and is upside down. In the normal course of events it would have been dragged to a burrow where the wasp would have laid an egg on it. The ... Read More
Poecilia gillii, La Marguerita, Panama
This is one of the wild short fin mollies (non-sailfins) we just processed. We got this fish at the American Livebearer Association’s 2012 convention auction in Florida. They were sold by John Boylan who collected them February 27, 2009, at La Margarita, Panama. Here’s what John recently wrote me ... Read More
Green Treefrog
That is a Green Treefrog peering from an old chain-link fence post in our yard. The frog likes it because it holds water making a nice damp home. We have four species of tree frogs on the farm. The Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) is the most common. The other three are Squirrel Treefrog (H. ... Read More
The Greater Akron Aquarium Society Show
In June of this year I got a request for fish show entries from Rich Serva of The Greater Akron Aquarium Society (GAAS ). Rich offered to receive and process the fish for the show if we’d send some. We often donate fish to clubs for their auctions, but earlier in the year had also sent fish to the ... Read More
Monster Plant – Dieffenbachia species
Since we use plant filters as our only means of filtration and water purification we are constantly searching for and testing plants that will thrive in our system. For those who subscribe to Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine, I wrote an article about our system; please see “Plant Filtration—No Water ... Read More
Dragon Blood Peacock
Today we processed our single vat of Dragon Blood Peacocks. The photo is one of our three breeding males. We got our starting breeders of this fish from Live Fish Direct the end of November last year. After growing up the juveniles, we found the fish to be more than advertised. They are ... Read More
Wolf Spider – Hogna species
One morning in the warehouse I saw this wolf spider running across the floor with an American cockroach in its jaws. The surroundings in the photo include a cold pack (which someone should have put up…hint, hint, Ashley, a hatchery tech who should have put it away), an empty 5-gallon water jug ... Read More
Garden Spider – Argiope aurantia
A few weeks ago a young female Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) found her way through our warehouse and shop into our office. We first noticed her and her web to the right of our 130 gallon display tank. She has since moved to the other end, probably because one end of web was anchored to a ... Read More
Gus Cooling Off
Today it was 97°F (~36°C) mid-afternoon. Gus, our two year old Mountain Cur mix (that makes him a mutt’s mutt), found the heat and humidity too much and cooled off in one of our rainwater collection vats. He sat in the water for several minutes before going into our air-conditioned office to shake ... Read More