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
Blog
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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
It’s Going to be a “YUGE” Snake Year
Photo: A large female Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) in a barrel after capture and prior to relocation. No, this is not a political post. It appears that we are in for lots of snakes this year, hence the “Yuge!” We usually see lots of snakes; after all we’re in the country and ... Read More
Veiltail Swordtail
Photo: A female Veiltail Swordtail. A few months ago while processing our Blushing Swordtails I discovered an unusual female. She appeared to be a veiltail, but I wasn’t sure. Before continuing discussing that particular female, let me provide some background. Our breeding colony of Blushing ... Read More
Update on Fingernail Clams, Sphaerium corneum
Photo: Closeup of three Fingernail Clams, Sphaerium corneum, on a finger. Okay, I thought I could get away with a short blog (see my previous blog: http://goliadfarms.com/fingernail-clams-sphaerium-corneum/), but right off the bat its shortness and lack of natural history led to a question from ... Read More
Fingernail Clams, Sphaerium corneum
Photo: Some fingernail clams on a hand. The few spiral shells are dead pond snails. A couple of years ago, we started noticing some small white, translucent clams living in the bottom of some of our vats. I idly wondered what they might be. It wasn’t until I read an article by Sara Sneath a ... Read More
Developing a Hifin Plumetail Blue Opal Maculatus
Photo: A group of Blue Opal Maculatus Years ago I created what I called a Hifin Blue Opal Maculatus, as its name implies a maculatus-type platy. I wrote about creating this fish for Tropical Fish Hobbyist. To read the TFH article see: ... Read More
Tubifex Worms
Photo: A ball of Tubifex worms. Years ago in some of our vats I found clumps of Tubifex worms. I have no idea what species, but they thrive in the muck on the bottom of the vats, but only in vats where the fish don’t poke around in the muck. They do well with mollies and rainbowfishes. I was ... Read More