Photo: Grandnephews, grandnieces, and nephew’s girlfriend’s daughter returning home from a visit to our greenhouses to see the fish. Our German Shepherds, Oso and Maya, are providing escort and security. Our nephew Devin Rokyta, his girlfriend Anndrea, Anndrea’s daughter, and whole passel of ... Read More
Fish
A Possible Female Guppy/Molly Hybrid
Photo: A possible Poecilia reticulata (guppy) x Poecilia mexicana, Campeche (molly) hybrid in front of a grid to show size. We found the fish in the above photograph January 15th of this year. Before I describe the fish and argue why I think it might be a hybrid, let me give you some ... Read More
Teas, Fish, and Chickens
Photo: Greenhouses without their covers immediately after Hurricane Harvey. Note the trees in the background stripped of their leaves by the hurricane force winds. So, what do tea, fish, and chickens have in common? This blog will tie them together. Our farm and hatchery have had two ... Read More
South Texas Collecting Trip
Photo: A pair of mystery footprints in shallow water on the margins of a pond on a South Texas ranch. At the bottom is the shadow of the author's I-phone for scale. The first week of March this year I got a message from our nephew Darin Rokyta, an Associate Professor of the Department of ... Read More
Raising Mosquito Larvae for Fish Food
Photo: A mosquito larvae culture system to raise live foods for fish. I originally wrote this as an article in our monthly Newsletter (now dormant, but likely to be revived). I’ve made some edits, but it’s largely the same information. Also, it’s a timely blog since mosquito season will be ... Read More
Arulius Barb
A male Arulius Barb (Puntius arulius or maybe Dawkinsia tambraparniei) in front of a one-inch grid to show size. Note the filaments on his dorsal. Recently I got this email from a customer (slightly edited): “Hi Charles. I hope you guys fared the cold weather well. I just wanted to ... Read More
Developing a Strain from a Single Fish
Photo: Two very young male Bronze Sailfin Mollies showing the improved coloration I selected for. They are too young to sport nice sailfins, but they grew up with large dorsals. As evidence of their youth, look at their gonopodia (anal fin), which are just beginning to develop. How many times ... Read More
Poecilia formosa – Amazon Molly
Photo: Two Poecilia formosa, Amazon mollies, collected from Coleto Creek at Highway US 77 in Victoria County, Texas. December 12, 2017, four of us plus two German Shepherds went collecting on Coleto Creek in Victoria County, Texas (see my blogs: ... Read More
Coleto Creek Collecting Trip – December 21, 2017.
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
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
