The photo shows two juvenile Red Sailfin Mollies (above) and a red Swordtail/Platy hybrid (below, for color contrast). I continue to work on new molly strains. For a long time now I’ve wanted to develop a Red Sailfin Molly. I’ve tried various crosses with no discernible progress. Then, about a ... Read More
Breeding
Orange Sailfin Molly
About a year ago, I was sorting through some Peaches & Cream Sailfin Mollies when I noticed a very orange young male. I set him aside for breeding, giving him seven young Peaches & Cream females. Today, after a couple more generations, I’m approaching my goal of an orange sailfin. The ... Read More
Poecilia reticulata, McCauley Spring, New Mexico
Photo shows a group of Poecilia reticulata from McCauley Spring, New Mexico Across the Rio Grande River from Santa Fe, New Mexico are the Jemez Mountains. Nestled in the canyons of these mountains is a warm spring named McCauley Spring. McCauley Spring feeds a mountain stream about a yard ... Read More
Giant Marble Liberty Mollies
Back in 2013 I set up a cross of Poecilia mexicana, Campeche males with P. velifera, Campeche females. I didn’t expect much from this cross because earlier matings between P. mexicana and P. velifera hadn’t produced anything spectacular, but I often keep trying despite lack of good results. Being ... Read More
Gambusia Road Trip – Day 3
Photo: Charles, William and Stephanie viewing tanks holding endangered fish species. Day three started off a bit better than day two, but overnight it became painfully obvious one heater wasn’t enough. The heater had been set up at Cara’s end of the camper, and it kept half her roof ... Read More
California Bound
I’ll be speaking twice this next week. On Sunday, March 1st I’ll speak at COAST (http://www.coastfishclub.com/ncms/) in Costa Mesa, California at 12:30 pm on fancy livebearers; how we breed and raise them. Then Friday, March 6th, I’ll speak at the San Francisco Aquarium Society ... Read More
Red Lyretail Swordtail Experiment
One problem with raising lyretail swordtails is that the males are functionally sterile. While they produce viable sperm, they have an elongated gonopodium (a penis-like modified anal fin used to inject sperm into the female), which prevents them from mating. Lyretail in xiphophorines (members of ... Read More
Poecilia mexicana, Campeche
We recently processed our Poecilia mexicana, Campeche. We got this wild molly species in June 2009 from Dr. Ptacek of Clemson University. The "Campeche" notation indicates that Dr. Ptacek collected the fish in Campeche, Mexico. It has proven to be one of our most popular short finned mollies. The ... Read More
Convict Cichlid Photo Contest
In our newsletter No. 11 we ran the following contest: “This month we are running another photo contest. I’m changing the contest from fish identification to something a bit more interesting (read, “more difficult”). The blurry photo below shows a mixed pair of Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, the ... Read More
Fish Breeding: Trichogaster trichopterus, the Blue Gourami
Below is an article on fish breeding from the August 2013 newsletter. I'm reposting these as blogs so that they are searchable on our website. Fish Breeding: This month I’ll talk about how we breed Blue Gouramis (Trichogaster trichopterus). This fish is the easiest of the anabantids to raise. ... Read More