Photo: A 55-gallon vat with 144 adult male cichlids 5+" long, showing that our system allows crowding without growth inhibition. See below for the possible reasons. Recently, a hobbyist messaged me: “I’ve heard that fish release a hormone that will slow the growth of other similar fish. Do you ... Read More
aquarium
Bryozoan, To Be or Not To Be…
Photo: A freshwater sponge (Dosilia radiospiculata) growing on aquaculture mesh in one of our vats. This blog is an update of another blog: https://goliadfarms.com/a-bryozoan-lives-in-the-greenhouses/. Read it for background. Way back in pre-Coronavirus ages, October 2019, I wrote ... Read More
Update on Gammarus Identification
Photo by Matt Hill (EcoAnalysts, Inc.) of one of our male scuds. This is the first in a series of blogs about finally getting some of our hatchery’s invertebrates identified. You might want to read this blog for ... 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
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
Canary OB Peacock
Photo: A very young (about four months old) male Canary OB Peacock. By the way, while the grid behind him shows one-inch squares, he is not six inches long. He's at the front of the aquarium and the grid is at the back. He's actually only four inches long, barely large enough to reliably determine ... Read More
Acclimation Procedures
Photo is a young male Dragon Blood Peacock Cichlid in a shipping bag. Acclimation Recommendations The principals of Goliad Farms, Inc., after decades of collecting, raising, shipping, transporting and importing tropical fish, have developed methods of acclimation tropical fish. Some of these ... 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
Aquazoo, a Thriving Mom & Pop Fish Store
The photo is of the interior of our customer Aquazoo. A while back, I blogged about the Demise of Mom & Pop Fish Stores http://goliadfarms.com/demise-mom-pop-fish-stores/ and the impact on our business. That blog received a number of responses. One response was private. It was from the owner ... Read More