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Micropoecilia picta
Red Picta Livebearer
CECILIA MALLETT:
BETTAS
Front Page Photo: Mike Jacobs 2014
1) Goldfish & Koi
2) Participant Created
Fish Art
TABLE of
CONTENTS
3) Pres Sezzzz!!!
Click on Title to Go Directly to Item
4) Poecilia Salvatoris
Bill Little
Joe Berberich
6) FREE Fish
Kent Sheets
9) Patty Talks
Patty Moncrief
11) Random Shots
12) Membership Dues
13) Bowl Show Results
Mike Jacobs
TBAS
Al Starkey
14) Monthly Bowl Show Categories
TBAS
15) Hobby Conventions
TBAS
16) - 18) Sponsors
TBAS
19) TBAS Officers
TBAS
........................ TBAS November 2014
Lots of fishy news happening this
-3-
month … by the time you read this people
will have returned from CATCON the All
American Catfish Convention in Northern
Virginia. I attended the previous convention, two years ago, and had a great
time – lots of fish and some really great
speakers. I’m sure some of our returning
members will have some great stories to
share. The same weekend Joe Mason
and his assembled crew will have conducted their second preliminary meeting
for the 2015 World Fancy Guppy Convention to be held here in Tampa next fall. I am sure we will begin to hear lots more about this
event in the coming months. Two weeks later November 7 - 9 November will be the Aquatic
Experience Convention in Chicago. My understanding is this convention has traditionally
been a pet industry gathering, but this year it has been opened up to include the hobbyist. It
will be interesting to see how this change in direction will impact the hobby. I’m sure members
returning from that fabulous weekend will also have stories to share.
The October general meeting provided us a perfect opportunity to have Don Conkel, an old friend of TBAS, return with another outstanding New World Cichlid presentation.
Don is a fish farmer and importer for more than 30 years. He makes regular collecting trips
to Central America and was actually preparing to depart on another trip a few days after his
presentation. Because of Don’s vast experience and knowledge his presentations appear
to be unstructured and easy going. He is a great photographer and has literally thousands
of photos of his fish both in the wild and in his hatchery here in Florida. It was a wonderful
hour even for those of us who are not into cichlids. My only regret was I understood he has
produced hundreds of hours of underwater footage of various cichlids in the native habitat.
Don is still in the process of editing the film and unfortunately it was not ready for viewing.
Perhaps Don will revisit us once again at a future date to share that material once it has been
assembled. Thanks, Don, for a wonderful presentation.
November 1st we will hold our annual auction. I hope you are all ready for the event.
I know many of you are preparing to bring lots of fish to be auctioned while others are preparing to bring new inhabitants back home to your personal aquariums. Later in the month we
will welcome Cecilia Mallett to our general meeting as the speaker for the evening. Cecilia is
the vice president of the International Betta Congress (IBC) and lives in St. Augustine. I have
seen some of her bettas while attending the First Coast Betta Convention last spring and they
are absolutely spectacular. Her topic for the evening will be of course “Bettas”. She will talk
about Betta splendens the betta species that most of us readily recognize but she will also
talk about Wild Bettas. I personally look forward to her presentation with great interest and
excitement.
As I said it is or was a very busy month for the fishy world. That’s it for this month; I
hope to see you all at the November meeting … until then happy fish keeping.
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
Photo Permission Granted by: fishtanksandponds.co.uk
These cute little livebearers originate from El Salvador in Central America.
They are also known by the common name of Liberty Molly, due to their color
patterns. This consists of a silvery body with blue and orange speckles. The
fins contain black and blue as well as some red or yellow coloring in them. This
makes them quite pretty but they also lose their color quite easily due to stress.
This loss of color keeps them from being popular as tank pets even though they
are peaceful little fish and don’t get any bigger than three inches in length. Both
males and females may have the same coloration but the male is always more
intense in color and only he has a gonopodium.The adult females will also be bigger than a male.
The gestation period for females is usually about twenty eight days. This
is the time it takes to have babies and the size of the female can determine the
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........................ TBAS November 2014
-5number of fry the mother will have. A fully grown female can have up to about
100 baby fry, but usual births are quite lower.
My try at breeding these little guys started with one pair put in a ten gallon
tank with no substrate. The tank did have lots of Najas Grass for little fry to hide.
The temperature was around 74 F. with a ph of 7.0 and a hardness of 100 ppm.
Food consisted of Tropical Flakes and Bloodworms being fed twice a day. The
lighting was about ten hours a day with fluorescence lighting. This lighting was
from two four foot shop light bulbs hanging over a row of tanks in my fish room.
My female didn’t have a great number of fry, but what she had was enough.
While these little guys may not be the most colorful specimens in the pet
shop, they none the less are delightful little fish that can be a delight to any hobbyist that is in to trying to get different species of fish to breed.
Fins Up!!!
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
Florida is a great place to
live, especially if you want to
keep tropical fish. In southwest
Florida, where I live, Fort Myers, there is fresh water everywhere, lakes, ponds, canals,
ditches, streams. Anywhere
there is water, there is most
likely fish. Some of the fish are
native, some are not.
The last couple of months
I have ventured out several
times to see what was available. Thanks to my tropical fish
friends, they suggested several
locations that they had tried in
the past. Several months ago,
one of the locations, the water was about one foot deep. I
returned in September and the
water was over two feet deep.
We have had a lot of rain in
September. Another location
I visited the water was overflowing it’s banks. The deeper water did not seem to
impact the fishing, but I am looking forward to going out in six months when the
water will be shallower.
Each time I went out I had a friend with me. We spent about two hours.
I’ve been active in scouting most of my life: I believe in the buddy system. When
fishing I was very close to a shopping area, not out in the wilderness . . . you
never know when you might slip or step into water that is deeper than it looks. I
believe you can never be too careful, so take a friend along.
Two different approaches were used during the fishing. At one location the
-6
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........................ TBAS November 2014
-7net was thrust into the middle of the ditch where there were lots of plants. It was
then dragged back to the edge of the bank. In another location the net was slowly
dragged along the edge of the water.
Well, almost free fish. You will need a net with a long handle; a bucket;
and a fishing license. You do not need a fishing license if you are 65 years old.
The person you take with you will also need a license unless they are not fishing
AT ALL. If they will not be fishing have them take a camera along. I tried to stay
out of the water and keep my feed dry. Well I almost kept them dry.
A real variety of fish were
collected. Some of the fish
were, Blue Fin Killifish-Lucania
goodei, Least Killifish-Heterandria formosa, Mayan Chiclidscichlasoma urophthalmus ,
Peacock Cichlids-Hemichromis,
Sailfin Molly-Poecilia, Mosquito
Fish-gambusia (lots & lots).
There were also some snails;
unidentified very small cat fish;
MAYAN CICHLID
crayfish; ghost shrimp; and lots of spiders crawling out of the net.
After writing this article I
was reviewing some of the old
TBAS monthly newsletter, The
Filter. I found an article titled,
“Free Fish” by Bill Shields,
January 2013 Vol. 21, Issue 5.
That was the same title that I
planned to use for my article.
The article was about a collecting trip outing planned by
LUCANIA GOODEI
TBAS. If you plan a collecting
trip, you may want to reread that article.
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
-8
You don’t have to wait for the next TBAS planned collecting trip event to
go out fishing. Just call a friend.
So if you are looking for some inexpensive fish, start looking in your local
Florida water locations. Have Fun!!!
Jewel Cichlid . . . Hemichromis bimaculatus
Unidentified Snail . . . Malaysian
Trumpet Snail???
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........................ TBAS November 2014
-9
After some comments on the forum I
thought I would give
more in-depth information on snails in the
aquariums. Snails can
be the helpful curse and
must be considered a
part of the aquarium bio
load. They can help by
cleaning up small particles of food and decaying plants but they can also multiply
at a rapid rate and eat everything in sight or have a mass die off and foul a tank.
They can be very difficult to get rid of too.
There are several different kinds of snail that are commonly seen, some
like the ramshorn and apple snail are purchased at pet shops. These beautiful
snails generally will not breed easily in the aquariums and therefore won’t over
run the tank. These guys are not the ones that give us trouble.
The mystery or pond snails and the malayan trumpet snails usually get in
the tank from something else. Years ago, I bought a piece of driftwood that was
heavy and sank without weights. After a couple of months in my tank it was suddenly covered with tiny trumpet snails and I have had that line ever since. They
must have a way to lay eggs for droughts because they are normally a live bearing snail, this makes them very hard to get rid of. The pond snail comes in on
plants usually as eggs which are almost clear and hard to see. Controlling these
2 types of snails can be a problem with many people. And that is what this article
is about.
The malayan snails are a kind of new comer, they have only been around
about 30 years in this area, and are now causing problems for many water departments. They can clog intake screens and jam equipment, their shells do not
crush very easily. Controlling them in the aquarium isn’t much easier. But that
said there are some things we can do. First try some snail eating fish like clown
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
-10and skunk loaches or puffers. The malayans will bury in the substrate to get away
from the predators, this can be good for the substrate btw. You can reduce the
amount of substrate to make them easier to get to but it is likely they will always
be there. You can use traps also. Use a small long jar with a narrow opening.
Put some sort of tablet food in the bottom and put the jar on its side in the tank
just before the lights go out. Wait about one hour and then go pull the jar out, it
should be filled with snails. If you wait longer than an hour they will get their fill
and leave the jar so do this when you have the time to go back and get them or
you will have well fed snails. The amount of food they get dictates how fast they
breed, less food less baby snails, cut back on feeding. This makes the traps work
better too. Another way to reduce their numbers is to soften the water. Snails
need hard water to make their shells other wise the shells become thin and crush
easily, so if you can’t use the other methods try softening the water. You can get
some rechargeable resin bags to do this.
Mystery snail can be controlled in the same ways but if they came in
on plants you may not want to do clown loaches. They dig up plants and love to
chew on amazon swords leaves putting nice holes in them. Skunk loaches can
get aggressive with smaller fish. The planted tank is better for the puffer fish, I
talked about puffers in a past article you can check the club newsletter archives
for it.
Traps work well with these kinds of snails too. When I have angles in a
tank that has these kinds of snail I would crush them on the glass and let the
angels eat them, the angles use to follow them around the glass until I crushed
them! Not sure who got trained there.
Snails can be helpful but their numbers need controlling. Note I am not
talking about complete eradication, that is tearing down a tank and maybe tossing lots of stuff. We want to control the snails and that helps us control the bio
load on the tanks. They do clean tanks and rarely eat fish eggs so they are not all
bad.
. . . I hope this helps!
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........................ TBAS November 2014
-11-
Blue Neon Rice Fish . . . see the eggs on the female (upper right)
Oryzias woworae . . . Photo by Mike Jacobs
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-12-
TBAS November 2014 ....................
MEMBERSHIP
DUES!!!!
Membership Dues for TBAS are due
on the anniversary of your sign-up
date every year. Please make sure
you check the “sign-in” list on the
table at every meeting to check your
“Dues-Date” . . . Thanks!!!
USE PAYPAL ON THE TBAS
WEBSITE . . . TBAS1.COM . . . !!!!!
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........................ TBAS November 2014
-13-
NAME
Jan - Sept 2014
Oct 2014
TOTAL
Nan Smith
46
9
54
Ron Bows
24
6
30
Joe Verdino
29
0
29
Bill Little
26
0
26
John Patterson
18
5
23
Cody Crouthers
John Zulinke
9
6
1
0
10
6
Diane Adiolfi
6
0
6
Bill Shields
6
0
6
Ken Friesen
Ludo VanDem Bogaert
0
5
6
0
6
5
Thelma Frias
Justin Cribs
5
2
0
0
5
2
Kent Sheets
86
3
89
Did you ever think of KILLIFISH???
Come find out about them at the SKS
meetings!!! See the ad to the left!
http://www.sks.aka.org
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
MONTHLY BOWL
SHOW
January
July
1) Livebearers
2) Egglayers
1) Barbs & Rasboras
2) Danios, White Clouds & Rainbows
February
August
1) Killifish
2) Invertebrates
1) Bettas
2) Anabantids
March
September
1) Old World Cichlids
2) New World Cichlids
1) Characins
2) Sharks, Loaches & Eels
April
October
1) Sucker Catfish
2) All Other Cats
May
1) Livebearers Spawned &
Raised
2) Egglayers Spawned &
Raised
June
1) Fish Art (Particpant Created)
2) Fish Shirt (must be worn)
1) Native Florida Fish
2) Any Plants
November
1) Goldfish & Koi
2) Participant Created Fish Art
December
1) Discus
2) Angelfish
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........................ TBAS November 2014
TROPICAL FISH
CONVENTIONS
2014
-15-
NOVEMBER 7-9 AQUATIC EXPERIENCE held at the Marriott Renaissance
Hotel, Schaumburg Convention Center, Chicago, Illinois. Everything aquatic under one
roof. 48,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, displays, latest products, show specials, education seminars and networking. Both freshwater and saltwater.
More information visit: www.aquaticexperience.org.
November 20 - 23: Ohio Cichlid Extravangas. Extravaganza 2014
Holiday Inn, Strongsville, Ohio 44136
Website: http://ohiocichlid.com
MARCH 20 - 22, 2015 NEC Council 40th Annual Convention:
Held at the Sheraton Hartford South Hotel, Hartford, CT. This is ALWAYS a good
convention!!! Website: http://northeastcouncil.org/NewNEC/
Coastal meets on the 1st Wednesday
of every month on the campus of
New College in Sarasota Florida . . .
come and spend an evening with us!
http://coastalaquariumsociety.com
You won’t be sorry you came!
Directions are on the website.
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
-16-
1) 5D Tropical Fish
2) Segrest Farms
1) Amazon Exotics
2) BioAquatix
3) Carter’s Fish Hatchery
4) FishEye Aquatics
5) Golden Pond
6) Imperial Tropicals
7) Lile’s Tropical Fish
8) V-W Tropicals
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........................ TBAS November 2014
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-18-
TBAS November 2014 ....................
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........................ TBAS November 2014
TAMPA BAY AQUARIUM SOCIETY
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
Bill Little
V. PRESIDENT
Laura Lee Petrila
SECRETARY
Ludo Van Den Bogaert
TREASURER
Patty Moncrief
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Hank Darin
Joe Gargas
Mike Jacobs
Darin Gasperson
Bill Shields
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TBAS November 2014 ....................
TBAS
Tampa Bay
Aquarium Society
St. Pete/Tampa, Florida
Website: http://tbas1.com
FORUM: http://tbas1.com/forum/
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