Swordtails, cichlids, and American Livebearers Convention 

Thank you. I'm working on a list of fish to take to the convention now. Also, working on my PowerPoint presentation. Charles

We started posting videos again today and hope to post a couple a week for now on. Charles

We resumed posting videos today and should post a couple a week from now on. Today's video explains things, Charles

Thank you. We select for size and robustness. I wonder just how far we can take size, just how big can they get? Charles

Me too! I'm hoping we avoid a hurricane this season. With El Nino expected to form, we should have a relatively quiet Atlantic season. Charles

Did the fish get washed away😮. That's crazy. But are they going to start breeding in the local water sources..?

That is a native non-grape vine whose name I don't recall at the moment. We do have lots of Mustang grapes on the farm. By the way, that is the grape that saved the French wine industry. If you are interested, I'll explain. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 that is a story I haven't heard....

Thank you. I like their size but want to improve the color. Charles

Things are good but hectic. We've been short-staffed but have fish enthusiast high schooler starting soon. That will help a lot. Charles

Thank you. I'm not happy with the red color, but once I get the size firmly set, I'll work on color. One thing at a time...well, I don't always do that. Charles

Thank you. Would like to see you there. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I like to but that be a costly trip from east coast. Esp on a retirement budget income.

I was also surprised at how well swords and guppies did with a fish that has an impressive mouth for a Lake Malawi cichlid. The 300-gallon breeding vats have decent amounts of cover (fry cages, cichlid hotels, and hornwort), but I expected the Fossorochromis to wipe out the livebearers. They didn't. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I hope you have a great weekend at ALA! I’m sure many will enjoy and benefit from what you share when speaking.

I can't wait to get back into killifish. It's been over 20 years since I last raised them. Charles

Me Too!! 😅

Thank you. It's been grown through trial and error with emphasis on error. Charles

Thank you. We're working on some additional colors. Charles

I also love killies. We raised Fundulopanchax gardneri when our hatchery was in Santa Fe, NM. I look forward to raising them again. Blue Gularis might be my favorite fish. I paid my way through college raising them. I hope to get some good breeding stock in Kalamazoo. Charles

We hope to post videos more consistently. Carl just put four up that I have to do descriptions on before they post. One advantage of that very color busy t-shirt is no one can tell how much I'm sweating. Yes, the grass is greener, and I envy those with soft, acidic water. But I'm looking at setting up rainwater collection so I can spawn some soft water fish. Charles

Well, since this is a family-oriented site, I can't use the term that my favorite evolutionary biology professor did. In many species that have small males (some trout are like that), the smaller males are sneaky maters. They don't compete through aggression with larger males but instead dart in and mate at the opportune time. They have some survival advantages being small since they don't require as much food and don't attract predators like the larger ones do. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 That is rather interesting, I know a lot of species are like that as well. Side blotched lizards have a more extreme version of it where there are 3 types of males with completely different mating strategies, they even balance each other out in a way.

Thank you. We hope to be back to normal (whatever that is) by the end of the summer after we rebuild Greenhouse 3. Charles

I'm looking forward to raising killifish again. We should start offering livebearers this summer as we get the populations up. Currently, our longtime wholesale customers are gobbling up all the surplus we have. Charles

An interesting T-shirt for sure. Charles

​@goliadfarms7029 the fish are also interesting! Beautiful and huge! Excellent work! I hope your presentation (lecture? 🙂) gets uploaded too

We plan to soon do long walk-throughs of Greenhouse 1 and then Greenhouse 2. I'll discuss systems, fish, plants, etc. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 Thanks Charles. You are amazing. Your knowledge of fish is the best I have heard. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I hope you guys are well after the bad storm you had years ago.

@@davidcammilleri5526 We are recovering and hope to dodge hurricanes this season. Charles

Those females are at least patterned and not plain gray like Aulonocara females. Thank you for watching, Charles

The last time I was in Kalamazoo was for the ALA convention in 2004 (I think). That's where I picked up some plumetail platy breeding stock. Charles

Thank you. We have four ready to go once I get the descriptions done. Charles

The plants like the conditions. Our worm beds and compost piles get lots of trimmings from them. Charles

Thank you for watching. Charles

Thank you for watching. How many aquaria do you have? Charles

I wish you could make it. It's been a few years since I attended ALA conventions (what with COVID). Charles

Not yet except for Gambusia punctata but hope to start offering them again this summer. Charles

Thank you for watching. You should go to Kalamazoo for the convention. Charles

Sorry of the tardy reply. Yes, we lost Maya (nicknamed Mia), Oso's sister, to an aggressive kidney cancer. Oso was devastated and spent time laying by her grave. We got Mila, and after a few days Oso warmed to her. Mila is now about 13 months old. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 We are such a big part of their life. I hope Oso lives more healthy years.

@@deneng0259 Oso is 10 years old, fairly old for a German Shepherd. His mother, Tally, lived to almost 13. Oso and Maya were born to Tally 10 years ago last month on the farm. So far he has slowed a little but still is in good health. Charles

@@deneng0259 So far Oso is very healthy and active. He and Sunshine play chase with Mila whenever it is cool enough outside. I should video the morning in-house chaos they create when it's time to go out to feed the horses and check the greenhouses. They are so excited about the impending trek to the greenhouses, they can't contain themselves. Yesterday, Oso spent three hours hunting rabbits while Carl and I worked on fences. Even Mila was exhausted at the end of that outing. Charles

GSD's make every moment memorable . I Amazing to watch yours up and down the greenhouse. They have such gentle mouth and reactions around us unless they want to get up under you and peted. @@goliadfarms7029

We should start offering some livebearers this summer. Charles

Nothing by design. Some of our plants grow roots into the sumps. Surprisingly, there is almost no mulm on the bottom of the sumps. I guess all the fish keep it too stirred up. The vats do accumulate mulm which contains a lot of beneficial bacteria and lots of livefoods (scuds, Paramecium, etc.) Charles

We are very careful about quarantining new stock, which we only do during the summer so we can do it off system outside. We isolate new stock, treat it, and add some of our fish to make sure they are okay. Having lots of beneficial organisms in the mulm and the action of plant filters keep any parasites under control. We do feed praziquantel quarterly to control any internal parasites. Full sunlight also helps to breakdown organic molecules such as hormones. Charles

They will be soon at goliadfarms.com/. Our livebearers are still in recovery from the Texas Winter Storm and its aftermath. Swords are doing well now. Charles

Very true, but if you transfer it to your other hand, make sure that hand is wet. Charles

We will be soon at goliadfarms.com/. Our livebearers were severely impacted by the Texas Winter Storm and its aftermath but are now recovering. We should be offering them this summer. Charles

Yes, long, long ago I raised hamsters and had a Shetland pony for a while. Did we go to school together? Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 did you live near Stroman highschool? You look familiar to me

That's a good suggestion. Now tell Susie I need another greenhouse so I have space for that project. Charles

Thank you for watching. It's been interesting raising swords with cichlids. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 mistake Have you ever tried breeding coy swordtails they're just red and white have you ever had problems with female swordtails jumping out and getting killed or dieing

@@MrTedrow I have not raised Koi swords but hope to get some breeding stock at the ALA auction in Kalamazoo in a couple of weeks. Swordtails jump! We keep the water levels in the vats low to help prevent that. But in our systems if they jump, they end up in water in the floor gutters and don't die. They become feral fish. Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I've noticed only the females jump but it's only been the females that have done that now never never a male sordtail

Alba? White? My beard? Or what? Charles

Very interesting. I will read the article first opportunity. Are you using Xiphophorus hellerii or commercial swordtails? What is the ultimate size of the early maturing males? Charles

@@goliadfarms7029 I am using what was sold to me as hellerii off aquabid several years ago. I am also using two commercial strains, a Koi variety and a Black Berlin variety also. I have had much more success with the wild type in lowering the ratio of early maturing males employing this technique. Early maturing males of commercial types can be as small as 2.5 inches, including the sword with slender bodies. The early maturing hellerii are on average slightly bigger at around 3-3.5 inches total length, but I currently have one that is about 2.5 fully developed. They also take on a slender body type. In contrast the late maturing helleri are very close to 3 inches in body length and overall are pushing 5 inches if not slightly exceeding that. I have also noticed that the late maturing hellerii males develop a much fuller and thicker body than their early maturing counterparts a kin to a x. mayae but not as thick. I have not experienced this phenomenon with the commercial strain late maturing males and they remain more slender. I don't keep the best records to be honest, but I'd have to say I've had far less early maturing hellerii since trying this. Out of my most recent drop of 50+ that are close to 3 months now I just pulled 3 males that developed gonopodiums and dropped them into the all early maturing male tank. Where as before I would have been pulling nearly 1/3 of the drop by this time! I still keep them around as I rather enjoy watching them spar and display! Results are promising but far from conclusive. It could explain the general decline of commercial swordtail size over the past few decades. In pond raised fish with little intervention, early maturing males hold a distinct reproductive advantage over the late maturing counterparts I would assume. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the study.