Swordtails, cichlids, and American Livebearers Convention
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Charles discusses his upcoming trip to Kalamazoo, Michigan for the combined American Livebearers Association and American Killifish Association conventions May 19, 20, and 21. Charles will be speaking on Breeding Techniques for the Development of New Strains. He will also bring fish for the auction on Sunday, May 21 and plans to buy lots of livebearers and killifish.
For additional information about the convention go to: livebearers.or....
Goliad Farms Tropical Fish Hatchery
Nice Presentation, good luck.
Thank you. I'm working on a list of fish to take to the convention now. Also, working on my PowerPoint presentation.
Charles
Thank you for sharing so many charming, informative and entertaining videos. I hope everyone is well, and I wait hopefully for new videos. Every month I wonder how things are going on Goliad Farms!
We resumed posting videos today and should post a couple a week from now on. Today's video explains things,
Charles
Nice big bodied Swordtail 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
WE need more videos!
We started posting videos again today and hope to post a couple a week for now on.
Charles
Great to see your livebearers are making a comeback!😎 That was so devastating!
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..?
Love the large male sword. Looking forward to seeing live-bearers listed again. But all your fish are Awesome. 😅
Love your touch of color you're wearing. 😂 Is that a grape vine I see on your diffenbockia ?
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....
Glad to see you Charles! I hope everything is going well.
Things are good but hectic. We've been short-staffed but have fish enthusiast high schooler starting soon. That will help a lot.
Charles
Nice swordtails
Thank you. I like their size but want to improve the color.
Charles
Thank you for the great video! I am surprised such a large piscivorous looking cichlid poly cultured so well with the xiphophorus .
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.
your swords are gorgeous
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
I'm excited to see what kiillifish you start working with and what you do with them!
I can't wait to get back into killifish. It's been over 20 years since I last raised them.
Charles
Me Too!! 😅
Have fun.
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.
Wow what an amazing operation!
Thank you. It's been grown through trial and error with emphasis on error.
Charles
There is something about large livebearers that I really like, the fact that swordtails have size variance genes attached to the y chromosome is also very interesting. I wonder what the advantage of having differently sized males is, perhaps the smaller ones compensate for probably being less attractive mates by maturing faster?
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.
Great to see you all again. 😊 Eventhough first I thought it was a scam. Charles in a teeshirt not gray and moist. 😅 seeing those beautifull swordtails makes me long for having a second home in a location with hard water and higher pH. (The grass is always greener on the other side 😂) But your fish are beautifull. And that gold in those malawi chiclids, awesome. ❤
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
I am so excited to hear you are gonna get into Killifish!! I LOVE them. I have 4 Gardneri breeding tanks and 1 with Blue Gularis. The problem is, I like them so much that I never sell them at my club auctions! I just buy more from the amazing local breeders! 🤣
Thank you for sharing your beautiful fish and mind with us all!!
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
those are some pretty swords.
Thank you. We're working on some additional colors.
Charles
G'day Charles and Suzie. Thanks for the video.
I think the female of the Cichlids as looked just as good as the males. The stripes looked darker.
Your swordtails were beautiful 😍.
Thanks for the video.👍💚🇦🇺🙏
Those females are at least patterned and not plain gray like Aulonocara females.
Thank you for watching,
Charles
WHOA. New t-shirt :D Awesome video as always!
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
Great video thanks for sharing 💗✌️👍💯
Thank you for watching.
Charles
Nice shirt. You have a lot of fish breeding knowledge, i'm sure the talk will be a good one. I look forward to when you sell killifish and livebearers on the site.
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
❤ glad to see the progress after the storm!
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 love watching your videos!!! Can't wait for more!!!
Thank you. We have four ready to go once I get the descriptions done.
Charles
Hey Charles. Your setup is the coolest I have ever seen. Can you give an updated tour of the tanks and sump pump fish. I think that’s the coolest. Also your filtration is the best. Thanks and great video.
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
Beautiful fish. Plants are coming on strong in the greenhouse.
The plants like the conditions. Our worm beds and compost piles get lots of trimmings from them.
Charles
Figures that they meet in K zoo that’s where they sent us all.
They are world famous for the crazy house that was up there at one time
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
Another great video! Wish I could be in Kalamazoo. I’m sure it’ll be great.
I wish you could make it. It's been a few years since I attended ALA conventions (what with COVID).
Charles
Awesome
Thank you for watching. You should go to Kalamazoo for the convention.
Charles
Thanks for sharing, I don't get out much these days so I enjoy watching others do their fishy thing.
Thank you for watching. How many aquaria do you have?
Charles
Hi, can't make the convention. Nice video, are any of the Livebearers available on the web site? Thanks, Jim
Not yet except for Gambusia punctata but hope to start offering them again this summer.
Charles
OK Charles i really loved the swordtails and want to get some. The really best part of the videos are the GSD's . Mia passed and who is that gorgeous gorgeous black and tan and how old is she. I hope that Osso is ok.
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
Been watching u for quite a while now,- atleast since the winter storm that hit u hard, Im wondering how u keep ur mixed and kind of random setup free of sickness, imo its just a pool of water u divide among several species via pumps they all get the same water--? lots of meds? how about when a fish emerge hormons in water colums do u benefit from that cross the ponds/vats as u call em?
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
are you guys going to sell livebearers soon?
We should start offering some livebearers this summer.
Charles
Do u have any media in ur sump for biological
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
Kinda hard to catch a fish with a dry hand at least for me😁
Very true, but if you transfer it to your other hand, make sure that hand is wet.
Charles
Did you ever raise hamsters and miniature horses in Victoria?
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
Y not just start a sub species of nano cichlids if u kept finding mature smaller ones... that be cool
That's a good suggestion. Now tell Susie I need another greenhouse so I have space for that project.
Charles
are the swords available to the public?
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
Alba
Alba? White? My beard? Or what?
Charles
Do you sell this species to the public?
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
swordtails up out
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
Swords look absolutely amazing! Unfortunately, I won’t be making it out to the show but it is definitely on my bucket list!
As a breeder I have been extremely interested in the phenomenon of early maturing males and how to reduce their frequency. I have heard many theories and strategies to deal with them.
I recently found a study out of the UK from 2007 suggesting swords have the ability to alter their maturation in response to the population level of male ornamentation. I very recently began practicing a similar process as in the study and the results have been promising to date. In the past I immediately culled all early maturing males in fry only tanks and it has had no impact on the frequency of early maturing males after many generations. I have used exclusively large, late maturing males as breeders and still experienced over 60-70% early maturing males.
I have started raising all my fry with a large, ornate male as company. Though I have just begun I have not had one early maturing male where normally at this point I would’ve already had 2 or 3. There is no free lunch though, as the study also suggests the presence of large ornate males accelerates female maturation! Very fascinating article. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
www.researchgate.net/publication/6504462_Green_swordtails_alter_their_age_of_maturity_in_response_to_the_population_level_of_male_ornamentation
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.