Happy Holidays everyone! While this year draws to a close, there is a lot to be thankful for despite all of the challenges. A big thank you again for those that reached out to us. While still on the mend, we continue to become stronger each day.
At this point, we are looking forward to 2021 but know there is still a long road to recovery for the nation and the world. With the potential of a vaccine, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We hope this brings relief especially to those that have the highest chance of contracting virus. We also hope this will offer us a chance to travel in the second half of the year. Only time will tell but for now, we all need to sit tight and continue to quarantine.
Below are some recent photos of some of our fish including: Tatia musaica. Hope everyone enjoys the photos and the holidays. Take care and we will see you in 2021!
First, a big thank you to everyone who reached out to us after going to the hospital. Unfortunately, there have been some complications and we are still recovering. The good news is that we are alive and will live to fish another day! It has been quite a few years for us and 2021 cannot get here fast enough!
Now on to the good stuff. Last December, a group of us traveled to Florencia, Colombia in the Caqueta region. This area of South America can be defined as Andean highlands with lush forests, many insects especially ants and a very catfish friendly paradise. We hope to share many of the species we found in this location with everyone at a Catfish Convention in the future. Fingers crossed that we can get back to such events soon.
Prior to going on these expeditions, we always investigate to see what species of fish we may encounter. One of these species was Duringlanis altae. This species was first described by Fowler in 1945 and is closely related to Duringlanis perugiae. Few pictures of this species exist and only recently have collections in the area been possible due as travel to the area was unsafe. A more detailed account of the trip will be made possible in a future magazine of Amazonas. Please subscribe to this wonderful magazine if you have not already by visiting their website at: https://www.amazonasmagazine.com/
Our collecting group was successful in finding this species in the Rio Caqueta region and bringing them back to the U.S., perhaps for the first time? Even more exciting is that we have the first fry of this species. This is likely a world first spawning event! With that, we share below some of the first photos of this species settled in the aquarium. As you can see, this species is quite nice and each fish has a different design. In the near future, we hope to be able to make this species available to avid catfish enthusiasts. Stay tuned to this website for more updates!
After a few years, our Jagaur Catfish, Liosomadorus oncinus, have once again spawned. Interestingly, the first clutch of eggs numbered around 1,000 and almost all were infertile. Then a week later, another clutch of roughly 400 eggs were laid. Out of these, half appeared to be fertile. Several hours later, we had separated the good eggs from the bad. Another interesting observation was that the eggs were in various stages of development. Some eggs appeared to have fully formed juveniles that were about to hatch while other eggs were still just yolks.
At the time of writing this update, all eggs have hatched and the fry have started feeding. One last observation is that the fry have very long barbels already. One can assume this is to make finding food much easier. Fingers crossed that we are able to raise these and make them available to other aquarists.
Summer has finally arrived and boy it is hot! Unfortunately, COVID19 is back on the rise. All of this is not allowing shipping at this time. The other issue is that so far, most fish club functions have been cancelled and there does not seem to be an end in sight. However, there is some good news, the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS), just had a very successful outdoor swap meet. Hopefully such events can continue.
With that said, the best option at this point is porch pick up. There may also be instances where pick up in the Detroit, Michigan area can be arranged. Please contact us at: jeremybasch@gmail.com for more details. In other news, we have started to keep a limited number of live plants. Some of these are now available on our Availability List.
It has been quite some time since we have had an update. Life does happen and certainly the most important things are spending time with loved ones. Obviously the world has changed drastically since our last post with COVID19. At present, it makes it impossible to ship as we are high risk. Please follow the guidelines that are being provided and stay safe!
Some of you have asked about shipping recently. Long story short, it really is not a viable option for us due to our work schedule along with the stay at home order. If you are local, we can however offer porch pick up. See our Fish Availability page for more details.
The best news recently is that our Peckoltia compta “Rio Jamanxim” spawned! This is the first spawn of Peckoltia for us and we could not be more excited! This genus has been a tough one for us to crack but with a lot of patience, the fish finally got it right.
Spring is less than 30 days away! Winter has felt a little longer for some reason this year. During this long winter, we have been busy working on the fishroom mostly. There is still a ton of work to do including more drilling and painting of tanks, plumbing work and setting up more racks. And let’s not forget those water changes. A fishroom is always a work in progress!
Fish event season is here with the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS) and Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) each having their Swaps in the last few weeks. If you missed those events, you missed your chance at some awesome fish! Each club is now bringing in neat fish for New and Rare Silent Auctions during the swaps. There were some truly stunning fish available from several great sponsors. Each swap had over 30 tables from vendors all over Ohio and beyond.
On the horizon is now the CAFE’s Spring Auction. We are exactly one month away, March 22nd, and there are going to be some very special fish in this year’s auction. What might be there? Well you will just have to wait to find out. Stay tuned to the CAFE Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusfishclub and be sure to review the auction rules prior to the event at http://columbusfishclub.org.
The All-American Catfish Convention or CatCon, as we like to call it, is later this year. This is the premier event on catfish. Meet catfish nuts from around the globe in a fun, entertaining and educational atmosphere. We will be there presenting two talks, one on Colombia and the other on Auchenipteridae – Woodcatfish. It is not too early to start making plans for this event. As a matter of fact, the website just went live last week. Be sure to get your hotel room and register for this one-of-a-kind event! Follow the link to sign up: http://www.catfishcon.com
Lastly, we wish to share a sneak peek of one of the species we collected in the Rio Caqueta. For those into Aucehnipteridae, you might recognize the fish as a Tatia intermedia type. There are a few differences however if you look closely at the video. Can you spot the difference? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCeAXYbdTxY
Welcome to 2020! Happy New Year to everyone! We are happy to see the calendar switch over to a new decade. 2020 almost seems futuristic when you think about it and with that let’s focus on just that, the future of AmazonTropics.com.
It is with great honor and pride that we announce that we will be one of the guest speakers at this year’s All-American Catfish Convention, CatCon 2020! This event is the premier catfish convention with amazing speakers from all over the world and right here in the U.S.A. A few speakers have already been announced with more to come!
CatCon also has great vendors that sell products just for all of our special whiskered friends. One of the main attractions of the event beyond the speakers and vendors is the Spree On Three! Breeders and Importers sell catfish and other fish species from their hotel rooms. This is always a big hit and AmazonTropics.com is already planning to have as many fish available as possible. More to come on this as the event approaches. So please be sure to mark your calendars for October 8th-11th! Stay tuned by visiting here: CatCon Facebook Page
In other news, we have finally been able to put more time towards making the fishroom as we intended it to be. So far this year, we have already replaced several tanks with new ones and resealed our 120 gallon display tank. As you may recall, it suddenly leaked last year. We have also made glass lids for the new tanks.
Our next speaking engagement will be in Cincinnati on January 26th. The presentation will share parts of our travels through Colombia. Join us for a fun night of fun, friends and fish. Details can be found here: Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society
We will sum things up in that life is short and live your life to the fullest! This has been by far the most difficult year for my family and I. It first started with the loss of one of our brother’s in June. And now in October, the loss of our father. Both were very sudden and my family and I are still trying to navigate the waters. It will take time to get through these losses but we will keep pressing on. We would like to thank of those that have reached out to us in recent months. The aquarium hobby is more than just about the fish, it is also about the people. We thank everyone for that!
There is one last major fish event to attend this year and that is the Ohio Cichlid Association (OCA) Extravaganza. This will be their 25th anniversary! We can say we have been going for 18 years ourselves. It is a great event with around 400 cichlid and catfish enthusiasts. It is one of the largest freshwater gatherings in the country and just a ton of fun. https://www.ohiocichlid.com/extravaganza/registration
We plan to sell some fish so stay tuned! There will be a limited number of some fish and it will be first come, first serve. We will have some of the usual species and a few new species to offer. Looking forward to seeing everyone at this great event!
Around the corner is our trip back to Colombia. This will be our 3rd trip to Colombia. This time we will be in the Andes in the major tributaries of the Rio Magdalena and the Rio Caqueta. While these areas have been explored, there are still many new species to be discovered and many species that simply are not in the hobby. We are truly looking forward to this trip as a welcomed distraction to everything that has happened this year.
The Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) Fall Auction is finally here! Join us tomorrow for an epic auction! There will be a ton of rare fish species that have been lined up by the club. A special thanks to Paul Wingert for acquiring and housing most of the New and Rare (NAR) species that will be in the auction. AmazonTropics.com will also have many species in the auction for NAR including pver a half dozen pleco species, three woodcats species, two cory species, two types of shrimp and much more! See everyone there. For all of the qauction details, please visit CAFE’s website: http://www.columbusfishclub.org/cafe-springfall-auctions/
It is almost here! Are you ready? That is right, fall convention and auction season is upon us. It is a time to get together with friends from around the fish hobby to catch up on life and all things fish related. In particular, we are looking forward to Cataclysm. If you are into catfish, this event is a must! There will be great speakers, catfish and a fun time. Check out the Cataclysm website for more details: https://catfish-cataclysm.com/
Below is an availability list for Cataclysm. All fish are first come, first serve. These are for pre-sale only. While we may bring fish with us, we cannot guarantee this due to our work schedule. Please contact us via email if interested: jeremybasch@gmail.com. Take advantage of the free shipping!
Catfish Species Available
Common Name
Size
Price
Centromochlus perugiae F-1
Oil Woodcat
1″+
6/$60
Corydoras duplicareus F-1
Duplicate Cory
1″+
6/$60
Corydoras panda F-2
Panda Cory
1″
4/$20
Corydoras sp. “CW49” F-2
Diamond Cory
3/4-1″
6/$100
Hypancistrus zebra F-2
Zebra Pleco
1 1/2″+
$150 ea. 4/$560
Hypancistrus sp. “L-333” Porto de Moz F-2
Yellow King Tiger Pleco
1 1/4″+
4/$100
Hypancistrus sp. “L-345” F-2
Silver Prince Pleco
1 1/4″+
4/$120
Hypancistrus sp. “L-411” F-2
Monte Dourado Pleco
1 1/4″+
4/$100
Micracanthicus (Hypancistrus) vandragti F-1 L-280
Nano Pleco
1″
5/$200
Tatia gyrina F-1
Tiger Woodcat
1″
5/$100
Invertebrates
Common Name
Size
Price
Asolene spixi
Spixi Snail
1″+ shell
4/$10
Neocaridinia davidi
Blue Dream Shrimp
3/4″+
12+/$40
Live Foods
Common Name
Size
Price
Daphnia sp. Red Russian Daphnia
Water Fleas
Starter
$5
Panagrellus nepenthicola
Banana Worms
Starter
$5
Turbatrix aceti
Vinegar Eels
Starter
$5
Also on the horizon is our local auction, the Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts (CAFE) Fall Auction. Our chairman, Paul Wingert, is doing a great job promoting the event on Facebook. Just scroll through all of the auction entries and you see some pretty incredibly rare fish species! Here is a link to the CAFE Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusfishclub/ For all of the auction rules, please visit CAFE’s website at: http://www.columbusfishclub.org/
Beyond convention and auction season, it looks like we will be heading back to Colombia sooner, rather than later. Things are still coming together for the trip so we cannot share too much just yet. We can share that our objective is to go to the Rio Magdalena and the upper reaches of the Rio Caqueta.
A target species for this trip will be Centromochlus altae. Thankfully due to a few trips previously by other groups, we have confirmation that the species is in the Rio Caqueta region from where it was described. Fingers crossed we can bring this gorgeous species and others back alive!
