NFC: Fw: News from the Farm

[robert a rice <robertrice at juno_com>]

fyi...
Robert Rice - NFC president   www.nativefish.org

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Jim Atchison" <jim at atchison_com>
Wednesday, May 15, 2002

A couple of very interesting fish came across the desk on a list from one
of
the regional wholesalers a while back, so I decided to go and take a look
for one of our customers. He’s looking for these specialty fish and they
don
’t come around that often. It’s a little over an hour to get to the
wholesaler’s place and because Brenda had not been there before, we
decided
to take the trip together…was she in for a shock.

Freshwater fish come into the area primarily over the weekend and on
Monday.
The majority of the fish leave the wholesale tanks during the week…most
during the first part of the week. Thursday, the day we went to visit, is
essentially the end of the week and the fish are pretty well picked
over…or
dead. But as it turns out, Thursday is also the day that this particular
wholesaler packs up the order for a major, national, multi-location pet
mega-store.

We saw multitudes of dead and dying fish in the tanks as the packers
frantically fished out fish to fill the orders. It was hard for Brenda to
look at all the dead fish so she wandered over to the dry goods
warehouse.
Few tanks looked “good.” But truly, 1000s of dead and fish in serious
trouble as the order for the mega-store was being filled.

On the way home we talked about the reputation of the mega-store. The
on-line rap that the store gets leads one to believe that they are the
culprits. Now I have to admit that I have been in the local version of
the
store and was not too impressed with the selection. But it seems to me
that
if they are starting with fish from the tanks we looked at their
supplier’s
place…the mega-store doesn’t stand much of a chance. I’m not saying that
the
mega-store is spot-less or completely blame-less for their approach and
quality of customer service…but maybe there is more (much more) to this
story than we had previously believed.

We left the one wholesaler and visited with one of our other vendors.
Brenda
was impressed and less depressed. Just a few floaters and she could tell
by
the attention to little details that this second operation was a little
more
caring and knowledgeable.

We’re been going through one of those pesky fungus gnat infestations.
They
love to surprise us in the spring when the weather warms a bit. They like
the white worm and grindal worm cultures. It doesn’t seem to matter what
you
use for a medium to culture in, the gnats love it. We keep them at bay
(somewhat) with a ½ length of regular fly paper (the sticky strips from
the
hardware store). They are safe for the worms and the adult flies get
stuck
and removed. You have to keep the paper in the culture for a month or
more
depending on the temperature (and the gnats life cycle) but it’s
effective
with patience. We usually put the paper in the cultures when we see gnats
and remove them when they are covered with medium to the point of
becoming
stickiless.

Been working with one of our favorite Killifish lately. It’s a population
of
Fp. gardneri called “Lafia”…pretty fish. I’m going to wait until next
week
to talk about a little “discovery” we made a couple years ago about egg
production with these fish…it will be worth the wait and will probably
help
with your fish spawning also.

A short list of some currently available fish list follows…

Later,

Jim Atchison
High Prairie Farms
and
The Bug Farm

********************************************************

The Fish List
(May 15, 2002)

This page is updated on Tuesday afternoon. If you are shopping for
something
in particular, feel free to email us regarding your search. We would be
happy to keep your needs in mind on our searches and collections. Also,
if
you would like to have the updated version of this list emailed to you,
let
us know about that also.

More information can be found on the WWW site:
http://www.atchison.com/FishList.htm

“Amano” Shrimp (Algae Eating Shrimp)
Albino Paradise Fish
Apistogramma borelli, The Opal Apisto
Aplocheilichthys normani, Blue Eye Killifish
Charadidae sp., Red Arc Pencil Fish
Chocolate Gourami
Convict Cichlids, Calico Color Morph (spawning)
Corydoras hastatus
Corydoras julii
Corydoras rabuti
Discus; Blue Snakeskin, Yellow and Orange (several specimens sold as
singles)
Firemouth Cichlid
Jewel Fish, Neon Blue
Jordanella floridae, American Flagfish
Julidochromis ornatus, "Yellow"
Julidochromis regain “Zambia Gold”
Julidochromis transcriptus “Gombi”
Lamp comerssiceps, Gold Head
Lamp. brichardi “Albino”
Lamp. brevis, Sun Spot (spawning)
Lamp. calvus, Black Pearly
Lamp. leleupi, Firecracker
Lamp. ocellatus, Gold (spawning)
Lamprologus brichardi
Memigrammus shodostamus, Rummy Nose Tetra
Mimagoniates microlepis, Croaking Tetra
Morgunda morgunda, Purple Spotted Gudgeon
Nannostomus marginatus, Dwarf Pencil Fish
Otocinclus sp.
P. dayi, Spiked Tail Paradise Fish
Plumetailed High Fin Platy
Rasbora heteromorpha, Black Pearl Rasbora
Rasbora maculata, Dwarf Rasbora
Rasbora vaterifloris, Fire Rasbora
Rhinogobius sp., Luminous Head Goby
Rinogobius wui, White Cheeked Goby (spawning)
Tanichthys albonumbes, "Gold"  White Cloud Mountain Fish
Telmatochromis vitattus
Tiger Botia
Trichogaster leeri, Pearl Gourami
Trichopsis pumilus, Sparkling Gourami
Trichopsis vittatus, Croaking Gourami
Vespicula depressifrons, Butterfly Goby
Zebra Botia

…email us for PICS if you are interested in the following…
Black Angelfish (dimes and quarter plus)
Gold Angelfish (dimes and quarters)
Dark Marble Angelfish (dimes, quarters and quarter plus)
Blue Blushing Angelfish (dimes, quarters and quarter plus)
Blue Marble Angelfish (dimes, quarters and quarter plus)
Zebra Angelfish (dimes, quarters)
Male, female and pairs of Betta splendens (known genetic makeup)

…and the menu of bugs and such continues to grow.


If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please email
remove at livefoodcultures_com.

Jim Atchison

The Bug Farm < http://www.livefoodcultures.com>
35 Mark Drive, Suite A
San Rafael, CA  94903
415-472-7294 ext. 222

THE BUG FARM CATALOG   <http://www.thebugfarm.bigstep.com>
FISH LIST <http://www.atchison.com/FishList.htm>