Breeder Selection | Red empress & Swordtails | Polyculture

[@audrameyer9558]

All of those fish shown are so pretty and beefy looking!

[@goliadfarms7029]

We select for healthy breeders, feed them well, and maintain pristine water conditions; the fish do the rest. Charles

[@rachaelwilliams5571]

Really happy your getting back on your feet love watching your videos glad your putting more up xx

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. We are recovering. It'll take another couple of years to back to full production (that's assuming we dodge hurricanes), but we're getting there. Charles

[@rrosario4657]

Love the tank display idea. Fantastic. Good fish keeping 😁

[@goliadfarms7029]

I argued against the tank since I'd had problems with the glass fogging up. But apparently I was wrong. We will use the tank to show the fish. I just hope at least one day the stupid tank fogs up! Charles

[@markhalliday3703]

Great selection you got there 👌👍👊🙂🇦🇺

[@goliadfarms7029]

We try to raise lots of fish so we have many to selection the best from. Charles

[@williamwood4779]

Amazing quality compared to what I saw in a store today!

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. We carefully select breeders and maintain excellent water conditions while feeding good foods to insure quality fish. Charles

[@TripleJAquatics]

Your setup is alway impressive

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. Thank you for watching our videos. We are planning to do another system walk through video to cover questions that have been posed. Also we'll do a feeding video with plenty of underwater action. Charles

[@zique9]

Awesome swordtails!!!!

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. We try to produce large, healthy, and colorful swords. Charles

[@Dovietail]

Lovely fish! Just breathtaking.

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you! Charles

[@jgotamco]

Please show the fishes more. Barely saw them

[@goliadfarms7029]

We are working on that. There are still some videos in the pipeline that don't have the fish in an aquarium, but we are now always placing some of the fish in a tank for longer viewing. Charles

[@tacklebox1978]

I love the body and fin form your swordtails have. My green swordtails have similar forms. I'm working on that with my group. Not to improve the body and fin but to maintain it.

[@goliadfarms7029]

I select for breeders for size, robust body form, and nice fins. We raise large numbers of fish so I have many fish to select the best breeders from. Charles

[@dirtyoldfarmhand3]

Bravo!

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you and thank you for watching. Charles

[@Crftbt]

Speedy selection in this one. :)

[@goliadfarms7029]

To keep up, we have to be fast. We have lots of breeding colonies to process over the next couple of months. Charles

[@christinamorris2823]

I LOVE Swords do you ship to Florida?

[@goliadfarms7029]

Yes, we do via FedEx or air cargo. We won't have swordtails available again until fall. When we do, they'll be posted on our website (goliadfarms.com/). Charles

[@richcastro8990]

Love your videos!

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. We try to be informative and entertaining. Charles

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

Thanks for sharing ✍

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you for watching. Charles

[@RamiiDeebo]

can you do a video about sexing african cichlids in general specially mbuna ?

[@goliadfarms7029]

I will put that in the queue to do. Charles

[@sailfinaquatics]

Hey Charles, quick question for you. My LFS has some small cichlids which look very much like red empress juveniles however, they are listed as "Cyrtocara Boadzulu". I am unfamiliar with this name and wasn't able to find much while looking them up apart from pictures of fish which appear to be red empress. Are you familiar with the name Cyrtocara Boadzulu and are these red empress or a lesser known close relative?

[@goliadfarms7029]

As near as I can tell that fish is likely to be Protomelas taeniolatus, the Red Empress. "Cyrtocara Boadzulu" has been used for P. taeniolatus occasionally. I don't think it's a different Protomelas species. Charles

[@sailfinaquatics]

@@goliadfarms7029 Thank you very much for your response. I would have loved to order some fish from you guys but I live outside of the states. Do you guys have plans of shipping internationally in the future or recommendations for someone like myself?

[@johannessordfarne4553]

Beautiful fish!! I think I heard you say in a video that you never take fish from the sumps into your breeding bats bc you don't know their genes even thou they might look good? If I got that right (yeah...I don't know and I am sorry for bugging you with questions). The sumps just intrigue me. Full of mystery fish, surprise fish, the opposite to the breeders you keep records on (of?) - it is like a mirror fish world, if you will. In the videos one can see fish swim by, flash of colour and then never see them again. Like in the wild. Now, if you don't use them to breed / sell, what is the role of the sump fish, on your farm? You show great care and respect for all animals. But don't they eat a lot? I've tried to figure it out and have watched many of your videos, but alass... Thank you all for sharing.

[@goliadfarms7029]

Let me clarify: I never assume any sump fish is a pure member of any species. For example, if I find a sump fish that looks exactly like let's say Aulonocara jacobfreibergi, I would never add it to our Aulonocara jacobfreibergi breeding colony. But if I find a fantastic male fish in the sump, I might give it some females and develop a new aquarium strain, a strain that would never be given a scientific name. In fact, years ago I found a humped male that reminded me of Cyrtocara moorii. That male was given OB Peacock females of various colors and we developed our seven strains of Dolphin Peacocks from those matings. We have occasionally harvested sump fish and sold them to aquarium maintenance companies. Susie would like to have a fish festival at the farm and harvest sump fish for the attendees. As to how much they eat, I feed the sump fish and floor gutter fish when I feed the fish in the vats. Don't tell Susie that. She is our business manager and already complains about the food bill. Fortunately, we purchase high quality Purina foods at an average of $1.60/lb (~$3.50/kilo). By the way, we will be filming a feeding video soon, so I guess Susie will discover how much I feed the sump and floor gutter fish. But since she plans the fish festival, I can probably justify the cost. Charles

[@johannessordfarne4553]

@@goliadfarms7029 Oh! Thank you! I´m so glad I now know more of how it works in your ekosystem! You made my mind calm down a bit. It´s strange how certain things can bug one´s mind. I´m happy you look out for interresting fish in the sumps, nature have its ways of blending things together in its own unexpected ways. It´s nice to know even those who built a business on breeding - with a deep knowledge of (in?) genetics - do save space for the unknown. And not only accept mutations, but see beauty and value in what nature brings. I´m going to look for photos of the different strains of Dolphin Peacock. And, yeah, I promise I´m Team Sump Fish every day of the week, but I´m not brave enough to cross Susie. No sir. I´m afraid you´re on your own in that pellet bat. :D

[@allandavenport789]

Hi, Charles. So glad to see you back. How’s everyone doing? Swordtails are my favorite. When I started this hobby back in 1980 I had swordtails and they are still my first pick. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any decent stock around here for years. People often say that they are too aggressive but I don’t see it. If you give them enough room they make a great community fish. You had mentioned in the past that you were going to get some stock from the wild. (Not swordtails) do you still plan to do that? I would love to see it but be prepared because I heard that Corey ran into some problems when he streamed his Peru trip. Talk to him about it. Hope your day is great! Thank you for all that you do!

[@goliadfarms7029]

We are doing well. I also like swordtails and will be posting videos of more of them. I plan to collect Poecilia latipinna from several locations I've collected in the past. I'm also checking to see who has some of our stock to maybe restock that way. Our mollies are finally reproducing again. I think having cleared all the vats of debris may have fixed the sterility problem. Here's a blog I wrote about what I think happened to our mollies after Hurricane Harvey: goliadfarms.com/teas-fish-and-chickens/ I'll check with Corey about his experiences. Charles

[@allandavenport789]

@@goliadfarms7029 I read your blog. It was quite good. I wonder if the leaves falling in your water could have an effect on the hardness. That would explain why it affected the live bearers as they seem to be quite sensitive to changes in water hardness. Could the leaf and other matter somehow leach precipitate out of your well water? I will be interested in anything you might find out but certainly understand your reticence to go too far down that rabbit hole.

[@barrylight3535]

Swordtails best looking I’ve seen for a long time. Very healthy. What are you feeding them ?

[@goliadfarms7029]

We feed exclusively Purina Aquamax foods: Aquamax 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 depending on fish size. Additionally, there are livefoods resident in a lot of the vats, primarily scuds, shrimp, and Paramecium. The livefoods shelter and breed in the mulm that we allow to accumulate in the bottoms of the vats and the floating plants like hornwort. Some fish, not enough unfortunately, eat the rapidly growing duckweed. Charles

[@abhijits2468]

The video quality is great. Did you change the camera?

[@goliadfarms7029]

No changes to the cameras, but I think we're getting more experienced and learning what works best. Charles

[@abhijits2468]

@@goliadfarms7029 i am from Kerala, India. I love sword tail and platy fish. I keep about 10 types of swords and platy fish at my small farm.

[@branislavbarcin1544]

Swordtails looking great!

[@jacksoratt3729]

Hello, I was wondering, since your stocks have been decimated by the natural disasters, and it may take some time to build back up, why wouldn't you source some new breeders from outside to speed up the process? Thank you for these great videos and your knowledge!

[@goliadfarms7029]

A good question. First, we were able to rebuild almost all our breeding colonies, some are small but that'll resolve itself in the next few months as their offspring mature. Second, and very importantly, quarantine is always an issue with new stock. Since our greenhouses are recirculating systems, all new stock has to be quarantined off-system. We have a few aquaria in a climate-controlled area in the warehouse, but aquaria take extra work that the vats on the system don't. For example, we do no water changes in the vats, and we only remove excess mulm when we process the fish which occurs every 3-4 months. We can quarantine fish in outside vats, but that's only available during warm months and runs the risk of predators harvesting them. Third, especially for aquarium strains we raise, our fish are well adapted to our systems and procedures. Outcrossing to other stock could dilute that. For those species and/or varieties we lost completely (only a few and then mostly some experimental livebearer strains I was developing), we have been acquiring replacements from our stock from customers. Just this week we got Platinum Convicts from a customer who had gotten them from us a while back. Charles

[@ryanrogers8211]

Can you make a video explaining how you develop your aquarium strain hybrids? I’d like to do the same thing at home most likely. 😊

[@goliadfarms7029]

Yes, I will. I just spoke on that subject at the AKA/ALA convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan last month. I have a PowerPoint presentation that I'll convert into a video. Charles

[@ryanrogers8211]

@@goliadfarms7029 thank you sir

[@abdulsaboorraza6691]

Hi charles hope you’re doing great. Great video as always. I wanna ask you about your thoughts on hybrid cichlids and my second question is whether i can breed Coptodon zillii ( redbelly tilapia ) with a flowerhorn. I have bred convicts and firemouths in the past and im curious if this is possible. Regards

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you. As to the first part of your question, I think there is adequate room in the hobby for those who want pure species and those who hybridize to create new fish. We do both. The important thing is to NEVER identify a hybrid with a scientific name. Okay, the second part. First of all, tilapia are maternal mouthbrooders from the Old World and flowerhorns are substrate spawners and hybrids of New World cichlids. Their breeding styles aren't compatible, and they aren't very closely related. So, absent artificial insemination, I don't think they could mate. Also, since they aren't closely related (New and Old World cichlids have been separated since Africa and South America split about 140 million years ago) I doubt the embryos would develop properly. Convicts and Firemouths are both New World cichlids and substrate spawners. They are fairly closely related and spawn in the same fashion. Do you have photos of the hybrids? If haven't heard of the that particular hybrid before. Charles

[@abdulsaboorraza6691]

@@goliadfarms7029 i don’t have the picture of one that I produced as mine didn’t quite made it to adults but there are a few pictures online that are similar to what I had.

[@goliadfarms7029]

@@abdulsaboorraza6691 I'll search for those. Charles

[@Exquailibur]

yes, feeding the cherry shrimp is illogical because you might as well feed dollar bills to a fish. cherry shrimp are in high demand, I do find it funny considering how easy they are to produce.

[@goliadfarms7029]

We do feed Susie's culled shrimp to the fish and we stock some in the 300-gallon breeder vats where they manage to survive and reproduce some. Charles

[@Exquailibur]

Im very curious if you plan to breed other varieties of shrimp? My favorite are the orange ones, they do have a fancy retail name that i cant recall though.

[@goliadfarms7029]

@@Exquailibur We recently got four other varieties (a gold, two different reds, and a blue) from a customer. They are currently in quarantine tanks and will be moved into system vats as soon as we get reproduction. Charles

[@SassyHippo]

Love it as always!

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you for watching! Charles

[@laurag1076]

😊😊😊

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you for watching. Charles

[@ricodegallo3060]

👍

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you for watching. Charles

[@fisherguy45]

The swords were amazing, both in colour and size. How warm does the water get in the summer in the greenhouses?

[@goliadfarms7029]

We select for size generation after generation. You can see the results of that selection. Late afternoon water temperatures reach 86F (30C). We use shade cloths and fans to keep the water temperatures down. Although air temperatures get much higher than that, the air circulating via fans causes evaporative cooling of the water. Most of the year we run the fans 24 hours a day to drop the water temperatures as much as we can at night. Charles

[@fisherguy45]

@@goliadfarms7029 thanks for the in-depth explanation, I really appreciate your comments back. Keep up the great work.

[@goliadfarms7029]

@@fisherguy45 If you watch our videos and have a question, I think you deserve an answer. Charles

[@edro3838]

Charles, do you breed lyretail swords also?

[@goliadfarms7029]

Yes, we do, but lost most of our breeders in the Winter Storm. We have Red Lyretails and Blushing (think pineapple without the gold body) Lyretails. Once we get those stocks built up, we'll outcross to introduce lyretail to our other strains. I plan on producing Hifin, Lyretail, Plumetail Swordtails. We have the hifin gene to work with, but lost all of our plumetails. I hope to restock that gene at the October American Livebearer Convention auction. Charles

[@edro3838]

@@goliadfarms7029Charles, thanks for the reply. I’m in north Texas and will contact you end of year concerning availability. Who knows, might drive down to purchase and visit a bit. All the best in re-establishing the farm. Thx!

[@goliadfarms7029]

@@edro3838 Thank you. Please keep in touch. The best way to reach me is via email at [e-mail]. Charles

[@goliadfarms7029]

@@edro3838 By then we should be ready for visitors. Charles

[@petery4801]

👌👌👌❤❤❤

[@goliadfarms7029]

Thank you for watching our videos. Charles

[@morganvaughan9257]

Excuse the naivety - when you say feeder guppies - is that a strain of guppies used to feed other fish?

[@morganvaughan9257]

Ps new camera? Excellent quality

[@goliadfarms7029]

No problem. We call them feeder guppies since that is what our wholesale customers call them. They are, despite being somewhat attractive, primarily used as a livefood for other fish. Same cameras, but apparently we're getting a bit better at filming. Charles