I'm pretty sad that it appears my first spawn of black traditionals got eaten up by the CTPKs...this time I am going to make sure that they have their own tank! At least until they are much larger and can fend for themselves. I wonder if they are slower growing? I am hoping that this spawn (Spawn 072914) is successful!

I will be using a different female this time, a (not-so-little!) spitfire by Andrea Topo Queirolo (Italy). She has a looong body, and a caudal that opens to 180 (although not in this photo) with only primary branching. Although there is a large gap between her caudal and dorsal, and her caudal peduncle could be stronger, I love her long appearance. I personally like the look of traditional PKs with a longer, snakier body than the more stout show PKs, but it is listed as a minor/major fault in the IBC standards that traditional PKs should not have too long of a body and resemble their wild counterparts. Sometimes I breed to the standard, sometimes I don't! It's all about what you want to accomplish!

I finally got one of the species that I have been drooling over for almost 2 years - the Blue Gularis Niger Delta! (Fundulopanchex sjoestedti "Niger Delta"). These guys are incredibly large and beautiful killifish. I am grateful to Jim Kostich for sending me such a beautiful little baby boy. And what a ride he had! He was lost in the mail for NINE DAYS, and yet he still arrived safe and sound! A true testament to Jim's secure packaging!

The San Francisco Bay Area Aquatic Plant Society (say THAT 3x fast) had their meeting yesterday at Tom Barr's planted tank wonder house in Sacramento! It was my first time finally seeing these tanks that I have followed for years on the planted tank forums. The company was great, the food wonderful, and the weather perfect. I was by no means able to photograph the entire meeting, but hopefully this video I managed to put together has enough Tom Barr tips and tricks to get your planted tank looking beautiful!

Also, don't forget that many of the videos that I publish on this website are easily accessible via my YouTube Channel. If you subscribe to me on YouTube, then you will be notified every time I post a new one! And you'll be able to access all of them pretty easily. Most of these videos sprinkled throughout the site where they are relevant...but I'm sure you'll find a couple funny ones hiding away in my playlist.

Click on the picture of Weldon enjoying the sun to take you to a scrolling playlist of my videos.

Check out the Show Reports section for the latest and greatest in the betta show world! The 2014 IBC Convention was a complete blast and I was very sad to see all of my wonderful betta friends leave. Until next time!