Hey folks,
This is the most exciting email I've gotten to write in a bit so strap in if you're a rare Tanganyikan enthusiast. I know this is a polarizing topic, you're either going to be extremely excited or couldn't care less, but I'm hoping it's mostly the former. We got a ton of positive feedback and inquiries about Tangs back around Super Zoo when we posted pics of some of the fish we brought in to show off at the trade show. So much so it encouraged us to bring in a bunch of different varieties. There are a few species that you've likely seen before (or at least seen similar types) like some Julidochromis and some Lelupi, so even if you think nobody in your area is willing to pay for cool fish (very unlikely, btw) you can at least move these pretty easily. Even Petsmart used to have Julidochromis in their planogram across the country (although they had the much more common and boring looking marlieri).
Cyprichromis are here now being sold for the first time since I've been here. These are basically like freshwater Anthias, forming huge shoals in Lake Tanganyika in the wild. They are completely peaceful, don't bother anything, even tiny tetras, and are mouthbrooders so they're easy to breed as long as they're happy. The males get beautiful yellow, black, and blues
For shelldwellers, Redfin Caudo's are available for the first time ever. These pretty little fish do great in communities and will raise babies a few shells over from each other like most shellies do. These are the ultimate "fish nerd" type of fish, everybody with a "fish room" (I can't be the only one, right?) wants these things due to their easy to breed nature and value.
We also got Eretmodus for I believe the first time ever as well. these are more goby-like than cichlid-like, at least in appearance. Awesome bright blue spots can be seen already at their current size and they get pretty large. These do get extremely territorial, but only to each other, so any one of your customers with a peacock tank can add one of these to it to have something unique and different without much problem. They're not the cheapest fish in the world, but they're extremely hard to breed in captivity due to their murderous nature towards each other, so this is an extremely rare opportunity to pick up F1 Tank raised individuals.
But if you're not into all that we certainly have plenty of the more mainstream stuff this week as well. After missing a week due to circumstances beyond our control Colombia is back this week. And this time with a bit more variety than what's been available the past couple of months. We'll start with the one I'm most excited about, XL Spotted Royal Plecos. These haven't been around in months and unfortunately they are still very limited so act fast if you wish to snag one. Less limited believe it or not are the Peacock Bass. Must be in season down there because I've never seen them come in with such consistency. Size has been great and they've been holding up really well from one batch to the next. We also got in a handful of Royal Farlowellas which have also been absent from the last few shipments. These are always a fan favorite and are seldomly here more than a week. And for something really obscure we got in Ossa Knives. We get these periodically and I must say it is was one of my favorite sedentary fish. They literally do nothing during the day but lay on the bottom of the tank. However they are quite active at night and they have one of the most attractive patterns of all Knife species.
No shortage on far east fish this week. Got in one of the most adorable batches of Clown Knives I've seen come through here in awhile. Now I realize those two things don't sound like they don't go together but at this size they really do have a cuteness factor to them much like juvenile Panther groupers do. Ordinarily I'm little nervous about them when they're running small but they are eating like champs already. Maybe not as cute but definitely in the realm of eating everything in sight are the 3-4" Redtail Cats. These are about as nice as they get, just look at the pic below. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have some Kyathit aka Firefin Danios available this week. These have bright orange fins as the name would suggest and often develop a squiggly line pattern to them. And last but not least we got restocked on 2-2.5" Assorted Discus after running out last week. Nice mix as always including Blue Diamonds, Pigeon Bloods and Snakeskins.
Reach out to your rep if you have any questions.
The Sales Team
5D Tropical, Inc
800-777-5353
Ext 221 for Brody (BrodyM@5DTropical.com)
Ext 295 for Dave (DaveD@5DTropical.com)' |
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| GloFish® Danios still on special this month so be sure to stock up while you can |
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Starfire Red® Pristellas are available this week!
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In addition to the assorted we have Electric Green® Cory available this week
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| Got another restock on Peacock bass and they just keep coming in nice and fat. These always sell out fast and based on past experience their incoming availability is going to start slowing down very soon. |
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| Red Hooks came in with super clean fins which is a bit of a rarity with these. Won't have to wait to send these out the door. |
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| Royal Farlowellas are back for the first time in ages. Fins on these make them on of the most impressive Loricariids species. |
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| Pinktail Chalceus got a restock and are at the perfect size. Not too small to be delicate and not so big where they have a difficult time acclimating. |
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| Flagtail Prochilodus are also in from this week's Colombia shipment. Super impressive as adults once their tails color up. |
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| Ossa Knives may not be the most active species in the world but the certainly are one of the most ornate looking. Some in this group are running huge, nearly a foot long. |
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| Exodons are back and at a great size. These arguably make for one of the best best species only display fish there is. |
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| Still have a decent number of Green Neons on hand which is good indicator it's slow out there. These typically sell out in a hurry based on the name alone. |
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| Pygmy Cories got beefed up in numbers again this week. At the risk of jinxing myself there should be plenty to go around. |
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| Metae Cories are in for the first time in ages and they look amazing. Most are running huge and are as fat as can be. |
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| 10-11cm Red & White Ranchu are running a bit smaller than that but are still one of the nicest Goldfish here. These are always sought after by collectors. |
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| Kyathit ("Firefin") Danios are still here. If you got them scratched last week, sorry, we found the tank now. Feel free to order them again. |
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| Longfin Tiger Barbs seem like a bit of an oxymoron given the species' reputation for being fin nippers. However the exaggeration of the fins on this variation slows them down to the point where they can't catch up to their tankmates making them inadvertently docile. |
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| Red Frontosas are back this week and while they may not be as flashy as say Mpimbwe types they are diffenet from your standard six stripe variety and extremely affordable. |
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| Lemon Oscars got a restock over the weekend and this batch is solid yellow without any black this time around. That varies from one batch to the next and while I personally don't have a preference the all yellow variant seems to be a bigger hit with the hobbyists. |
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| EB Jacks continue to come in with a bit more regularity lately. I'm not necessarily a fan of all EB variants in cichlids I will say this one probably is my favorite. If nothing else these tend to be less territorial than their wild strain counterparts. |
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| 3" Clown Knives are more stripey than they are spotted at the moment but that will change very quickly. Just got here and they're already stuffing their little faces with feeder guppies. |
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| Redtail Botias are back this week. While these do stay considerably smaller than their more popular cousin the Clown Loach, these can be a bit more on the territorial side and do best with larger, fast moving tankmates. But just like their cousin they are excellent at nuisance snail population control. |
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| 3-4" Redtail cats are in this week as far east imports and I have to say I don't think I saw one in the batch that was 3". They all look to be 4" or better. So far these look fantastic and some of them are already beginning to show a bit of red on the tail as the name would suggest. |
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| I know we've seen these a bunch over the last few months but that's because they keep coming in so great. I swear I can count on one hand how many times as a retailer I got ones this nice but for whatever reason this summer just about every batch has been like this. Lots of males with huge fins and blazing color. This is bound to stop at some point so get some before winter hits and the size shrinks down. |
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| When I mention Rainbows I almost always start with mediums at a minimum, usually the large. But this week even the regular Yellow Rainbows look fantastic. Oversize with super bright color. |
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| Medium Turquoise Rainbows seldom disappoint and this week is no exception. Good size with really nice color. Almost always worth the extra money. |
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| Large Deepwater Creek (Firetail is a much better name) Rainbows are back after a brief absence. I think most people pass on these when they see them on the list because the name isn't very descriptive or recognizable. But once people seem them they typically fly out the door. Arguably THE best looking Rainbow out there. |
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| I try not to put too much focus on bread and butter fish as they are typically staples that don't require mentioning. However for the last couple of weeks the Longfin Leopard Danios have really been catching my eye. Size is solid but what has my attention is the pattern super crisp and defined lately. |
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| If you see some of the usual suspects making appearances here with some frequency there's are reason why...they're awesome. Peacock Gudgeons are exactly that, awesome. How this species hasn't become more mainstream in the hobby is beyond me but dollar for dollar they have some of the best color money can buy. We also now have them available in medium size. |
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| Red Rose Male Guppy |
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| Red Dragon Dumbo Guppy |
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| Red Endlers |
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| Pineapple Sword |
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| Red Tiger Platy |
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| Blue MM Platy |
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| Blue Kerris are as big and as beautiful as ever. Carry what the big box stores don't. |
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| Penguins are back this week and while the size is average that won't stop them from selling out about as quickly as they got here. Another great species you won't typically see in box stores. |
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Red Eye Tetras have been a bit hit or miss as far as availability goes lately but at least for this week they look to be a hit. It also doesn't hurt that they are running fairly large this week as well.
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| Silver Dollars are back as Colombian imports this week. I put them down here because quite frankly the Colombia section was getting a bit fat. Regardless these are an obvious staple everyone should have on their orders this week. |
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| Silver Hatchets are also restocked from Colombia this week and should also be on everyone's orders before we run out. Which quite honestly could happen before I finish typing this sentence lol. |
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| One of the new Tanganyikans that came in over the weekend! Eretmodus Cyanisticus "Congo". One of my favorite cichlid types, they act more like Gobies than Cichlids. Super cute, hopping around the tank on the bottom, filling an area of your tanks that are less commonly occupied especially for African tanks. |
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| Gold Neolamprologus Sexfasciatus. These get about 6 inches so much larger than most other common Tanganyikans. These turn almost solid gold as adults with the vertical bars you can already see coming in. Currently about 2 inches, decent size. |
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| Leleupi "Karalani". A specific locale of lelupi that keeps their super bright golden yellow to adulthood. These look like saltwater Dottybacks to me, I've always been enamored with Lelupi and their unique body shape and actions. |
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| We have Shell-dwellers finally! Redfin Neolamprologus Caudopunctatus. These will breed in a colony type setup as long as they have enough space and plenty of nice big empty shells to lay their eggs in. |
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| One of the best sized fish from this shipment, Julidichromis Regani Kipili. One of the coolest looking Julis IMO with plenty of yellow in their bellies. Julis love tons of rock work and tend to get along pretty well with each other as long as they're not mature males guarding territory. it takes a long long time for them to get to that point, so you can safely house large groups together. |
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| Kipili Regani in tank |
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| Tretocephalus! This is the only one of these fish that we've had in recent years, and they sold out in a week last time. These are even larger than last time so they won't last long. You may notice they look a lot like a Frontosa, but this is a totally different species in every way. They stay much smaller, maxing out around 6 inches. Still good sized for Tanganyikans but much less than Frontosas that need 6 foot tanks. |
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| Trets in the water |
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| Tricolor Cyprichromis! We have 2 sizes of Cyps, these guys as a regular and another species (Utinta) as Mediums for a slightly higher price. We've been asked for Cyprichromis by about a dozen stores in the past month since we showed the ones going to SuperZoo, and now is your chance to snatch them up. We only got 24 of each, so they're going to fly out of here I think. First-come first-served. |
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| Gold Head Compressiceps (Calvus) are one of the most well-known fish in this shipment and will likely be the easiest for you to sell on your end. Everybody loves Calvus types, with their big humpy foreheads and unique flat body shapes. make sure you've got a lid on the tank, or they'll be Calvus Jerky the next morning. |
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| Exochromis Anagenys are the one new fish from this shipment that are NOT a Tangnyikan. These are a very rare Malawi Hap that you've probably never heard of before, but those that have know about them are going to be extremely excited to have a shot at these. Common name "Three Spot Torpedo" which sounds, frankly, bad ass. These are similar to "Malawi Trout" but even the females stay beautiful with super bright yellow. |
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| If crazy Tanganyikans aren't you're thing then we've got plenty of super colored up male Peacocks for you this week. Anywhere from Medium to Show size including both hybrids and pure strains like this Benga Sunshine. A real show stopper that would look great in any display. |
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| As I just mentioned in addition to the usual array of beautiful hybrid Peacocks there are some gorgeous pure strains in the XL mix including this Sulfur Head. |
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| In addition to some of the pure strains in the XL Peacock assortment this week we also have some beautiful aquarium strains including this Albino Red Peacock variant. |
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| If you're looking for something a bit more budget friendly then look no further than the medium mixed male Peacocks (6378). Still great size with a lot of them already in full color. |
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| Included in the assorted medium male Peacocks are a fair number of these Albino Dragon Blood types. Quite a bit variation in there but not a dud in the lot. |
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| Also sprinkled in the medium male Peacock mix are s handful Haps. This where calling them an "assortment comes in handy so people can't get get too hung up on exact nomenclature. |
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| Snow White Peacock found amongst the medium assorted male mix. |
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| Assorted Discus 2-2.5" |
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| Assorted 2-2.5" |
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| Assorted 2-2.5" |
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| Found a vat of Goldy Plecos from our last Brazil shipment. Been here long enough to be showing great color with nice full bellies. |
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| Red Warrior Flowerhorns starting to show why they deserve that name. Probably the nicest strain of Florida raised Flowerhorn out there. |
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| Medium Green Terrors are very limited this week but we do have some on hand and they're about twice the size of the regulars. |
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| Sterbai are one of the most attractive of the "staple" Cories. If this isn't in your current inventory it should be. |
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