Newsletter 12-11-25
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Colombia & guppy restock
Hey folks,
as the weather gets worse sales are getting better with each snowflake that hits the ground. Nothing could be better for business than a long and lustrous winter. That being said the timing couldn't be better for us to be back in stock with the Starfire Red® Angels. We're hoping to have more available each and every week as we move forward into the new year. Looks like we'll have more this week than we did last and hopefully that trend continues. In other Glofish® news we still have good supply on the Moonrise Pink® Cories and these have been flying out of here at an astronomical rate. Rebuys have been fantastic as both stores and hobbyists have been very pleased with the size and overall quality on these. And for those of you who haven't heard but these are not currently in mass chain/box stores so your customers can only get them from you.
In addition to Glofish® we got in a ton of exciting items this week including another fantastic Colombia shipment. I'll start with an item we have not had in ages and that's the Beckford's Pencilfish. These little gems once settled sport both gold and red coloration. And not only are they one of the most attractive Pencil species they're also one of the hardiest. Pro tip-feed them baby brine and daphnia. They have very tiny mouths and have high protein requirements so this will fatten them up and bolster their immune system. This is actually good practice for most wild Tetras and Characins.
Another hot item to come in on the Colombia shipment are the Blue Phantom Plecos. I actually prefer these to their green cousins not only due to their coloration but also the fact that they're not nearly as abundant in the hobby. Speaking of Plecos we also got a restock on Butterflies with this order. Just like the last batch size and patterning on these is outstanding. They sold out almost immediately last time and I expect these will do the same. And we can't talk Loricarriids without mentioning the Whiptail Cats. Last time we got them they were gone in a day. Ridiculously low price point makes these an easy sell. Brought in everything the vendor had and it still won't be enough so order early.
But even with all that being said the far east refuses to be out done. Never a shortage of great, fast selling fish coming out of there. My standout award for the week goes to the Gardneri Killies. While this is a standard stock item for us these came in particularly nice this time around as you'll see from the pic below. While it is a mixed sex group it does appear to be slightly male heavy. Another standout this week are the Chili Oscars. I go on with my usual diatribe about them in the caption below but for those of you who haven't tried them before you really should. They're super bright and not something you'll see offered in the big box stores. And last but not least Sumo Loaches are back in stock this week. These are very unique comped to most other species and they not only have distinct pattern to them they actually display a color other than brown lol.
So much in the way of Florida fish and I'm running out of room so I'll have to limit it to my top faves and you can read about the rest down below. The first one may seem like a bit of a surprise but the all male Cherry Barbs are first on the list. These have not been available most of the year as we have had to import them from the far east since last year's hurricane season. Instead of listing each one of the following group here I'm just gonna say this is definitely the week to be stocking up on Rainbows. i have the top pics featured further down. And if it's Cichlids you're looking for it's Cichlids we got. Red Spot Gold, medium Green and Rotkeils top the charts. For Africans we got restocks on Red Nyererei, medium mix male Peacocks and large assorted Haps. With the cold weather in full force throughout much of the country this is the week to start loading up. Don't wait until your customers are breaking down your door to have great offerings for them.
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® Moonrise Pink® Cories are the hot seller going into the winter months and are currently not available in big box stores. |
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| Blue Phantom Plecos are back on this week's Colombia shipment and they are a very nice size with great color and they've only been here a few hours. These have not been available in months and look to be some of the first of the season. People have been screaming for these and their green cousins so grab some while you can. |
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| Got in more Atabapo aka Butterfly Plecos this week. Got these a couple Colombia shipments ago and they sold out immediately. These pancaked lookin suckermouth cats have a very distinct look about them which is why they are so popular. |
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| Beckford's aka Golden Pencilfish are in for the first time in well over a year. These as well as most Pencil species make for a great addition to any planted display and are always highly sought after. |
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| Got just a handful of large Striped aka Gray Sausage Pikes available. This is a very uncommon Lugubris species that we actually got by mistake. Should be selling for quite a bit more but they just got priced out as a one of the more commonly available types so take advantage of this while you can. |
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| New batch of Red Hooks came in this week and while they do tend to get on the biiger side as adults they are still pretty manageable in large home aquariums thus making them perfect for anyone one looking to add to an etsablished set up containing other large Southies including more aggressive Cichlids |
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| Whiptails are back and once again they came in at a great size. Patterns are excellent on all of these and while most of them don't currently have their "whips" those will grow in very quickly. |
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| Flagtail Prochs got a restock this week and these are perfect to pair with the Red Hooks I mentioned earlier. |
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| Bumble Bee Cats are back in pretty decent numbers and whie they are a bit on the small side this time around their rich, chocolatey pattern still stands out from across the room. |
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| Evreyone's favorite ugly fish, the Bajo Cat, also make a triumphant return this week. I mean seriously, is there a fish out there with an even uglier mug than this? I dare say no lol. |
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| As you can barely see Transparent Knives are back this week. See what I did there? See, transparent. Ugh, there's a reason nobody's paying me to write jokes for a living. |
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| This is a pic of the actual Gardneri we got this week. While it does help that Bob is pretty handy with a camera they really do look this good. Mixed sex group but a bit heavy on males. |
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| Same as above this pic of the Galaxy rasboras was taken here this week. We take pride in the fact that just about every photo we feature is that of fish here on the farm, not some random download from the internet. |
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| Platinum Green Tiger Barbs got a restock this week and while we have the regular Greens on hand as well these are the better value as they are nearly twice the size. |
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| New 2" Assorted Peacock are super juiced and therefore super bright. Perfect for anyone on a budget looking for a splash of color. |
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| Chili Oscars came in too late last week in order for me to feature them in the newsletter so here they are. They're a tad smaller than the last batch but considerably brighter. I've said this a thousand times but these are THE nicest aquariums strain of Oscar there is. |
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| New Balloon Rams are very colorful and very balloony this week. I know that isn't a word but if anyone has a better adjective I'm all ears. |
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| German Gold Rams are very goldy this week. Ok I'll stop with the silliness but these are particularly nice this week and definitely worth picking up. |
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| Leopard Ctenopoma (African Leaf Fish, much better name) are back and much better size than the last several batches. Don't get me wrong, I think they're cute as hell when they're small but these are big enough to start showing off their golden brown coloration they will continue to display as adults. |
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| Got in 4" Clown Knives this week. These are considerably larger and tend to hold up quite a bit better than the 3" so well worth the extra money. |
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| Sumo Loaches are back. No idea where that name comes from as it's not part of the latin and they look nothing like a Japanese wrestler. No matter, these are relatively small, peaceful and have a great splash of pinkish orange to them. |
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| Borneo Suckers are back in the first time in over a month. They're small on average but have a very nice spotted pattern to them. |
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| Venezuela Cories got a restock this week and these continue to come in at a much nicer size compared to when we first started bringing them in. Now that being said they are still fairly small compared to some of the wild caught Cories as they are tank raised from the far east. Call them Venezuelan Orange Cories, they'll sell much faster that way. |
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| Siamese Algae Eaters aka Siamensis (the latter is more recognized by hobbyists) came in with fantastic size to them this week. For those of you unfamiliar with these species these are arguably the best algae eating species on the market. These have even been known to go after black beard algae on occasion. |
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| Finally got an excellent photo to accurately showcase what the Rainbow Gobies look like. Here you can actually see why they deserve that name. |
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| All male Cherry Barbs are back for what I believe is the first time in nearly a year. A tad small but super bright and well worth the difference in price. |
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| Longfin Rosy Barbs have been pretty consistent in their availability as of late. These are about a 50/50 male/female ratio and are much nicer than the standards this week. |
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| Red Cobra Guppies tend to be one of the nicer varieties that we get on a regular basis. We often times run out of certain colors during the week so when in doubt give us a shout and we'll try to pick out what looks best for you. |
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| Bluefin Killies came in as a happy accident this week. Were supposed to be Brilliant Rasboras so if you got these by accident this week you lucked out. These are more expensive and far less common. Male and female featured in the pic but looks like about 75% males in the group as a whole. |
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| New Albino paradise are running much larger than they have been the past couple of months. Color is super bright at this size. |
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| Smokey Angels are available this week but quantity looks to be a bit limited so order early you want some. |
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| Surprisingly most of the Rainbows are still running nice sized with fantastic color and that most certainly includes the Reds this week. Slightly male heavy these are a great buy this week. |
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| Albeit a dwarf (or as some would say pygmy) species the Celebese are about as big as they get this week. Not quite small enough to be classified as a nano fish these still make for a great looking school in a planted display. |
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| Large Assorted Male Rainbows contain some monster show size fish in the mix. Perfect if you any service clients looking for display pieces. |
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| I almost always recommend going with mediums over regulars when it comes to most of the Rainbows but this week I have to say they regular sized Turquoise are about as nice as I've ever seen. good size and nice rich blue coloration. |
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| Even though we are in winter mode down here the Neon Dwarf Rainbows are considerably larger than they have been the last few weeks. Stock up now before the size goes back down. |
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| I can't take a decent pic of a Candy Cane Tetra to save my life but fortunately our resident photographer, Bob, can. These continue to be one of the best looking Tetras on the farm and have the perfect name for this time of year. |
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| Bloodfins are back for the first time in who knows how long. Time stands still down here since there's no such things as seasons in Florida. We have Summer and Summer Junior. If I don't look at a calendar I have no idea what month it is. |
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| Black Neons are super solid this week both in terms of color and size. A common staple no one should be without. |
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| Embers are very nice size at the moment with a nice, rich amber color to them. |
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| You've all read my take on Blind Cave Tetras by now, they're just plain creepy. But people like creepy and weird so they're definitely worth stocking even if they look like something straight out of a horror movie. |
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| If you can't afford to give the gift of diamonds give the gift of Diamond Tetras. They're a lot cheaper and you won't be upset if you lose them in the divorce lol. |
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| Red Head Tapajos are running very small but that doesn't seem to make much difference as this is currently the most popular selling Geo currently. |
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| Medium Green Severums came back in this week and continue to be a better value than the regulars. |
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| Medium Red Nyererei Got a restock this week and look to be almost all male. I've made this comparison before but these truly are the freshwater equivalent of a saltwater Flame Angel. |
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| Medium mix male Peacocks continue to come in with a fantastic assortment of color variants and species like this Red Jake. |
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| Same as above, found this Sunshine the medium mix male Peacock assortment. |
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| Got in a new batch of large assorted Haps tis week and as usual there are some absolute steals in the mix including this Buccochromis Nototaenia. These grow up to be absolute stunners as adults. If you're unfamiliar with them Google a pic, the males are incredible. |
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| Like I just mentioned the large assorted Haps always seem to have some amazing hidden gems in the mix and this Dimidiochromis hybrid proves that. |
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| Found this about to color up male Livingstoni in the large Hap mix. When you buy an assortment like this don't just price them out based on what you paid. Pick out the stunners and price them accordingly. People will pay for exceptional looking fish. |
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| Vampire Crab |
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| Bloody Mary Shrimp |
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| Rili Shrimp |
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| Red Cherry Shrimp |
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