Storms & Rainbows

Catching up... 

August 2011 we moved to a new house, a fixer upper and then some, but it had good bones and 5.5 years later it's finally coming to the point that we can focus on non-essential areas... like the unfinished basement. 

In August 2013 we welcomed a new child, through adoption. A two yr old son with special needs whom we loved dearly. 

Feb 1st, 2015 I sat with my 4 yr old son, and we looked at fish online on the computer, while I worked on a sculpture. He loved the fish. We got him a tank for his birthday, and had plans to go to the fish auction and get some nice fish for it just a couple weeks later. I'd had guppies at the old house and had a lot of fun with them, and thought you know it would be cool to finish the basement and put some racks of tanks down there, and we could go down and watch the fish. I even went back to my old online guppy forum and told them I thought I might try it again.  And then morning came, the world shook, and everything fell apart. He had passed away in his sleep. 

Feb 2nd, 2017 We cleaned the basement in preparation to finish making it a more usable space. Half of it got done some time ago, and the rest has just been waiting patiently while the spiders repeatedly tried to claim it for their own. Hubby installed a few new lights, and we talked about what to do with the space. Part he wants some sort of game area. Part will remain storage. Another section I claimed for the fish. 

So here we go. I wish he could have seen it, but our newest two adopted kiddos will enjoy it as will the rest of us. I have not decided what types of Guppies I want to try again, but I have collected a few from a LFS that seems to be buying from someone that breeds for show. I'll head out to the auction later this month and get some trios and see what happens from there.

Pour pour me..

Ahhhh Python water changing system, why did I not buy one!? Alas my old shoulder injury was revived by the constant pouring of 5 gallon buckets. Not the fault of the fish, but definitely part of it. We do have goats and chickens that also require the pouring of large amounts of water. That with throwing hay bales has pretty much done my poor shoulder in. To the point that arthroscopic shoulder surgery is needed. (BOO!) What does this mean for my fishes?? Well, I have decided to give up my guppies for now. It will be a minimum of 6 months before I can do much of anything with my shoulder/arm and I just cannot justify trying to keep my fish through all of that, and making everyone else take on the burden. Plus we hope to move this spring or summer, and that will make the fish an even bigger issue.

My Blue Grass line that I have worked so hard on, will be going to my father-in-law as he loves them. The rest are leaving to a new hobbiest this week. I will be sad to see them go, as I felt like I had made so much progress with the Red Cobra line especially.

Someday I hope to get back into them. Maybe we will have a bigger house with more space for them and I can get some fun stuff going again. Till then, may God bless your tanks with many fry in every color of the rainbow!

Can't keep up!

Way too much has gone on this year, so the fish have kind of gone on the back burner. We are working on a probable move in the next 3-8 mos so I have downsized yet again to only a few fish. I kept some Blue Grass extended dorsals, the leopard/tiger Endlers, and a few cobras. I have begun dismantling tanks as well. I know when the cold weather hits I will need the space in the house, and we have to make things easier. If all I had was fish, it wouldn't be an issue, but we have quite the collection of critters and it has been a rough year for all of them.

Hope to see you at the show this fall!

Long overdue update

I've been so busy this winter that I have had a hard time keeping up with everything. I made the decision to downsize a little. I sold off all of the strains that were either not my favorites, or not as hardy as I wanted. I kept the Blue Grass Extended Dorsal & Ribbonfin, Full Yellows, Red Cobras (Blonde and Albino cross lines), Leopard Endlers, an assortment of Platies, and a tank of Red Tailed Goodeids. I know it still sounds like quite a few. I also still have a few fry from the Blue Moscows that are growing up and if they make it and look good, I may start those. I still have some rearranging to do in the fish room.

I don't have many pictures to share this time, as I've been having water issues. But here is a photo of one of my young Red Cobra males from the cross between my line and the albino line. He's still pretty little, and very fast so the only way I could get a picture was by holding him with the net.

Ok, now for an update on the rest of them.

I have been having some issues with our well water here, and lost quite a few fish about a month and a half ago. Only the strongest survived, which made it easier to decide what strains to keep.

The Blue/Multi Grass Ribbonfin line - These fish are doing exceptionally well. They are tough prolific fish, and not to mention gorgeous. They will stay here forever. I did lose my ribbon female after she dropped, but it seems she dropped a ton of ribbon fry for me to work with. I have about 8 new ribbon females growing up in my breeder tank now! I lost my breeder males, and am waiting now for some of the younger ones from the ribbon female to color up.

Full Reds - these guys have started dropping fry and are really beautiful. I love the way they contrast the green of the plants in the tanks. The line seems to throw a pretty even number of males and females which is nice.

Red Cobras (leopard) - Finally got some fry from these guys. Of the 3 Red Cobra lines I have, this is my least favorite. I may end up selling these to make room for the other lines.

Red Cobras (blonde) - We have lots of fry here! I am still very happy with them, and hope the tails and body patterns improve over the next few generations. The females are beautiful, and the males have nearly perfect matching dorsals. These are a favorite of mine and won't be going anywhere.

Red Cobras (albino) - We have fry here as well. Some are albino and some are sired by my other 2 cobra line males. Only time will tell on what they end up like. I split them into their own tank and added a pretty Blonde Yellow lace snakeskin male. I love these, and hope to keep working with them for a long time.

Full Yellows - I have 2 different lines of these that I am combining into one, in hopes of improving both and increasing the yellow intensity. These are a project I want to keep up with. I love yellow and the IFGA breeders just do not have a well developed line yet. One of the lines I am using has exceptional sparkling gold color and fin shape, but the size is very small. The other line is nice large fish with so-so color. Maybe by the next Michigan Guppy Breeders show I will have something worth showing in the yellows.

Blue/Green Moscow - These I got in a trade originally and they grew on me. I lost the male after the female dropped, so I still have plenty of youngsters to work with. These seem to be slower to mature than some of my lines. With the addition of the Blue/Green Moscows that I picked up at the auction last weekend, I may keep them going. I am not going to devote a ton of tank space to them however.

Japan Blue reds - This line suffered from the water issues, and I only have 1 pair left. That may be the end of them here.

Golden Cobra speartail - I lost the female of the pair, but the male lives on. I gave him an Albino Red Cobra female on the off chance he produces something. I will keep him till he dies, because he is so neat.

Leopard/Tiger endlers - These I have going in my community tank with some mixed Guppies and 4 female Bettas. I am just going to let nature do it's thing in that tank for now.

Blue Snakeskins - This line suffered the greatest setbacks. I am not terribly pleased with the remaining fish so I will probably scrap the whole bunch, except a male or two, and Bubble's grand daughter. I may toy with crossing the nicest males to a couple extended dorsal blue grass females.

That's all of them I think.

New fish!

Ok, well I admit to having a fish problem. I really do need to cut back, but how on earth could anyone decide which ones to let go?! I set out for the local fish auction last Saturday with the plan to bring home JUST the 2 pair of RREA Platinum Yellows that I was picking up from someone else who was also attending the auction. That was my excuse anyway. I came home with 4 foam boxes (one was HUGE and hubby has claimed it as a camping cooler), 2 5.5 gallon tanks, and over 35 fish.

So here is the run down on the new additions;
RREA Reds
Blue Moscows
Green Lace Snakeskins
Tiger Endlers
a Colony of Red Tailed Goodieds
Albino Longfin Pleco
RREA Platinum Yellows

Now some of these will be used to help improve lines that I already have, some were just too good a price for some incredible fish that I could not help it. lol All of the Guppies are from excellent show lines (mostly the Mouseau's).

Now for the disappointing part. I ran out of tanks and have to keep some of them in buckets for the time being, and I can't find the batteries for my camera so I don't have any pictures to post! Sorry about that! Pictures to come soon I promise!

Decisions, decisions...

Alright well It has come to the point where I am deciding what strains I want to continue to work with, and which ones I need to part with in order to have enough room to do what I want to do. Hard stuff!

I just got 4 pair of Japan Blue Reds from a trade, so I have these lovely fish to work with now. I am so excited, so those guys are staying.

It seems like almost every breeder has great Full Reds though, and since I like the unique stuff, I think I will probably end up parting with these. I might keep a couple just as an out cross to my Red Cobra line, which I am keeping. The Blonde Cobras have been upgraded to a 20 gallon tank from a 5 gallon, and I added in the Yellow Snakeskin, RREA Red Cobra, and Red Blonde snakeskins that I got from a few other breeders as well. This next generation should be really cool!

I am keeping the Full Yellow/Full Gold lines to continue working with. I love the color yellow.

I am also keeping my Blue Snakeskins and Blue Grass Extended Dorsals (and wondering if I can cross the Extended Dorsal genes into my Blue Snakes......).

The Speartails have not produced any fry for me so they will be going into the community tank shortly.

I am still debating on the Green Moscows. They might just end up in my community tank as well.

So I will be parting with quite a few fish over the next few weeks. Keep an eye on my Aquabid Auctions! I have been listing many auctions. If there is something you are interested in buying, please let me know!