Diana Walstad

Giving Talk in Pennsylvannia

Big speaking engagement coming up! I will be giving a talk for the Bucks County Aquarium Society (BCAS) on Nov. 6, 2025 (Thursday, 7:00 PM) in Yardley, Pennsylvania. (Yardley is about 32 miles northeast of Philadelphia via I-95.) Talk will summarize my 40 years’ experience with various planted tanks. It will also include brand-new material on breeding guppies in tanks where plants do all the water purification.

Title: Plants for Water Quality; Genetics for Fish Quality

Talk Synopsis:

Talk will describe my various planted tank setups: (1) simple 1-gal bowls; (2) large planted tanks with soil substrates and filters; and (3) fish breeding tanks. My 9 current fish breeding tanks depend solely on plants to purify the water, as they have no filters or aerators. Finally, the last part of my talk will describe my struggle breeding fancy guppies that lived longer than a few weeks/months after purchase. The aquarium hobby provides us with mountains of advice on maintaining water quality, but virtually nothing on breeding fitter fish. In my opinion, this subject has been sorely neglected.

Shipping Guppies

I’m fairly new to shipping my fish, so when two purchased pairs–going to Illinois USPS Priority Mail–were delayed 3 days, the buyer and I were prepared for the worst–but hoped for the best. The upshot was that guppies shipped on Tuesday didn’t arrive until the following Monday, meaning 6 days in transit. Happily, they arrived alive and in good shape. Buyer reported the fish were doing great and sent me pictures (photos). (Fish color is bleached out in photos.) Note: I have a nice selection of guppies now, but I will be selling guppies on Sept 20, 2025 at the Sustainablereef extravaganza. Will I have any left? And I’m not sure I will be shipping during winter and holidays….

Florida Talk

My visit to Spring Hill, Florida to give talk for the PASCO aquarium club on July 12, 2025 was a resounding success. Talk was well-received and I sold lots of books. Grant Eder, owner of Garden of Eder, an expert and popular vendor of Neocaridina shrimp, was my gracious host for 2 days. He has a houseful of tanks and a yardful of outdoor tubs (Photo). He took me and his family to visit the Chassahowitzka State Park. There he and his daughter waded through streams to catch fish. (All fish were returned to their homes after photographing.) Lots of fish, including many Mollies (Photo). Meanwhile, I stayed on dry land and kept my shoes dry (Photo). I haven’t been on a plane for over 10 years, so this was a big deal for me!

Grant Eder with a backyard filled with tubs, plants, shrimp, turtles, Koi, etc.

Heavenly, clear water stream in the park filled with all different kinds of small fish, including several schools of Mollies.

Female Molly with crayfish. Male Mollies were few, gorgeous in color–and impossible to catch.

Me visiting the Chassahowitzka State Park in Spring Hill, Florida.

Interview about Cichlids

Recently, I did an interview conducted by Scott Wells, a cichlid authority with an informative website The Cichlid Stage. He questioned me about my personal history, planted tanks for cichlids, etc. You see, long ago I kept Tanganyikan cichlids. I have maintained a fondness for these fiesty, supremely intelligent fish and included a bit about their reproduction in my new book. (The females of one Lake Malawi species choose their mates by smell–not male color–via small odor peptides released by the male’s immune system. Heady stuff!) Photo from 1990 shows my 45-gal tank with a small colony of Tropheus dubosi and a beautiful golden male Lamprologous leleupi. Because I enjoyed these fish and working with Scott, I wanted to share his website and interview with my readers.

Talk in Florida

On Saturday (noon on July 12, 2025), I will be giving a talk to the PASCO County Aquarium Society. Haven’t given a talk in a LONG time, but Grant Eder (The The Garden of Eder, a major shrimp breeder and vendor) kept after me. Talk will be on planted tanks and my guppy breeding program.

Title of Talk: Plants for Water Quality; Genetics for Fish Quality

Talk will describe my experiences over the years with various planted tank setups: (1) simple 1-gal bowls; (2) large planted tanks with soil substrates and filters; and (3) fish breeding tanks. The fish breeding tanks depend solely on plants to purify the water as they have no filters or aerators. Finally, the last part of my talk will describe my struggle in breeding fancy guppies with greater longevity. In my opinion, the aquarium hobby provides us with mountains of advice on maintaining water quality, but virtually nothing on breeding fish that are genetically robust.