Category: Uncategorized

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….

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. 

New Book!

Announcing the publication of my new book: Aquarium Fish Reproduction.  Scientific Studies of Guppies and Other Fish (2025).  The paperback is now “live” on Amazon.com.  (Should have an eBook version within a month.) Description below:

“Reference book for aquarium fish breeding. Recent studies using genotyping, mate choice tests, and artificial insemination have revealed exciting new insights into fish reproduction. This full-color book describes the nuances of fish mating behavior, such as mate choice copying, habituation, rare male advantage, and cryptic female choice. Hobbyists learn how to balance the perils and benefits of both inbreeding and outcrossing. Book material is supported by hundreds of citations to scientific papers. Author provides simple, easy-to-understand explanations for complex, scientific concepts and includes her own experiences as a long-time breeder of guppies and other aquarium fish.”