My wife and I were collecting fish in Costa Rica earlier this month. Yes, Kate wanted to come and experience the fish collecting regime with me. She was awesome! We'll definitely do this again.
I specifically targeted several species to search for, so we put a lot of miles on our 4WD rental and covered rivers from the Nicaragua border in the north through Panama crossing in the south.
Of the target species collected, I hope to be able to then breed wild Astatheros diquis and A. alfari, Andinoacara coeruleopunctatus, and Cryptoheros sajica.
We were not in the right places for successful collection of Tomocichla tuba, so hopefully we can get there on a return visit.
Also collected were other cichlid species including Parachromis dovii, P. managuensis, P. loisellei, Hypsophrys nematopus, Tomocichla sieboldi, Amphilophus citrinellus, Amatitlania siquia, Astatheros rostratus, A. longimanus.
For the live bearer fans, species collected include Poeciliopsis turrubarensis, Phallichthys amates, Alfaro cultratus, Poecilia gilli, Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora and B. roseni.
Also collected catfish, tetras, killifish, and gobies.
The fish we kept are still in Costa Rica at my friend's facility. I expect to receive them in a week or so along with some other fish he's got on hand as well.
Only a few of above species were collected in commercial quantities for resale. I already have several of these on hand from previous Costa Rica imports. These are posted on my stock list and available for purchase immediately.
The 'target species' were collected in very limited quantity and are specifically destined for a captive breeding program only.
Upon arrival of the new fish, I will then include those species available for sale on my stock list.
I took some photos of the fish in the tanks of my friend in Costa Rica. My apologies for posting less than desirable photos, but the glass on his tanks is as bad if not worse than those in my own facility!
The camera did not focus well on many of the fish.
plus a few newly photographed Costa Rican cichlids from stock here at my facility
I received only one small pair of the wild Rio Tempisque dovii on first shipment from CR. I hope to see fry from them soon to raise and distribute.
Luckily we were able to collect dovii from several rivers plus Lake Arenal, so small quantities of those are expected to be included on aforementioned shipment.
Some pics taken while out and about Costa Rica.
Lake Arenal, the Arenal volcano, and some dude looking for fish in lake
Fairly typical CR stream that we collected in. I don't recall which this was.
Rio Animas near Nica border with same dude looking for fish again
This 'tame' pair of wild toucan visited us at lunch one day.
We watched these horses climb over a broken fence rail and file onto the road in front of us. The rancher to whom these belong was bound to be one ticked off tico (resident of CR).
Even the CR currency (colones) looks tropical. fyi - there's about 550 colones to 1 US$.
Closing with pics taken from our suite in Playas del Coco.
I specifically targeted several species to search for, so we put a lot of miles on our 4WD rental and covered rivers from the Nicaragua border in the north through Panama crossing in the south.
Of the target species collected, I hope to be able to then breed wild Astatheros diquis and A. alfari, Andinoacara coeruleopunctatus, and Cryptoheros sajica.
We were not in the right places for successful collection of Tomocichla tuba, so hopefully we can get there on a return visit.
Also collected were other cichlid species including Parachromis dovii, P. managuensis, P. loisellei, Hypsophrys nematopus, Tomocichla sieboldi, Amphilophus citrinellus, Amatitlania siquia, Astatheros rostratus, A. longimanus.
For the live bearer fans, species collected include Poeciliopsis turrubarensis, Phallichthys amates, Alfaro cultratus, Poecilia gilli, Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora and B. roseni.
Also collected catfish, tetras, killifish, and gobies.
The fish we kept are still in Costa Rica at my friend's facility. I expect to receive them in a week or so along with some other fish he's got on hand as well.
Only a few of above species were collected in commercial quantities for resale. I already have several of these on hand from previous Costa Rica imports. These are posted on my stock list and available for purchase immediately.
The 'target species' were collected in very limited quantity and are specifically destined for a captive breeding program only.
Upon arrival of the new fish, I will then include those species available for sale on my stock list.
I took some photos of the fish in the tanks of my friend in Costa Rica. My apologies for posting less than desirable photos, but the glass on his tanks is as bad if not worse than those in my own facility!
The camera did not focus well on many of the fish.
plus a few newly photographed Costa Rican cichlids from stock here at my facility
I received only one small pair of the wild Rio Tempisque dovii on first shipment from CR. I hope to see fry from them soon to raise and distribute.
Luckily we were able to collect dovii from several rivers plus Lake Arenal, so small quantities of those are expected to be included on aforementioned shipment.
Some pics taken while out and about Costa Rica.
Lake Arenal, the Arenal volcano, and some dude looking for fish in lake
Fairly typical CR stream that we collected in. I don't recall which this was.
Rio Animas near Nica border with same dude looking for fish again
This 'tame' pair of wild toucan visited us at lunch one day.
We watched these horses climb over a broken fence rail and file onto the road in front of us. The rancher to whom these belong was bound to be one ticked off tico (resident of CR).
Even the CR currency (colones) looks tropical. fyi - there's about 550 colones to 1 US$.
Closing with pics taken from our suite in Playas del Coco.
